Facebook IPO Expected to be $100 Billion, Largest of Any Tech Company in History
Posted by: Valerie Jennings, CEO of JSMM
While it hasn’t been confirmed, reports are circulating that Facebook Inc. will go public this year. Facebook has kept quiet about the move, but many anticipate the IPO to hit this May. If and when this happens, it will be huge.
This article and infographic posted by Joann Pan of Mashable, projects Facebook’s IPO to be six times larger than Google’s and will be the largest of any tech company in history.
How Facebook’s Expected $100 Billion IPO Breaks Down [INFOGRAPHIC]
Rumors are flying about Facebook Inc. going public this year. So, just how much money is the world’s largest social network worth?
Reports project that Facebook will go public some time between April and June. The company itself has remained hush-hush about the initial public offering.
The infographic below shows how the company’s projected valuation of $100 billion breaks down and which Facebook Friends will be getting a piece of the pie.
Facebook’s IPO will be the biggest of any tech company in history — six times that of Google’s, according to Accounting Degree Online.
The company itself is preparing to raise $10 billion this year, according to reports, to push the company’s public value to $100 billion. More than Disney ($61 billion), Amazon ($88.3 billion) and McDonald’s ($95.6 billion).
Who will be cashing in? Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder Eduardo Saverin, co-founder Chris Hughes and Sean Parker, Napster co-founder and Facebook partial owner (he owns 4% of Facebook). Zuckerberg will make an estimated $25 billion, owning 24% of the company.
And just how will Facebook reach the $10 billion excess profit by April or June? By increasing Facebook revenue from advertising, Facebook fan pages and display ads.
Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing, Provides 2012 Social Media Predictions
By: Valerie Jennings, CEO of JSMM
While these are not representative of all of the expectations for social media in 2012, these are the key takeaways that Jennings Social Media Marketing (JSMM) is expecting to impact the industry. To learn how JSMM can help your business best utilize these predictions and more call us at (816) 221-1040.
2012 Social Media Marketing Predictions
1. Google+ will evolve, expand and overcome its critics
2. Twitter will morph into a business tool which may increase its ROI
3. Facebook does the unthinkable and adds more features
4. Blogging becomes something of the past with the increased use of mobile devices
5. Facebook ads blow up and drive more ROI
6. Mobile ads enhance monetization to websites and QR codes enable the transition
7. SEO becomes something of the past. Thank you Google for introducing social media optimization (SMO)
8. Case studies die and YouTube videos with client testimonials move to center stage
9. Personalized messages become something we all yearn for, and mobile messages such as SMS increase
10. Connecting to strangers will become more acceptable, but we all know the dangers this can cause–boundaries will change, but companies will need to disclose who is behind their curtains
Jennings Social Media Marketing Launches Facebook Contest In Response to Fan Poll
Posted by: Micah Pratt, director of social networking R&D
Jennings Social Media Marketing (JSMM) announced their most recent Facebook contest, following a small poll the company posted on Facebook over the summer. Enter for a chance to win social media marketing services by JSMM just in time for the holidays by “Liking” us on Facebook and signing up via the sweeps tab.
The winner of the contest will receive a boutique style campaign which may include a social media evaluation, channel branding and designs, channel updates to social media sites and organic search engine optimization analysis.
Valerie Jennings, CEO of JSMM, said they polled their Facebook fans and asked which grand prize they would most like to receive: an iPad, Mac computer, iPod or two free months of social media services from JSMM. The two free months from JSMM won with an overall majority. “We are excited to reward our fans in time for the holidays and hope the grand prize winner really takes advantage of this opportunity,” said Jennings.
Jennings Social Media Marketing is a full service company that utilizes the art of online storytelling with the science of measuring quantifiable results. JSMM creates comprehensive social media marketing, mobile, Web videos and website design and development strategies. The company represents publicly traded to medium-sized businesses across the U.S. and overseas including technology, sports, sustainability, entertainment, travel, financial, health care and real estate (www.jenningssocialmedia.com).
Kansas City Car Dealer Frank Ancona Honda Launches 2nd Facebook Contest via Jennings Social Media Marketing
By Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing
Enter Here
Frank Ancona Honda, a Kansas City Honda dealer, which Jennings Social Media Marketing (JSMM) has been working with for more than a year, has launched a second Facebook contest this week. The contest is a chance to win a four-course dinner for two and wine pairing at Trezo Vino and a night at the Aloft Hotel at Park Place in Leawood, Kan.
Jennings Social Media Marketing has been utilizing the NorthSocial Facebook contest application for the past five months and has been impressed by the easy-to-use functionality, results, viral sharing opportunities and ability to load original creative work. Check out the contest on the Frank Ancona Honda Facebook page.
