You can spend a lifetime wondering what would have been or a lifetime working on failures, near misses and the odd golden shot.

I chose the latter.

Possibly the most amazing revelation that occurred to me was that ‘life is not a dress rehearsal’.

I also realized that 99% of the time I could ‘jump and grow wings on the way down’.

I don’t promise to become the best in the world at what I want to be but I will never get bored of the journey.

I used to marvel at the celebrities who would get interviewed on early evening chat shows. They were often quietly spoken, slightly puzzled at the attention and sporting a fanfare of introduction about the length of a short novel. The things that they had achieved BEFORE the currently famous project were usually miles more interesting than the reason they had come on the show and almost always more fascinating than anybody else we would see including the host.

Now I think I understand the psychology at work. It’s not a race against others, but a race against yourself.
Time is a factor, but only in the time before you die and the fast approaching period when you start to feel bored with the current project.

Onlookers are both fascinated and dismissive of your achievements especially at the point when you have done so much in one lifetime that they cannot compute whether it’s all lies, duplicated clones or media spin.

Sir Richard Branson, Steve Martin, Viggo Mortenson – the list is endless.
Actors, artists, adventurers, poets, painters and popstars. It’s not about the fame and the money it’s the significance to the universe and feeling of rising to the challenge.

I don’t want to be the best at everything, only the things I do in the time that my attention span allows me to have.

If you don’t understand me, just get out of my way.

My time is limited and Everest beckons.

Or at least as soon as I finish off this painting…

Where have YOU been?

Unless you have lived in a cave the last 4 years, you have probably heard of this. It is a rocking hot social networking site that seems to be almost everywhere today. It is on the news. It is on the radio. It is on the minds of millions of folks a day.

It is called “Facebook” and over 175 million people are active on this site.

Ok- I know that you may be asking,” A LAW about facebook?” Yes, 10 of them for marketing and business success in what you do. I am a marketer and have been for 20 years. I built a training and consulting business that does business in over 20 countries, because of social media and the internet. And there are marketing laws that all marketers and business professionals must follow if they are going to have Success in the marketplace online.

It is the same for Facebook.

Lets cover them briefly:

1) The Law of Visibility on Facebook.

You MUST be visible on facebook of you are going to get your message out. You must spend time on facebook and get to know people. You must put yourself together a “facebook blueprint” and work it. How many hours a week are you going to be seen on FB? How many times are you going to befriend someone this week? How many times are you going to upload photos this week? All of these things put you in the ‘Visibility Zone” on facebook, and on the radar as far as people on facebook. Be SEEN and be THERE on a daily basis.

2) The Law of the Powerful Facebook Profile.

Why would people want to get to know you? One of the first things they check out is your facebook profile. What does it say- but better yet- what does it DO? Does it make people curious and want to get to know you? Does it make them think? Does it make them smile? Does it make them see that you have Value for their life and can help change it?

Powerful facebook profiles are NOT based on what is said in your profile- but what it DOES.

Does it direct them to DO something? Does it tell them you are person they MUST know? Or someone that has a nice picture and a nice profile- with no magnetism? Put yourself OUT THERE and tell the world WHY they need you as a friend, and get them to take action towards YOU.

3) The Law of the Facebook WALL.

You MUST use your Wall to market or message. many folks regard their Wall as a communication utility like email. It is not that. You already have a facebook email. The Wall is for you to BUILD- BRICK BY BRICK- MESSAGE BY MESSAGE- NOTE BY NOTE- VIDEO BY VIDEO- your Brand on Facebook. Every time something happens with you- it goes on your Wall. Don’t stare at the wall- CLIMB THE SUCKER and make your message the PEAK of the page- and keep yourself out there with the Wall. And answer the messages on your Wall. Thank people for sharing with you their visit or message. This will show up on THEIR wall. This will set you apart from most on facebook. The Wall is simply a BILLBOARD of what you are doing and your friends are doing on Facebook. Use it often and wisely.

4) The Law of Your Facebook Network.

You are part of a local facebook network and you have access to that network to befriend them. I live in Birmingham Michigan, and the network i am a part of is the Detroit network. There are 640,926 people in my network that I could potentially MEET LIVE in a local place and get to know them and connect with them. You have local folks as well. Where do you find your network?

Click on “settings” and then click on “network.” You will find it there. This is a GOLD MINE of people in your local area to CONNECT and Construct new trust bridges that may lead to business down the road.

5) The Law of the Facebook Notifications.

