News reports suggest that Facebook is valuing itself at nearly $96 billion for its upcoming IPO. That would be record-setting for a web-based company, even overshadowing Google’s offering in 2004.

Of course, it helps that it is one of the most popular Internet companies of all time. Facebook pretty much dominates the web when it comes to time spent online and interaction. While it didn’t exactly invent social media, the company has become the de facto standard. Facebook rules the roost, and it won’t be surprising if their IPO is huger than huge.

With so much press, lots of people will want a piece of the action. The danger for the small investor is the inevitable overvaluing that a hot stock will likely take on. In other words, if you jump in, you may pay way too much for a stock that can’t live up to the hype.

As for the business owner who wants more exposure, Facebook is the place to be. As the IPO draws closer, Facebook will be getting more press than ever, and we’d imagine that traffic will only increase. Now more than ever, you need to have a presence on Facebook. And, like most things online, it takes some tricky maneuvering to make an impact.

If you need help, contact us here at M3. We live, eat, and breathe social media on a daily basis. Call us today!

The Zeitgeist of the current digital age revolves around being likeable, and social media has businesses in a whirl, trying to figure out the magic formula of being “liked”. So what’s it take to be liked, and how do you make yourself worth being liked?

There’s not an easy answer, because like most things in this digital age, it’s the luck of the draw. What works for one business may not necessarily work for another. As a matter of fact, it can even backfire. We’ve talked here before about marketing in social media and the importance of developing relationships with your fan base instead of just gathering up random likes. Running up the numbers on Facebook won’t do you any good if your fan base isn’t interacting with you on a regular basis.

AdAge has a few wonderful examples of successful campaigns and how they worked for certain companies. The idea here is not to copy what has been done, but to find unique ways to connect to your own audience. At Mass Media Marketing, we are always striving to find new and exciting avenues to build quality likes over quantity. Give us a call and let us help you maneuver through the ever-changing landscape of marketing in social media.

Facebook’s sales strategist Sheryl Sandberg recently announced that the social media giant will be offering $50 credits to small businesses in the hopes of gaining them as regular clients. Sandberg, formerly one of the key players at Google, is now bringing the search engine’s marketing savvy to Facebook. The goal, of course, is to generate more revenue by latching on to the torrent of small businesses that have recently migrated to Facebook in order to market themselves via social media.

Setting up a free Facebook page is pretty simple, and many small businesses have thrived by utilizing social media sites. The hope for Facebook is that the same small businesses will spend a little money with them by buying ads to target other Facebook users. In the end, it could add up to big bucks.

So, is it worth it to take Facebook’s $50 and run with it? Sure, why not? There’s really not a lot to lose, especially if it ends up working in your favor. Will it be the cash generator Facebook is hoping for? Only if it can cause a stir like AdWords did, which remains to be seen.

Conventional wisdom says that the main users of social media are the young and technological savvy, but a new report from the Pew Research Center indicates that more than 50% of adults are now using social media on a regular basis. There’s been a dramatic increase in adults flocking to the Internet over the past five years, with social media seeing the majority of this influx.

So what does this mean for you? If your business is trying to reach an adult demographic, then you can no longer ignore social media sites. The reasoning that only young people are using sites like Facebook or Twitter, etc, no longer holds true. Your best online marketing plan is one that reaches out beyond your website and into the social media sites.

And, as we’ve seen, this isn’t always an easy task, because keeping everything updated requires a lot of time and effort. Contact M3 and let us show you some efficient ways to manage your online presence.