JSMM designed the contest, worked with Frank Ancona Honda on the creative, loaded the application via their Facebook page, developed the email opt-in opportunities and hopes to see 500 or more entries. The contests typically generate hundreds of new “likes” and email addresses for future prospective marketing.
Check out the NorthSocial applications on their website to understand what they are capable of providing, but have a social media professional design the campaign to reach your audience, engage with fans, design the NorthSocial landing pages, set up targeted Facebook ads, distribute viral press releases and send email marketing to prospects and customers to enter the contest.
InformationWeek.com Reviews Tips for Business Facebook Pages During the Holidays: 51% of Consumers Are More Likely to Buy From a Company After Becoming Their Fan on Facebook
Posted by: Micah Pratt, director of social networking R&D
The holidays are just around the corner, and businesses are finalizing their marketing campaigns to optimize the shopping rush. Here is an article from InformationWeek.com, written by Kevin Casey, about how companies can prepare their social networking sites in time for the holidays.
4 Tips: Prep Your Facebook Page For Holidays
Will your company’s Facebook page help you take advantage of the holiday shopping rush? Consider these tips for SMBs and fine-tune your strategy.
Small and midsize businesses (SMBs), like Santa Claus, should be making a list and checking it twice. But rather than sorting out who’s naughty or nice, consumer-focused concerns should fine-tune their Facebook presence in advance of the holiday shopping rush.
Among the reasons: The bevy of market research showing shoppers increasingly turning to social sites before they make purchase decisions. Consider this recent study, which found 51% of consumers are more likely to buy something from a company after becoming their fan on Facebook. With the annual flurry of capitalism known as holiday shopping looming large, it’s time for retailers and other consumer-focused SMBs to make sure they’re ready to reap the rewards.
That means doing a bit more than putting up a page and hoping it connects with customers, according to Laura O’Shaughnessy, CEO of SocialCode, a social agency that emphasizes a quantitative approach to performance advertising, with a particular focus on Facebook. The firm recently added LinkedIn to its mix, and is considering the likes of Twitter and Google+.
Socialcode itself has an interesting SMB story. The 50-person agency was born as an internal department of The Washington Post Company, which owns–in addition to the flagship newspaper of the same name–a number of media, education, and other businesses. O’Shaughnessy said that the results of Facebook programs for the company’s various brands were so strong that it began shifting money away from its Google adverting and spending more on social. Later, Socialcode was spun out as an independent subsidiary and began signing on external customers.
In an interview, O’Shaughnessy shared these four tips for optimizing your Facebook activities in the coming weeks.
1. Set goals. The businesses that get the most out of their Facebook presence are the ones that have goals behind it. “Step one is deciding: Is my goal to drive people into my restaurant, is it to drive people into my store, is it to introduce a new product, is it to get people to buy my product?” O’Shaughnessy said. Without a clear sense of what they want to accomplish, SMBs, can’t make efficient use of their resources.
2. Design a campaign with a “viral accelerant.” O’Shaughnessy said the most powerful, effective Facebook campaigns place heavy emphasis on sharing. That often means developing an application, game, or a related microsite to encourage people to spread the word–no matter what the word is. “You want to make sure you’re taking advantage of the sharing activities that are going on,” O’Shaughnessy said.
While a development-intensive application might require a bigger budget, O’Shaughnessy noted that there are sharing-oriented things marketers can do on a smaller scale. She gave as an example a nonprofit client that found strong results simply using a light application aimed at sharing badges on Facebook walls.
“The most important thing about Facebook is really perpetuating that social sharing–getting one friend to spread, in this case, a badge to another friend,” O’Shaughnessy said. “Then all of that person’s friends see that action, so you get this immediate lift.”
Mark Zuckerberg Reveals Major Facebook Updates at F8
Posted by: Micah Pratt, social networking research & development
Over the years, Facebook has been known to make small changes to how users operate on the social networking site. With Google+ becoming a threatening competitor, Mark Zuckerberg made serious changes to Facebook. On September 22, Mark Zuckerberg explained exactly what the 800 million users could expect from the new and improved Facebook at its annual developer conference including:
•Timeline: a stream of information about you
•Facebook Gestures: turning any verb into a button, similar to the “like” button. Example: Reading a book.
•Open Graph: third-party companies can connect their apps and services to Facebook using a one-time permission from the user to share stuff on Facebook
•Subscribe: subscribing to strangers or celebrities to receive posts from them without being Facebook friends
•Ticker: a real-time list of what your friends are posting
•Media: watching TV and movies, listening to music and reading news all within Facebook
ecommerce-guide.com Announces The 2011 Social Shopping Study
Posted by Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing
Social media has changed the way consumers shop. Now, approximately 40 percent of shoppers follow social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook for special offers. Here is a recent study regarding social media and shopping that may make an impact on your next strategic roll-out.