This is an overlooked and rarely talked about utility. Notifications are part of your “facebook email system.” Go to “email” at the top of your Facebook profile page, and then click on “notifications.”This is list of who is thinking about you, talking about you, including you in tags, and generally is pointing to you. This is a GOLD MINE of people that have PROVEN they are behind you and willing to make you a part of their Facebook experience. Pay attention to the facebook notifications. Thank them for their thoughts of you on their Wall and let them know you appreciate it. Include them as well on your tags and other activity on facebook. The notifications are GOLD and is a prospecting Vault of Leads. And make sure you stay CONNECTED to them.

6) The Law of Facebook Link Love.

The Link application on Facebook is a HOT commodity. It allows you to post a link that you like and then sends it out on the news feed that is on your home page. It picks up the image that you want on the link page, and allows it to be a LIVE link. Send out other people’s LINK and givem some LOVE. Do NOT just send out your own links. Let others do that. Find interesting links of others and send them out.

WHY? EXPOSURE for you. You will be given credit for the link. People LOVE link love. If you send out a LOT of other people’s links on facebook, they will start sending out YOUR links. Been there done that.

7) The Law of Facebook Groups.

Join groups. Join a LOT of Groups. Start your OWN groups. The join MORE groups. Why? Here are a few reasons: EXPOSURE. CONNECTION to other Group members. AUTHORITY. Start your own and be a Leader. INCREASE YOUR REACH.Groups extend your reach into Facebook. MULTIPLIED PROSPECTS. There are more people in a group — then on a profile page.

Duh. Build a list in your own group and then you can become an admin and email messages to them. Make them messages of VALUE and interest.

The Law of Facebook Events.

Attend events. Attend more Events. And then attend many MORE events. Why? It allows you to leave a message on the events page wall, and create exposure. I attend at least 2 facebook events every week- to learn- and to network. Events can be found on the new Facebook page in the upper right under “Upcoming”-these are the events that are upcoming. There is one unique twist: You have birthdays under the “upcoming” tag- and you can send presents to folks. THIS will get their attention as it shows up on their wall and the news feed as well. Attend as many events as you can. make them worth your while- learn and grow from them. BUT’always leave a RSVP message about attending or not- with an encouraging message. This will show your professionalism, and caring.

Event UP! This will do you well on facebook. Put the term “events” in the search box, and it will find every event that is going on in your network of friends. It is a GOLD MINE of new possibilties of business. Become a master of events!

9) The Law of Facebook Multimedia- Videos and Photos.

People LOVE photos and videos. They are the most looked at and watched pages on facebook. Make some videos and upload them. Upload some photographs. Not only will the be seen on your wall and the facebook news feed, but also will allow you to “tag” others on these. This means that you can pick out people you have befriended and let them know you are thinking of them. And when you tag someone- it shows up on THEIR wall. Not isn’t THAT cool? It is called EXPOSURE!

10) The Law of the Facebook NEWS FEED.

This is the big kahuna of Exposure on facebook. This gets you out to ALL of your friends and creates a massive exposure vehicle that can keep your brand in front and recognized. You also will be many times on the “featured” part of the new news feed on the right. This gives you HUGE exposure. Whatever you do, like change your status, upload a video, write and publish a note, or just comment on another person’s message on the facebook news feed- it SHOWS UP in the news Feed. Be seen- and be seen often if you are trying to brand yourself on facebook.

Yes, you need to establish relationships, and build community. But if you are going to MARKET on facebook-then you need to at least get a guideline of what and how to do it. The 10 Social Media Laws of Facebook hopefully gave you some idea in your social media marketing.

blessings…doug firebaugh

One common misnomer is that Social Media and the Internet is a place for kids, teens and university students exclusively.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

One of the most mind-blowing stats about the Web came out in July of 2009 when it was reported that there are more grandparents than high school students on Facebook. While most people still try to wrap their heads around this very real reality, it looks like baby boomers (person who was born during the demographic Post-World War II baby boom) are taking to the Web, engaging, joining the conversation and taking part in many online communities. That was the news yesterday via eMarketer in the news item, Baby Boomers Get Connected with Social Media.

Here are some of the highlights:

• 47% of online boomers maintain a profile on at least one social network.
• Facebook is the favourite social network for boomers.
• Only 10% of online boomers were Twittering in September 2009.
• The percentage of boomer blog readers or writers registers in just the single digits.
• Although 49% of boomers said a purchase decision was influenced by an online review or recommendation on a retailer’s site, just 9% said their shopping behavior was influenced by something they saw on a blog or online community.
• For most boomers, being in constant contact is a personal choice, not one dictated by technology.

