For all of you doubters out there who don’t believe social media sites like Twitter or MySpace can be successfully used for marketing your business.. I give you, The Goat. On February 6, 2010, “Can this Goat get more fans than Barack Obama” made its debut on the social media website more popularly known as Facebook. What started out as probably a little curiosity and humor combined has turned into probably the best proof that social media can be completely systemic. Six days later on Friday, February 12th, at exactly 4:20 in the afternoon the number of fans had already reached 99,078 and exactly four minutes later that number had jumped to 99,171. That’s 93 people/fans in just 4 minutes! And only 52 minutes later at 5:16 p.m. the number has grown by 1,362 fans, creating a new total of 100,533. Now, you don’t have to be a math genius to figure out that this is a substantial exponentially increasing number of people. The remarks on the page vary from “somebody feed him the health care bill please” to “I think the goat could pick a Super Bowl winner” (of course, you can’t have a conversation without mentioning the Super Bowl). They even have a conversation raging over what to name the goat. Those names range from just ‘The Goat’ to your everyday ‘Joe the Goat’ or ‘Bubba Goat’ to the more clever suggestions like ‘Oba-a-a-a-a-ma’ and ‘Baaaa Rack the Goat’. So whether you think this whole mess is just quite silly and even laughable, you have to admit that the universal effects of social media are astounding and cannot be denied. I invite you to examine the limitless possibilities social media has to offer your business endeavors. Of course, nothing takes the place of good ‘ole face to face interaction, but social media seems to come in a close second. Who could deny the insight to people’s emotions and opinions or the frank communication these platforms have to offer to the everyday person or businessman. Now just stop and think of those possibilities… reaching 100,533 in six days.

So you have 34,000 Twitter followers, over 500 FaceBook Fans, and over 100k LinkedIn?
Big Deal ! Social networking is not about “how many”, it’s about “how many listen”. Some of the best parties are small and intimate settings. That’s where the meaningful conversations happen, and that’s where it’s possible to hear and be heard by everyone there. Industrial media (like newspapers) enjoys subscribers…folks that “want to hear (read).” The problem is those folks don’t want to hear “everything.” Content runs the risk of being like the guy or gal that won’t shut up at the party. The trick is to make sure your saying only what’s meaningful to the people that want to hear it…that’s the essence of good social media, and social networking.

Why should you social network?
Let me try and put social networking into perspective for you:
At this writing there are more than 200 million active users on Facebook, and it is the fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older. Myspace enjoys 76 Million users, while Microsoft: Live, Hotmail, and Messenger enjoys more than 500 million users. The Twitter phenomenon has reached a staggering 752% growth and is appropriately tethered to mobile technology. It is in mobile technology where users utilize social media more than land based technology. I use many social media sites, but I use Linkedin because it is grounded in business. Linkedin has 36 million users and is adding 1.3 users per second.
To put it in perspective: I’m in the coffee business, and I get a lot of coffee out of Brazil. Brazil has a population of approximately 192 million. Facebook has a population of 200 million. My online Social Networking community trumps populations of countries. So why should you use Social Networking? The numbers are staggering, and they are growing. I fundamentally believe that social networking is one of the fastest and most efficient and cost effective means of communication.
Get your tweet on!
Join me on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Myspace, Social Networking,Youtube,Stumbleupon,Blogger.com,Jumpingoat.com/blog

Reach me at Forrest Graves 706-219-1819

I was recently asked to provide the best example I have found where money has been made from social networking.
This is part three of my blog series around social networking. You can subscribe to my blog at Http://www.JumpinGoat.com/blog It’s there you will find a delightfully appropriate mix of coffee and business.
Aside from Adsence, or Sponsorships, or using your network for marketing purposes I will provide one example from my industry, “coffee.”
As you would probably expect there are well over 1200 Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter profiles and groups with a devotion to coffee and teas. According to a recent article in a coffee trade publication by Rebecca Ragain, a well known coffee house made history by filling what was probably the first ever to-go-order placed by twitter. It was so successful; it was adopted as a regular service. Imagine folks on the back deck ordering coffee or refills without getting up. Maybe that’s just lazy, maybe it’s just smart business to provide such a service?
So there is your example.
I am interested in getting your direct e-mail about your experiences with monetizing social networks. What has worked for you?
Forrest Graves
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