Here is the study by ecommerce-guide.com. Thank you for the outstanding review!
3 Consumer Shopping Trends Online Retailers Need to Know
By Vangie Beal
July 14, 2011
The world of online shopping is a never-ending barrage of fads, trends and change. Just when you think you have a handle on what’s new, along comes a new (or revived) trend to negotiate.
New research published earlier this month by PowerReviews in conjunction with the E-tailing Group gives online retailers unique insight as to how consumers research, select and purchase goods online and helps to identify the best strategies for connecting with consumers.
The 2011 Social Shopping Study
The study, The 2011 Social Shopping Study, is based on a survey of more than 1,000 consumers about their online shopping habits, as well as their level of engagement with brands and retailers across various online channels.
In the survey introduction, Lauren Freedman, president, the E-tailing Group said that 2011 has been a volatile year for ecommerce with a multitude of dynamics in play from social media and community to mobile.
“This year’s survey explored consumer utilization of social media across a range of merchants and channels to understand perception, interest, and propensity to buy based on that engagement,” she wrote. “We wanted to know the implications for researching and shopping behavior, particularly as it relates to Facebook, which is the beneficiary of much of the community attention.”
Trend #1: Product Research Remains Top Purchasing Decision Tool
One consumer shopping trend the survey set out to determine was if user-generated content (UGC) continued to play a role in consumer shopping choices.
Findings suggest that consumers do invest greater time in online research before making a purchase, as 15 percent of respondents said that 90 percent or more of all online shopping time was spent researching products (compared to just 21 percent in 2010).
Respondents confirmed that search engines, like Google, are still the main starting point for research by 44 percent, followed by gathering information from retailer and manufacturer websites. To that end it is apparent that search engine optimization (SEO) is still a crucial task for online retailers.
The important take away for merchants is knowledge of where consumers start their product research. Nadim Hossain, VP of marketing at PowerReviews, said that the first step in the research process for consumers is Google.
“Google is where people start, so SEO is really important to online retailers. Our research found that product reviews are the number one factor impacting the buying decision,” explained Hossain. ”
Trend #2: Social Shopping and Customer Reviews as an Influencer
Another big question playing on the minds of many retailers is just how much influence social media has on the customer’s purchase decision.
Social shopping and social media has been a huge topic for online retailers this year, but only 2 percent of respondents used Facebook or other social recommendations as their main research starting point. Forty-nine percent of those surveyed said they have never researched products on social sites.
Where social media does shine is in Facebook Business Pages and Facebook newsfeeds, with 13 percent of respondents saying those social tools impacted their buying behavior.
“Merchants are testing social media by trying to integrate it and understand how to monetize it,” said Lauren Freedman. “Retailers typically evaluate then go first for the promotions to increase their fan base, in a way that is similar to email list building.”
When it comes to user-generated content, a number of community and social tools impact buying behavior, customer reviews (user-generated product reviews) influence purchasing the most with 59 percent of survey respondents, followed by customer Q&As (42 percent) and community forums (26 percent).
Consumers still favor writing product reviews as an activity. The survey indicated that 70 percent of respondents participated in “rate a product purchased” compared to 49 percent who engage in using the “Like” button for a retailer or manufacturer.
Trend #3: Mobile Phones Empower Consumers In-Store
Mobile phones are also a popular influence in customer purchase decisions. Usage in the retail store is also increasing as mobile phones give consumers immediate access to research, price shopping and promotional coupons for immediate redemption.
Merchants are interested in the mobile phone and the tablet audience because these are the consumers who are going to shop and consume. Lauren Freedman said that retailers see the traffic penetration coming from this demographic and online retailers view mobile shoppers as an audience ripe for business.
What’s most interesting about the mobile portion of the study is seeing the break-down of how consumers use mobile phones. In response to the question “How likely are you to do each of the following using your mobile phone when researching a product while in a physical store?” the top three answers were:
Access promotional coupons for redemption at the store (38 percent)
Look for competitive pricing at Amazon (36 percent)
Look for competitive prices on products at retailers online other than Amazon (36 percent)
Other activities shoppers use their mobile phone for include scanning bar codes, scanning QR Codes (quick response codes) or use mobile apps to receive points, rewards or badges.
“Mobile phones are the merging of the offline experience in-store, and it all goes back to pricing,” said Freedman. “Consumers use a mobile phone to check sales and specials, to look up store information pre-visit and to scan reviews for product information while in-store.”
