This Friday August 29th, 2008 LinkedIn will be adding some major enhancements to it´™s groups page, which just may move it one steps closer to giving FaceBook a run for it’s money in the battle for being the Social Media platform for Businesses.

The Groups section in LinkedIn is a way to create online Business Networking Communities.

The new features in LinkedIn Groups will include:

• Discussion forums
• Enhanced rosters
• Searchable list of group members
• Daily or weekly digests of new discussion topics which your members may choose to receive.
• Group home page

Before these updates we would have create a group in Linked and then go to FaceBook or create another platform to have group discussions and updates. In Michigan there is a LinkedIn Group for those marketers, PR agencies, technologist, and others interested in Social Media and the power it can have to grow Michigan businesses. There are tons of other groups on Linked one which is right you.

Byte or get bitten!

FaceBook is growing and becoming the online location for Business Networking. We all know that networking is important for any business. Michigan need to do a better job and growing through Social Media. ManoByte is here to help in this regard. Here are some interesting statistic regarding FaceBook and Michigan Usage.

Number of Michigan Users of FaceBook = 886,940
Michigan FaceBook user my age break down

13 – 20 406,720
20- 25 390,420
35- 65 89,800

Grand Rapids 88,660

Over time more businesses will start taking advantage of the opportunity to grow their company by using social media to reach B2B markets and ManoByte will be leading the way.

Byte or Get Bitten!

Towards the end of June 2008, Visa unleashed a Power FaceBook page. Visa understands Social Media and they are reaching out to Small Businesses through FaceBook. This bold move on the part of Visa is very significant. Unlike American Express, who missed out on the opportunity to buy PayPal before it became an eBay company, Visa is capitalizing on the opportunities available by using Social Media. This move by Visa should make all small business owner seriously consider leveraging the power of Social Media.

This means that Visa recognizes the power of Social Media. In addition, Visa understand that more and more small businesses will continue to use Social Media over other traditional forms of advertising. This only makes sense because Social Media cost significantly less and is significantly more effective.

To encourage small business owners to join their FaceBook page, Visa is offering $100 in Free FaceBook advertising. Take a moment and watch the video introduction. Once you are done I will explain how advertising on FaceBook works.

There are 2 primary was to advertise on FaceBook. First the Free way….

FaceBook Pages
You can create a FaceBook Page that represent your business, band, product or service. With FaceBook pages yo can ???connect with your customers on Facebook similar to the way they connect with their friends. Through a Facebook Page, users can show their support by becoming a fan, writing on your Wall, and other actions that automatically generate News Feed stories.??? Take a Look at the ManoByte Page and become a Fan.

FaceBook Ads
You can create extremely targeted Ads that appear when individuals create content that is relevant to advertisement. For example, lets say that John writes on his FaceBook page that he is going out tonight and will be eating at Six-One-Six at the JW Marriott an Ad for the Six-One-Six could appear next to that content. Making it more appealing for someone who looks at his page to click on that targeted ad.

Come visit us on FaceBook

Byte or Get Bitten!

Yesterday Laura Bergells and I taught a Social Media Marketing Intro class at ITT Tech. We had a really good turn out and there was a lot of enthusiasm in the air. We are planning on doing future class so stay tuned!

Byte or Get Bitten!

LinkedIn is now worth over 1 Billion dollars. According to Business Week:

“The professional networking site, home to some 23 million affluent users who sign up to find jobs, hire talent, and connect on projects, is about to become one of the select few social-media companies to attain a valuation of more than $1 billion.” Read the rest of the article it is very interesting.

So if you want to reach consumers with a high net worth LinkedIn is the place to do it.

Byte or get bitten!