The Venture Edge

In case you didn't notice, next Saturday -- November 26, 2011 -- has been officially designated as Small Business Saturday. Officially designated by whom? Well, by credit card giant American Express for one, which has dedicated an entire Facebook page (with more than 2 million followers!) and more to the day. 

If you've been reading this blog for more than a month or two, you've probably noticed that I'm a big fan of contests for entrepreneurs. Not only do I think they're fun, but they can be a good source of cash -- and what entrepreneur can't use a little extra cash? Entrepreneur magazine recently ran a contest roundup, including a UPS Store Facebook contest (deadline = August 31, 2011), 2011 Avaya Small Business Innovators contest (deadline = August 30, 2011), Staples Youth Social Entrepreneur contest (deadline = September 9, 2011), and Cleantech Open Global Ideas competition ( deadline = September 30, 2011). 

 Part III of the Facebook Trilogy.  Now that yet another Facebook “founder” wannabe has come out of the woodwork to claim his riches, it’s time to take stock of the lessons that entrepreneurs should learn from the evolving story of the founding of Facebook. First-time entrepreneurs make a lot of mistakes, and Mark Zuckerberg is no exception, so let’s see what we can take away from the ongoing claims against Facebook.

I read my blogmate Kathy Allen's most recent post, "Should your business sell on Facebook?" with great interest. While I agree with Kathy that, in general, the answer to that question is an emphatic NO!, I would like to elaborate a bit on Kathy's post. Why? Because Facebook clearly can be a tremendous opportunity for most any business today -- an opportunity that cannot be ignored. But not as an ecommerce platform. Instead, Facebook's greatest opportunity for businesses today is as a hugely leveraged publicity and PR platform.

Are you feeling the pressure to put your business on Facebook? It’s not surprising because lots of small businesses (and large) are rushing to plant a stake in Facebook territory, hoping to take advantage of referrals by people who “friend" their company. It makes sense, because we all know that referrals bring us the best and most loyal customers, those lifelong relationships. Some marketers are claiming that Facebook will become the next great e-commerce platform.   But before you set up your retail business on Facebook and expect an onslaught of sales, you need to consider whether it will really help you or not.

Every entrepreneur dreams about reaching the promised land, as they say, making it big by being acquired or successfully executing an IPO. But, not so fast--I can list on more than two hands the number of entrepreneurs who were dissatisfied with the result. If they weren’t singing “ Is That All There Is,” (an old Peggy Lee song from 1969, recently revived by Christina Aguilera) they were wondering when the precise moment was that they realized, “Hey, I don’t own this company anymore.”

Kathy and I were recently given the opportunity to review a copy of the Social Media Survival Guide : Everything You Need to Know to Grow Your Business Exponentially with Social Media  by Sherrie Madia and Paul Borgese (Full Court Press, 2010). It's no secret that social media has taken the online world by storm, but according to the authors, many top companies are dropping the ball. They site statistics that 73 of the Fortune 100 have registered a total of 540 different Twitter accounts, but that more than half of these accounts (52%) are rarely used, and fully 15% are inactive.

 Peter and I have written numerous posts about the benefits of social media to entrepreneurs who want to promote their businesses and get customer feedback and to individuals like consultants and service providers who want to promote their personal brand. But there is a dark side to the social media groundswell and it's found in the increasing rate with which we appear to be losing our privacy.

Yeah. I know. I used to think that using social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn for my business was a waste. Who actually has time to read all those tweets and keep track of everything their Facebook friends have to say? Well, apparently a lot of people do. Social media is finally catching on as a way for businesses to reach current and potential customers, and to build brand loyalty and awareness. And nowhere is it catching on as quickly as with today's fastest-growing companies. According to a study of the usage of social media among Inc. 500 companies, conducted by the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, America's fastest-growing private companies adopt social media marketing initiatives at much higher rates than other companies.

The past three days have been very interesting ones for yours truly. My latest book -- Writing Fiction For Dummies -- was just released, and my coauthor Randy Ingermanson and I are wrapping up a three-day book rush, hoping to drive initial sales of the book. While we're still tabulating the results, early indications are that our efforts paid off in a very big way. As I write this, our book is ranked #368 on Amazon.com -- that is, Writing Fiction For Dummies is the 368th best-selling book on Amazon.com. Not bad out of millions of books available on the Amazon website.