Predictions for Mobile and Social
In the coming year both Hossain and Freedman predict that mobile phones and social tools will grow in importance as more consumers use these mediums for product research and shopping.
“The mobile piece will continue to accelerate fast but the social will be more challenging for the retailers to understand, explore and monetize,” said Freedman. “Retailers will continue investment in both areas and see continued sales growth in mobile versus exploration in social.” See Article
Yahoo!Finance.com & MSNBC.com Post Jennings Social Media Marketing Press Release: Jennings Social Media Marketing Earns Top Notch Ratings from Frank Ancona Honda
Posted by: Jamie Sutera, VP of R&D
Yahoo!Finance.com & MSNBC.com recently posted Jennings Social Media Marketing press release: Jennings Social Media Marketing Earns Top Notch Ratings From Frank Ancona Honda.
KANSAS CITY, MO — Frank Ancona Honda, an Olathe Honda dealership, hired Jennings Social Media Marketing (JSMM) to target online car buyers, increase organic search engine optimization (SEO) via social media, enhance branding on all social networking platforms, increase website traffic and generate results (www.jenningssocialmedia.com).
Jason Heard, sales manager at Frank Ancona Honda, said that one of the ways that JSMM increased website traffic for the dealership was via organic search engine optimized press releases sent to search engines. “JSMM used Marketwire press releases with embedded links, tags, SEO headlines and nationally trending topics that were of interest to our buyers to generate quantifiable results. We were immediately impressed by the website traffic and news websites that the Marketwire press releases appeared on including MSNBC.com, Reuters.com, Yahoo! Finance, Bloomberg.com and more,” said Heard.
Heard added that JSMM completed an overhaul on Frank Ancona Honda’s blog, Facebook, Twitter and video channels. “Facebook is becoming even more important to the automotive industry. We have more than 500 ‘likes’ on our page and lots of engagement which JSMM is attempting to triple over the next few months. Right now, we have incorporated our 50-year anniversary promotions on the page with ads and contests that Jennings is managing. The page has been designed to promote our inventory deals and service and parts specials,” said Heard. “Additionally, JSMM is generating results via Web videos and Twitter for SEO purposes and they have customized two blogs for us on frankanconahond.com and drivegreencarsblog.com.”
Jennings Social Media Marketing is a full service company that utilizes the art of online storytelling with the science of measuring quantifiable results. Jennings creates comprehensive social media marketing and Web advertising strategies from website design and development to viral videos. The company represents publicly traded to medium-sized businesses across the U.S. and overseas including technology, sports, sustainability, entertainment, travel, financial, health care and real estate (www.jenningssocialmedia.com).
Jennings Social Media Marketing Reviews Mashable.com Article: Why do People Follow Brands?
Posted by: Jamie Sutera, VP of R&D
According to mashable.com article, Why Do People Follow Brands? “On Twitter, Facebook, and dozens of other social sites, normal consumers often choose to keep tabs on the brands they love.”
“In fact, many brands have highly optimized their marketing and PR strategies to accommodate that behavior, even going to far as to do one-to-one CRM (that’s customer or consumer relationship management) through avenues such as Facebook and Twitter.”
“As social CRM specialists Get Satisfaction found, many consumers who follow brands online are only in it for the perks. Around 40% of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter users in a recent study said they followed brands to get access to discounts and special deals.”
Mashable.com: How Social Shopping Is Changing Fashion Production
Posted by Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing
The fashion industry is one of the biggest social media marketing opportunities. I want to share this article by Mashable.com regarding the fashion industry’s growth via social media marketing!
Fashion editors and department store buyers have long had the biggest say in what parts of designer collections make it to market. This pattern is changing, however, thanks to a more social web culture and better tools to facilitate online voting, purchasing and even customization.
How to Reward Your Twitter Followers: 6 Easy Ways Recommended by Mashable
Posted By Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing
Mashable.com reviewed several ways to excite, reward and support your Twitter followers.
According to the article, consumers follow their favorite businesses on Twitter to get an inside look at the business, to find out about new products, earn discounts and be a part of a community. Businesses have the potential to turn these fans into brand ambassadors by making their followers feel special and appreciated.
Here are a few:
1. Offer them a freebie
2. Give them control
3. Give them a shout-out!
Facebook & Google Fight Online Privacy Bills in California Legislature
By Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing
Recently, there has been quite the upset between Facebook and Google since Facebook allegedly hired a PR firm to spread steamy gossip to bloggers about Google.
However, these two players are palling up to defeat two strong privacy bills in the California legislature. Read The Wall Street Journal’s article: California Privacy Politics Makes Bedfellows of Facebook, Google.