It’s moving slowly, but it is moving. Here’s the bottom line:

“Creating and renewing personal connections online is the biggest draw for boomers… Their contacts include family, friends and co-workers of all ages,”according to the report, Boomers And Social Media ($695 USD) available via eMarketer. This demographic is still in the nascent phase of adoption, but the early numbers are encouraging and as the technology (this includes hardware, software and platforms) increase in ease of use, it is anticipated that these numbers will, obviously, improve as well.

Now, go out and friend your grandparent, will ya?

Facebook Sending More Traffic Than Google to Some Sites

Will Search-Marketing Dollars Also Shift to Social Media?

by Michael Learmonth

Published: March 09, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Marketers spend billions to attract search traffic from Google, but late last year Facebook started becoming a bigger source of traffic for some large websites, according to analytics firm Hitwise.

It seems inevitable that, given Facebook’s sheer scale (180 million registered users and counting), it would at some point start referring a lot of users to some sites, but the development is surprising. Web users go to Google to figure out where to go next; they go to Facebook to, well, hang out.

Facebook gets a little more than a third of Google’s unique visitors in the U.S. (50 million vs. 149 million in January, per ComScore); since last summer, registered users have been growing at a double-digit rate.

Where they’re going
But since the beginning of the year, Facebook has become a bigger referring site than Google to a number of sites, including gossip sites PerezHilton.com and Dlisted, mom site CafeMom, Evite, video site Tagged.com, and, yes, Twitter.

There are good reasons for some of this: CafeMom has a Facebook fan page, which no doubt helps drive traffic, and users can synchronize updates with Facebook and Twitter.

It’s hard to know why two gossip sites are on the list, aside from the fact that they tend to be places people spend a lot of time. Since the beginning of 2009, gossip site PerezHilton.com has received 8.7% of its visitors from Facebook, compared with 7.6% from Google, according to Hitwise. The same didn’t hold true, however, for gossip site TMZ, which got 12.2% of its traffic from Google, compared with 3.8% from Facebook.

Big source for video sites
As NewTeeVee points out, Facebook has also become a big source of referrals for video sites as users post and share clips. Traffic from Facebook accounted for 3.3% of visits to video sites in February, according to Hitwise, up from less than 2% in February of last year.

It all points to the growing power of content sharing; the question is how to harness that and what it means for the future of “search” marketing. Companies spent $12.2 billion in 2008 on search optimization and marketing to get traffic from Google, according to eMarketer.

But Peter Yared, CEO of marketing firm iWidgets, said he thinks some of that spending is going to shift to where the viewers, and the traffic, increasingly are. “Soon the [search-engine marketing and search-engine optimization] spend will start to follow the eyeballs and transition from Google to social media,” he said.

ALL,

We have an exciting event for everyone and hope you can make it! This Friday – Friday the 13th, we will have an exciting Business Blitz event for all! We are asking that members from all chapters attend. RSVP’s are required as seating is limited – first come, first serve. Please have your guests register on www.meetup.com/businessblitz.

Announcing March 13, 2009 Compliments International with Huddle Productions presents:

Fusion Marketing

Seven time Emmy Award winning Huddle Productions will be filming, Compliments International’s The Fusion of Marketing at the weekly Addison Business Blitz Strategic Introduction meeting to be held at The Egg & I in Addison. (The Egg & I – 15203 Knoll Trail Drive #103, Dallas, TX 75248 – Arapaho & N. Dallas Tollway area)

Huddle Productions produces for networks like ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox Sports Network and CNBC. Co-founders Jim Knox and Chris Yates will be on hand along with Compliments International’s CEO Jennifer Bagley-Buckles with marketing success systems.

Knox will be conducting interviews with our members and clients, and Jennifer will speak on How the fusion of old school marketing, effective professional networking and new age technologies will crush traditional advertising. Social Media will rule the world, where are you in the mix?

Please join us and bring a couple guests. This is a great opportunity to get filmed at the event and learn some amazing information to grow your business in a new age.

When: Friday, March 13, 2009
Time: 12:00 Noon – arrive early for networking
What: Weekly Addison Business Blitz Strategic Networking Meeting
Location: This week only The Egg & I – 15203 Knoll Trail Drive #103, Dallas, TX 75248 – Arapaho & N. Dallas Tollway area
Meeting fee: $15 for members and $25 for non-members – includes lunch
Dress – Professional

R.S.V.P. www.meetup.com/businessblitz limited seating is limited!

Business Blitz