Facebook’s official company statistics outline the breakdown of the sites over 400 million active users. While the site points out about 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States, it doesn’t dive deeper into the U.S. numbers. Muhammad dug deeper and designed this nice info-graphic outlining details about the users of Facebook in the US.

Also check out another Facebook demographic post I shared a few weeks ago here.

Original link to this info-graphic

What does 400 Million users look like? Well the population of the United States of America is about 100 Million shy of Facebook’s user base. What I really find powerful is how much communication happens each day on Facebook. There is probably no way of knowing the ratio of face to face communication to online communication but my guess is that more is being shared online then offline. Think about the interactions you have day to day with people. They are short and to the point. You make sure they are over fast so you have time to get back to Facebook and see what the people you actually care about are sharing. I know that there are people in the world who do not have Facebook or refuse to take part in it but the fact is that most of our nation and modern world is logged in to Facebook. I would be interested to know what the statistics are for my local area. If Facebook was to make that information available I guarantee you businesses would finally see the light and hire someone to evangelize for them. I think Facebook will be the topic of the next episode on Jerad Hill’s Secret Public Network Marketing Podcast.

They are embracing the idea that Men wear Old Spice. This feeds off of the preconceived thought that I and many like me had about Old Spice. Remember some of the other cheap colognes that we used to dowse ourselves with in junior high school? This of course being well before the age of Axe body spray which is the Stetson of the 21st century. This commercial spot, though entirely ridiculous, says exactly what it needs to say. Men wear Old Spice.

Around the web they understand that you have to stick out. In order to stick out you have to catch people off guard.

This Facebook ad alone was the tipping point that led me to write this blog post.

Old Spice knows that they are “OLD” and that they are/were known as Grandpa’s brand. What do guys under the age of 30 struggle with most? Being considered a “Man.” Who is a man in most people’s lives? Their Grandpa. Now these ads are not going to compel a guy to run down to Target and get himself some Old Spice deodorant but the next time one finds himself out of deodorant, Old Spice will stick out much more then the other brands. Phrases like “Because I’m a Man” and “Don’t smell like a turtle cage” will run through his head as he makes his decision to buy. I already use Old Spice deodorant so these ads just make me smile, however I still have a preconceived thought that their aftershave and cologne are for Grandpa. Maybe I should pick up a bottle next time and try it?

The purpose for posting this was to show that sometimes the best way to gain exposure is to play off what is already preconceived. Maybe your business has not been around for 70 years and has a Grandpa complex but in almost every industry there is a fun spin you could apply to what you do. Have fun with your advertising, if you don’t, people will see it and ignore it.

You can see more of their great content on their website: http://www.oldspice.com/videos/

Here is what you need to do to get started. Go create a Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace profile. This is the most amount of time you will spend logged into these services through your computer. Spend some time filling out the details sections and put some personal information in there. Don’t be afraid to be real. If you already have these social networks set up then simply modify the details to include your App Development ventures.

On your Mac, download the Tweetie app which will allow you to manage your Twitter account with out visiting the website. The Tweetie app is free.

On your iPhone, download the following apps: Tweetie, Facebook, Myspace. The Tweetie App is the only one that costs a few $$ but it’s worth it.

Your profile on Twitter:
You should design your profile on Twitter to be professional just as I have on mine. See my Twitter Profile. If you really believe in Twitter then I would suggest creating Twitter accounts for each of your apps. It will be easy to manage these accounts because Tweetie allows you to manage multiple accounts from with in the app. If you create a profile for each app then you can put the Twitter name in the About section of your App so that people who have downloaded your app can follow you on Twitter.

Create a Facebook page for each of your apps:
Facebook has been putting a lot of time and effort into their Pages. You can create a Facebook page for free and manage all of them under your own Facebook account. This makes it easier because you will only need one login. Being that there are so many people on Facebook you can use post updates for your app to the page and keep your users up to date with what you are doing with the app. You can see how some other companies like Pepsi and Nike are using Facebook pages to update their customers with information they want to share with them. Each user that has decided to become a fan of your facebook page will have a link to it on their Facebook page. Another good example is how I am using Facebook Pages to promote my photography business Jerad Hill Studios.

Using Myspace:
The good thing about Myspace is that you can do status updates, below I will outline how you can do this easily with out logging into Myspace. It has been 5 months since I have logged into my personal Myspace account through a web browser. I use the iPhone app to check messages and respond to them quickly. I can also add friends and comment people back. I would simply have a Myspace available with some information about your app and links to it. Myspace users could stumble upon it and make it back to your App’s website which could result in a purchase. Hey, it’s free so why not!