Here are a few of the legislative details –
“One of the bills, a “do not track” proposal introduced by State Sen. Alan Lowenthal, would require companies to let people opt out of having their online data collected. The other, by State Sen. Ellen Corbett, would require social-networking sites to keep users’ information private by default and to remove personally identifying information if requested.”
Facebook and Google Fight Online Privacy Bills in California
Mashable Announces: Unfazed by Facebook, Google Rolls Out Social Search Globally
Posted By Jared Cook:
Here is a recent post from Mashable, written by Stan Schroeder, about Goolge expanding their social search feature to 19 more languages.
Unfazed by Facebook, Google Rolls Out Social Search Globally
Google will roll out its somewhat controversial Social Search feature to 19 more languages next week, the company announced on its official blog.
Launched in October 2009, Social Search is a feature that combines regular search results with publicly available data created by your friends’ social media activities.
Your “friends” are quite loosely defined and include people in your Google Talk friends list, your Google Contacts, people you’re following on Buzz and Google Reader and other networks you’ve linked from your Google profile or Google Account. Google can also find your friends on public networks such as Twitter and Facebook and gather the data from their public connections as well.
The feature was recently the subject of controversy, as Facebook hired a PR company to push negative stories about Social Search in the press. Facebook claims that Google’s practices raise “serious privacy concerns,” and it’s unhappy with the fact that Google can use Facebook data for its service without Facebook’s permission.
For the most part, Google has stayed silent about the issue, although it’s noticeable that in its latest blog postabout Social Search, Twitter is mentioned three times while Facebook is nowhere to be seen.
Social Search should be available in 19 languages next week, with more languages on the way. Check out a video overview of the feature below.
Thank You to David Day from ithinkbigger.com for Featuring Valerie Jennings’ article: Promoting a Green Brand
Posted By: Jamie Sutera, VP of R&D
Thank you to David Day from ithinkbigger.com for featuring Valerie Jennings’, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing, article: Promoting a Green Brand.
How to drive a key message without greenwashing.
By Valerie Jennings
Most businesses that are focused on sustainability are doing the right thing for the right reason. These businesses also want to share their efforts with consumers without looking too self-promotional.
In April 2008, a corporate sustainability study sought to determine the greenest eco blogs, websites and other social networks.
The research scored more than 100 green websites for recommendations on which blogs, websites and other communities were the “darkest to lightest” green. This scoring model is not new. In fact, in 2008, Experian announced the greenest (most committed to the environment) to the brownest (very little concern for the planet) consumer markets.
Both of these projects required reviewing corporate green behaviors, attitudes and other forms of promotion to get the word out that green was important to companies. The lessons learned through these types of studies by national brands and large corporations can be applied by small businesses in promoting their own green efforts.
Key Lessons in Marketing Your Greenness
-Be truthful, and you don’t have to worry about greenwashing (i.e., making misleading claims or promoting superficial environmental efforts). Use disclaimers, be honest and use your brand to advance education, awareness, media exposure and promotions. -Use social media to promote green messages, connect with green bloggers, tweeples, social networks and press.
-Reach out to the Earth Day Network.
-Marketwire, a PR distribution platform, works. Green reporters research subject matter experts online for article sources. Use this tool to connect.
-Measure success via Google search results, media coverage, Twitter followers, blog traffic, contests, Web video views, Facebook likes, e-mail opt-ins and leads.
-Reach out to green bloggers who are appropriate for your brand. The most green or most liberal environmentalists may not want to hear about a medium-green product, company, service or expert.
-Stay focused on where the key listeners are around the product. Use blog or PR research to speak with the appropriate reporters and engage the right community.
Learn from the ‘Big Guys’
Proctor & Gamble has made a continuing commitment to greening its corporation. Its website has a long list of eco goals, but the reporting is still lax, difficult to read and challenging to evaluate.
The best online green results from a major brand, on the other hand, are from Coke. At a green conference several years ago, a presentation by Coke’s VP of marketing was packed with data, published timelines to make an impact on cutting back on Coke’s water usage in developing countries, information on their execution plan and ways they were working to get the plan moving. Coke’s website still has the goals published, and the results from the past few years are available. Go Coke! It appears Coke has decreased its water usage every year since it launched its sustainability plan.
Follow Coke’s example and share your green goals, timelines and progress with consumers by posting on your website. Promoting your green efforts is another way to differentiate your company from the competition.
Valerie Jennings is CEO and founder of Jennings Social Media Marketing, a full service company that utilizes the art of online storytelling with the science of measuring quantifiable results. Valerie@jenningssocialmedia.com // Twitter: @valeriejennings //www.facebook.com/jenningssocialmedia //www.linkedin.com/in/jenningspr
Facebook Drives More Traffic Than Twitter
Posted By: Kerry Phouthavong
Facebook has quickly been emerging to surpass Twitter in driving traffic to their website. Facebook users have been driving traffic to many of the top news sites, making it evident that Facebook’s corporate strategy has been what is differentiating themselves from other competitors, including Twitter. A recent article on mashable.com, written by Sarah Kessler, includes statistical data and more on the significance in increasing traffic.
The study looked at Nielsen data from the 25 news websites with the highest number of unique monthly visitors. About 35% to 40% of traffic to the sites came from links on other sites, as opposed to readers typing in a URL directly or clicking to another page on the same site.
Unsurprisingly, Google dominated this referral traffic. On average, the company’s search and news products accounted for about 30% of all clicks. But Facebook also referred a significant percentage of each site’s audience.
The Huffington Post was boosted the most by Facebook referrals, which accounted for 8% of its unique visitors. The New York Times derived 6% of its traffic from the social network.
For all its success at breaking news, Twitter did not have the same effect. The site with the highest percentage of traffic from Twitter, The Los Angeles Times, could only credit the micro-blogging platform with 3.53% of its traffic. Twitter referred a much smaller percentage of traffic to other sites in the study.
Part of the discrepancy between Facebook and Twitter referrals is their disparate user bases. Facebook has more than 500 million users while Twitter has 200 million accounts— many of them inactive.
Facebook Tests Deals Program in Austin, Atlanta, Dallas, San Diego & San Francisco
Posted by: Jamie Sutera, VP of R&D
According to an article from http://news.cnet.com, Facebook launched its social-buying program today. Facebook Deals offers members local deals they can buy and also share with their friends on the network. The test launched in Austin, Atlanta, Dallas, San Diego and San Francisco, but may be expanded to include other cities.
Facebook Begins Testing Social-Buying Program
Facebook announced this evening it is ready to begin testing its new local deals offering–the social-networking giant’s effort to cash in on the feverish interest in social buying.
Users in the five test cities will be able to learn about offerings through e-mail and notifications, by clicking on the Deals tab on their Facebook home page, and through their News Feed when friends like or buy a deal.
Facebook is working with a passel of other deals sites in the venture, including Opentable, Gilt City, Tippr, PopSugar City, Plum District, ReachLocal, Zozi, Home Run, KGB Deals, aDealio, and ViaGoGo.
With 500 million members, Facebook brings a sizable user base in its challenge for dominance in the deals market, which brought in $873 million in revenue last year and could bring in $3.93 billion by 2015, according to a projection from consulting firm BIA/Kelsey.
Chief among those competitors is Groupon, which has been riding meteoric growth with half-price massages, discounted restaurant meals, and travel bargains. Chicago-based Groupon, with 60 million users and more than 39 million deals sold in its two years in business, is expected to beef up its muscle with an initial public offering later this year.
Jennings Social Media Reviews Video Interview: Guy Kawasaki Talks With Mashable at SXSW
Posted By: Jamie Sutera, VP of R&D
I would like to share this video regarding well-known author, venture capitalist and former Apple luminary Guy Kawasaki.
At SXSW 2011, Guy Kawasaki sits down for an interview with Mashable’s Christina Warren. In the wide-ranging discussion, he talks about his new book,Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions, and points out useful tools he’s discovered at SXSW this year. Along the way, he talks about his two different stints working with Apple, musing about what might have happened if he had stayed with the company (http://on.mash.to/eILzqG).
Thank You to Angle Bush, Radio Host of Your15Minutes Radio, For Interviewing Valerie Jennings, CEO & Founder of Jennings Social Media Marketing, in Celebration of Women’s History Month & International Women’s Day!
Thank You to Angle Bush, radio host of Your15Minutes Radio, for including Valerie Jennings, CEO & founder of Jennings Social Media, during a panel discussion: “Blueprint for Success” with Diane Hansen and Pam Brossman on International Women’s Day in celebration of Women’s History Month (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/your15minutes).
Listen to show:
Here is a partial transcript from the radio interview –
Angle: Valerie, tell us about the beginning of your journey.
Valerie: I started my company when I was 24 and will have had the business eight years this June. It has definitely been difficult starting at such a young age because there were some things that I had to learn and overcome, from being a female business owner to starting at age 24. I will say I had a ton of support from the community and Johnson County, Kan. There were a lot of people who invested time in working with me and it really helped me advance my career as a business owner. To both the men and women who really supported and talked about the success that we had with our clients early on, I just want to say thank you for being so supportive in those early stages and now to all of the wonderful companies we work with today, almost eight years later. It has been a lot of dedication and commitment not only on my part but everybody that works here, which is a pretty small social media marketing and pr firm. There is so much to be learned no matter what age you start your business at. There are some unique challenges when you launch that early in the game.