Link to these profiles:
Link to your profiles and pages on the web page for your App. Faithful users of your app will friend you up on all platforms if they truly like your app. This will allow their friends to see your page as well. Create a Linkshare account and generate revenue off of sales for your own app. Place links to your app on all of the profiles you have and on the web page for your app. Linkshare will also give you good analytics which will help you determine which social network’s users are paying more attention to what you are doing.

How to update them all at once!
Now for the exciting part. How do you update the status of each profile at once using one app? It’s simple, set up an account at Ping.fm. Once you have that set up link up the accounts you have on the other social networks in the settings of your Ping.fm account. Once you are done download the Mac Widget titled Pingboard which will allow you to update all of your social networks from the dashboard on your Mac. On your iPhone you can use Tweetie to update all of your social networks through Ping.Fm all you need is the mobile key from Ping.Fm. You get to this screen by clicking accounts, choosing your account name, clicking edit, choosing advanced and enter the mobile key. Now you can update your social networks from your Mac’s dashboard and your iPhone with ease.

If you really want to go crazy you can sign up for all of the social networks that Ping.Fm supports. This can help with your website’s SEO also because in each profile you can post a link back to your website. There are also members on each of those social networks who could be potential purchasers of your app. I check Ping.Fm once a week to check for new social networks they work with. If there is a new one, I create a profile and link back to my website. It’s all about creating buzz around your product and making sure that no matter where a person is they can find your product easy, even if they don’t know they are looking for it.

Buy the Textually Active Shirt Here.

So over the last year I have came across some true words of wisdom online through blogs. Many times blogs tend to repeat themselves as people copy other people or ideas from other blogs. You have to take the information that is presented and find the best way to get through it fast. Before I get into what I learned over the last year let me touch on how I do this.

First, I look for compelling titles and well written subheaders. It has to grab me. My subconscious mind has to stop me as I am grazing through blogs in my feed reader. Usually well written blogs use good graphics that match the emotion of the blog. These things combined have to grab me in order to get me to stop and read the first paragraph.

So, well over a year of reading marketing blogs and here is what I have comprised from most of the bloggers out there that seem to be doing well for themselves.

#1 Community is everything:
One trend that I have noticed on all blogs that seem to do well is that the writer engages with his/her readers. As I reach the end of the article I see collaboration happening in the comment boxes as people discuss what the writer has touched on. The writer revisits his blog and posts comments below and will even post a new blog should some of the readers request a more in depth look at the topic. I believe that a good marketing campaign should do the same. In today’s market we all want to feel reached out to and spoken to on an individual level. Adverting is just going to become more and more customized to fit our individual needs as time goes on. Community is happening on every level of online communication right now from blogs to niche social networks. Myspace is old news to many because they have moved on to something less general and more specific to their individual lifestyles. I can honestly say that I spend a fraction of the time on Myspace that I used to and if it were not for the fact that many of my Photography clients are my friends on Myspace I would never get on Myspace.

#2 You have a personal brand and you don’t even know it.
You may say that a brand is something that only applies to companies but I beg to differ in the world we live in today. Anyone who is online and has a profile somewhere is taking part in personal branding. All of us are differentiating ourselves in so many unique ways and sharing that information with the world. Before this online movement to social media you would only know an individuals interests, beliefs and morals is you asked them. Now it is all on display on the Myspace, Facebook and Twitter accounts. Every move we make online is added to our public time line and it allows people to understand us almost completely with out even knowing us personally. We attach ourselves to other brands, images and ideas which are exactly what brands are made up from in the first place.

My question to you is, what is your brand made up of?

#3 If They can do it, I can do it.
The blog movement has made writers and journalists out of all of us. We all know there is a lot of garbage out there and one of the reasons I started this blog over from scratch is due to the fact that I had reblogged many things that were already out there. If somebody was to look at my old blog and try to understand me as a person, they would have a hard time. The problem with many websites out there is that they end up looking like the junk drawer in the kitchen, many items buried under each other. Often times you can’t find what you are looking for. When I started the iPhone App Podcast website it became more clear to me. All of these bloggers and book writers I read started to make sense. They have been telling me to find something I am interested in and not only share it with the world but share it well. Be the best at it. I finally decided to do that and the Podcast is very successful. I have had a few blog article success moments on my old blog where an article got Stumbled and saw 1000′s of hits in a 24 hour period. It’s easy to get off topic because we think the world may want to see something we came across.

Find your passion and when you do share it with others. Whether it be in business or blog writing, be one of those people that others look at in envy of your passion.