Angle: So you have gone through some things being 24 with people probably misjudging you like ‘she is only 24’
Valerie: Yes, that is probably fair.
Angle: One of the buzz words that many business owners are hearing at this moment is branding. We had a show on branding, discussing the book by Mr. Damon John, “The Brand Within.” I want to know from each of you, how important is branding and what does branding look like for each of you. When a client comes in and says, ‘I have a business but I don’t have a brand. Right now I’m an item. I haven’t gotten into the branding stage just yet. What do you do to assist that client that has not built their brand and is just starting out?
Valerie: It is incredibly important because without a brand you don’t have a message. There is not a story to share with your audience. There are all kinds of aspects that you need to review when building a brand and one of them is search engine optimization. What I mean by that is somebody jumps on Google and researches either the owner of the company, the product, the service they better find information or that organization immediately. It shows people in about 30 to 60 seconds if you have a brand presence and that you are dominating the search engines on either your company name or the owner of your company.
We spend a lot of time looking at the brand and most of the companies we work with do have a brand that’s been created and in existence for a while. Every now and again there is a startup that comes through here and we talk about how they are going to build up their brand. One of the first steps is to make sure you reserve all of the social networking sites for your organization on YouTube, Twitter Facebook to make sure that nobody else takes it down the road, or that a competitor takes it. That does happen and we see the brand hijacking going on. So once you have your brand going, protect the brand and cherish the brand. You can shift throughout the course of your company and change directions with branding and reinvent the brand. There are a lot of things you can look at overall it is such an incredible component. From a story telling standpoint and a marketing standpoint that brand has to be solid so you can understand how to advance your company farther down the road.
Angle: What in starting your business overall do you wish you knew then that you know now.
Valerie: I think overall it’s a resources concern. It’s one of things that you have to look into multiple components to building the business. I started when I moved into the Kansas City market and I really didn’t know anybody. I wish I would have a little bit better database of connections of people I trusted. I wish I would have been able to call on people who had established businesses that could have been trusted advisors. I felt like I was fumbling a little bit in the beginning because I just didn’t have those resources to call upon people and lean on them. I feel completely blessed to have those types of relationships now and there are so many people that I can call up anytime and I feel super supported. I think that is such a hard thing for many business owners who feel like they are going through this alone and if they don’t have those relationships or resources it can be really scary.
Angle: Last thing I want to know, tell me Valerie, what is your blue print for success. We want to know, how do you become successful when you are pursuing your passion.
Valerie: It’s commitment overall. It’s so hard to stay focused on everything that you want to accomplish. You have to look at the bottom line. If this is what you want then you have to be committed to it and that sounds like a generic response but I just have to tell you that it’s the most important thing to any business owner. If you don’t like what you are doing then you have to change it.
Listen to the Interview: with Valerie Jennings, Diane Hansen and Pam Brossman on International Women’s Day!
Thank You to Maureen Kedes, Radio Host of PR Insider, For Interviewing Valerie Jennings, CEO & Founder of Jennings Social Media
Posted By: Kerry Phouthavong
Thank you to Maureen Kedes for interviewing Valerie Jennings Friday on PR Insider. During the interview, Valerie discussed how she started Jennings Social Media Marketing by transforming it to a more non-traditional way of approaching PR. Although she still incorporates the standard components that make up for a typical public relations company, Valerie embraces her work more through social media and the art of online storytelling. Here’s a brief transcription of the interview.
Maureen: Today I have an expert on the show in social media storytelling. Her name is Valerie Jennings, Founder and CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing.
Maureen: Tell us how you started before the birth of social media?
Valerie: My background is as a journalist. I was a print reporter and I did some on-camera work. I worked on the government side; I did some public affairs, media outreach. I got more training on the traditional side. Even though I’m not a senior entrepreneur, I started my business at the age of 24. I did give us a huge boost from competitor’s standpoint. When I first started the business, it was traditional PR–pitching, press releases, media coaching, prepping for interviews, and looking at what’s going to sell.
Valerie: We experimented with a PR Web and we used a a lot of search engine optimization to capture the story; what was interesting and what was going to drive traffic.
We’ve continued to expand what we do, and we still do a lot of traditional. But we’ve maintained the social networking side as a way to penetrate some of the traditional aspect. For example, we have a great blog post; we’re a great video to produce for a client. We’re going to maximize that on the client’s Twitter site on a social media press release on Facebook, whatever it is. So we talk about success in an exclusive client list, and we’re really looking for companies that have amazing stories. We try to figure out what is a possibility and we figure out what is trending. As a journalist, if people aren’t looking for it, why would they be paying attention?
Jennings Social Media Marketing CEO Valerie Jennings To Be Interviewed Live on PR Insider by Maureen Kedes Friday, February 25, 2011
Thank you Maureen Kedes for booking Valerie Jennings, CEO and founder of Jennings Social Media Marketing, on PR Insider to review social media storytelling: How To Be The Best Social Media Storyteller
Twitter Launches ‘Connections,’ Its Own Version Of Facebook’s ‘Mutual Friends’
Posted by: Jamie Sutera, VP of R&D, Jennings
Twitter has created ‘connections,’ their own version of Facebook’s ‘mutual friends.’ In a recent article from techcrunch.com, written by Alexia Tsotsis, explains that even though Twitter has experimented with the feature before, the change is a permanent step towards developing a more useful Twitter social graph.
The article states that Twitter has collapsed its “Followed By” and “You Both Follow” features into one area called “Connections.” This allows you to see what users you have in common with other Twitter users. While you still can’t see the number of users you have in common, you can see a complete list of mutual follows and people you are both followed by when you click “more.”
Twitter’s Carolyn Penner says, “By exposing accounts that you and another user have in common, you will now know how those accounts are connected to other accounts you already follow. As a result, you’ll be able to make more informed decisions about which accounts to follow.”
Franchises Are Embracing the Possibilities of Social Media Platforms Like Facebook to Extend Their Brands
Posted By: Kerry Phouthavong
Franchises have been embracing social media platforms as an opportunity to help extend their brands. In a recent article, written by Jason Ankeny in entrepeneur.com, he explains the significance in using social media for franchises.
The article states that among franchises active in social media, 45 percent tell Franchise Business Review they’ve leveraged tools like Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter to boost brand awareness, and 24 percent are pursuing new customers. But 11 percent are looking at social networking as a way to recruit franchisees.
“Social media is a part of every marketing campaign we have. We have a presence on various social networking sites, and many franchisees have their own sites as well,” says Christie Wells, customer experience and communications manager for Häagen-Dazs Shoppe Co, a gourmet ice cream business in Minneapolis. “These are awareness opportunities for us, and we’re using them to get the word out there that we’re looking for franchisees.”
“The heart of the social media opportunity is that we’re continuing to get better at building a dialogue with our fans. We can understand what they want and what they don’t want, and respond in ways consistent with our brand equity,” O’ Reilly of Einstein Bros says. “Consumers are smart and they’re savvy, with opinions that need to be respected. Social media is the best way to keep them engaged.”
Kansas City’s Data Center & Internet Hub Increases Website Traffic With Social Media and Cuts 75% of Google Adwords Budget
Posted By: Jamie Sutera, VP of R&D
1102 GRAND, Kansas City’s data center and Internet hub, saw a 200-300 percent increase in its website and blog traffic, and cut 75 percent of its Google Adwords budget. The marketing ROI is part of an ongoing social media campaign with Jennings Social Media Marketing (www.jenningssocialmedia.com).
Darren Bonawitz, principal of 1102 GRAND, said that Jennings Social Media Marketing helped 1102 GRAND have a better perspective of online marketing strategies. “We were in need of marketing experts and that is exactly what we found in Jennings Social Media Marketing. We have worked with Jennings Social Media Marketing for approximately two years. In that time 1102 GRAND has had an increase in website traffic, saved 75 percent of the budget on the Google Adwords campaign, been requested for more interviews than we can handle and been able to realize significant quantifiable results through additional revenue,” said Bonawitz.
Bonawitz added that the focus on social media is extremely beneficial. “Jennings Social Media Marketing implemented many facets of social media marketing including Facebook, Twitter, e-newsletters, blog, case studies, organic search engine optimized press releases and Web videos. Social media is such a vital tool because it is constantly working. We have had so many great results, and it is hard to argue with results,” said Bonawitz.
1102 GRAND is a Midwestern carrier hotel and network neutral collocation facility specifically enhanced with the infrastructure to host and provide services to an array of global network operators including carriers, service providers and enterprise customers who demand highly secure and connected, customized solutions for their core networking equipment. 1102 GRAND offers a wide array of collocation options including cabinets, cage space, suites and space for private data centers, all of which are connected to a carrier neutral Meet Me Room, housing nearly 30 carriers and service providers including AT&T, Level 3, TeliaSonera, tw telecom, Zayo Enterprise Networks, and Hurricane Electric (http://1102grand.com/).