#5 Get Educated
I don’t necessarily mean go back to school, I mean do some reading. You have already made it this far through this blog so that is a good start. When I got into business which is now 8 years ago, I knew I did not know anything, so I bought books. I read books, whatever business books I could get my hands on. When blogs started to get popular, I started reading those too. I would get so enthused about business and growing my network after finishing a book. There were times when I did not read for several months and I would notice a decrease in desire to be the best I could in my industry. Over the last year or so there seems to have been an increase in people telling us to read more. Not just reading for the sake of reading but reading to grow in your area of interest. No fiction reading, simply business related books. That is all I read. I can’t get into fiction books. I love reading marketing books, I get into them and can’t wait to share the info I just read with someone else. Reading blogs is great also because they are direct and to the point. Many good gems are waiting for you to uncover them inside of blogs. Do yourself a favor and read for an hour a day in the morning and see what it does to your day at work.

#6 You can be the next big thing, right now.
Your passion, idea, art, concept or anything for that matter can be the next big thing in today’s market. Websites like StumbleUpon and Digg.Com are known for taking an average Joe with a good idea and blowing them up over night. So much that there is a term called the Digg Effect, which happens when a website reaches top placement on Digg.Com which results in so many visits to the destination’s website that the server crashes. You could have your 15 minutes of fame or launch a great marketing campaign with little or no money up front, simply let the world do it for you.

#7 How not to do things
Just as the old adage says that good customer experiences never get talked about but bad ones can kill a business such is the same with marketing. If a bad marketing campaign reaches the right person, it will get bashed. Even books are written about marketing failures. We are consumed with desire to see what we should not be doing. I can only see this as a good thing. The world wide web in it’s vastness provides us with enough information and “fail” articles to make us want to think twice before launching our campaign.

#8 Listen and Relate
If there is one thing going through our heads when we see a national ad campaign it’s the thought that they have no idea what we really want to hear. Sorry Burger King but your Diddy commercial did not make me want to come get some late night snacks at Burger King. I’m sure I had already lost respect for him before the Pepsi Truck Commercial but the only thing these commercials says to me is that Diddy is way beyond selling out. Advertisers need to listen to their target audience and provide content that they can relate to. You may think that you know your target audience but from what the world has shown us, changes are you don’t.

#9 Outsourcing is a good thing.
I used to hang on to every aspect of my job because I believed that if I know how to do it I should not be paying someone else to do it. That resulted in me never leaving the office until I had completed a job. Then once that job was completed I would get out again and network because I had nothing on my plate. How unproductive is that? I now outsource items that I know could be done better by a specialist and focus on what I do best. This frees up more time which allows me to work on my personal brand and to network with others much more frequently. I may be paying someone else to handle certain aspects of my work but I am out reaching new clients and coming back to the office with more signed contracts because I am out networking more often.

#10 Be careful what you apply to your life, research everything. Be yourself because that is what differentiates you from everybody else.
There is so much junk out there that there are websites that do nothing but report on the junk. How crazy is that? Because of this you must be careful not to read something and then apply it to your life or business with our carefully thinking about what the possible outcomes could be. Just because something worked for somebody else does not mean it will work for you. Just as fast as you could become the next viral thing to reach all corners of the web you could also spoke of in a negative light as well. Be smart about what you share with the world online. The internet is a deep pit of archival hell that is very hard to get out of once you fall into it. As I mentioned above in my second point, watch how you brand yourself. Do what you can to protect your name because you can ruin it online in a minute. Be unique, you are already unique because nobody else was created like you, so don’t try to be like others.

Do you read a lot of blogs online? What are some general observations you have made? Share them with me.

If you need help setting up a pay per click campaign visit my website, http://jeradhill.com and shoot me an email. I would love to help you get into advertising niches like Myspace and Facebook.

I have to admit, the interface and options are great. Facebook did a good job with their advertising module. I started off with 5 ads. All of them using my company name in the header and a quick 2 sentence explanation of what my service is. Basically the same approach we all take with our Google Adword ads. This approach quickly proved futile as I received thousands of page views but no clicks.

People are not paying attention to the ads. I was eating lunch with a marketing guy from PMZ today and realized that people only notice ads that stick out to them and speak to them about something they care about. Yesterday I started an ad in my campaign titled “Jerad Shoots People!” This ad has a picture of me and my big DSLR camera posed in the typical Myspace bathroom picture. I took this picture last year making fun of the Myspace bathroom picture. The text in the ad reads, “Getting shot by Jerad will change your life forever.” With in 20 minutes of the ad being submitted it was producing fruit. Although it is not a large amount of clicks it was many more then I was receiving prior and it is gaining speed. With a greater daily budget I could see it doing even better.

When I am on Facebook or Myspace I almost never notice the ads anymore. I have learned to block out even the flashing ads. We have done the same thing with TV ads. We just don’t pay attention. It takes “shock value” in order to capture our attention. Obviously the statement that “Jerad Shoots People” was enough to get across to a few people. This is still in it’s early stages and I do not have months of data to back this up but it all makes sense.

I encourage you to put more thought into your ads. Include some personality and definitely some passion. Think outside the normal realm of your industry. Remember that you are advertising to people who just want to ignore your ads, so find a creative way to capture their attention.

Make sure to subscribe to my RSS feed. I will continue to post articles such as this as I feel out different options and try new things.

LinkedIn can help you become better networked

#1 It can bring you more money and job opportunities

LinkedIn can bring you job opportunities, freelance and fulltime that can help you to move of within your industry. It doesn’t even require you to do much extra work, you may want to add others in your industry but aside from that there is very little work that needs to be done to ensure that your name is in the industry pool. You may want to participate in LinkedIn answers to get your name out there a little better. There are also posted jobs on LinkedIn that you can put your name in the hat for aside from just being networked with others.

#2 It can help you keep in touch with industry leaders
You don’t have to just add the people you know on LinkedIn, you can have others introduce you to someone that you may want to know. Someone that can help you with your career or possibliy someone that would be willing to go into a business venture with you. I have been contacted by multiple people about blogging ventures recently through LinkedIn.

#3 Stay in touch with other professionals
You may have the best job out there or be an industry leader yourself, but LinkedIn is an easy and professional way to stay in touch with other professionals you have worked with or for. It is also an excellent way to stay in touch with other professionals in your industry that you may have met at a convention. It is better than sharing your MySpace or Facebook account and other professionals getting to see how unprofessional you really are.

#4 Get recommended by other professionals
You can easily get recommended by other professionals that you have worked with by just asking. These recommendations add a lot of power to your ability to get hired or your caliber of professionalism within your industry. The more people that recommend you the better your profile will look to others in your industry and connections list.

#5 Get answers to your questions from other professionals
You can easily ask a question on LinkedIn to find help from other industry professionals. Their answers area is very helpful and there are always quick responses to your questions. It can even be a way for you to further network— beyond the normal benefits of getting a quick and reliable answer to your questions.

#6 LinkedIn is your online resume
There are more and more people leaning towards a paperless method of doing business. Global warming is a real issue. I would personally almost prefer to see someones LinkedIn profile before they are hired then a regular resume. There is a lot more information available on a LinkedIn profile than would be available on a resume. You have your work history, school history, bio, web sites and how much work you have put into networking with other professionals. Which says a lot about who you are and how serious you are about the industry you are in.

#7 LinkedIn is like having a website
For those that don’t have a website or a means to have people locate them on Google. LinkedIn fills that void. I know that I see my personal LinkedIn profile come up in Google near the top of the results. This can help other professionals find you if they have lost your phone number or email address. It can even help other companies locate you if they are interested in hiring you for contract or full time work.

#8 Helps you keep track of you
I know that anytime I have to go and make a new resume I always have to reference my old resume to make sure I don’t miss any important points that I want to include. It is nice to have an online version of your resume to reference and ensure that you are including all the pertinent information that you will need to use.

#9 You can put your picture on it
Last year they added the ability to put your picture on your profile. You can now be recognized easier if someone has forgotten your name but remembers what you look like. It is also helpful for people to remember what you look like if it has been awhile since they met you. Especially if you are about to meet them in a public place that may require somewhat quick recognition.

#10 It isn’t MySpace
It isn’t going to send you spam from people wanting to be your friend. There isn’t a way to spam LinkedIn users and there isn’t any way to add additional code that can be manipulated to trick you into giving out your LinkedIn account information. You don’t have to worry about other not-so-savvy professionals adding glitter and 18 videos to their profile either.

As posted by Dustin Brewer

Creating a Web site for the purpose of selling products or services online entails a large amount of research and planning. When you start an online business, forgetting one simple step can make the difference between success and failure.

Here are 8 steps to help you get started:

1. Create a business and marketing plan. Schedule a time to meet with your business partners or team members. Brainstorm together and lay out all of your plans in one document. This plan should incorporate all startup and recurring costs. Set up an overall expense budget and sales forecast.

2. Choose a good Web site address (domain name) to help customers find you. You will need to select a domain name for the site that accurately represents what you are selling and helps brand your business. However, did you consider that the search engines will also be using your domain name as a symbol of what you sell? Give some thought to an appropriate URL and go shopping for one.

3. Select the right e-commerce software with a shopping cart. In order to sell products on your Web site, you have a few options. You can hire someone to develop custom online storefront functionality. However, most small businesses who are looking for more cost effective solutions purchase e-commerce Web site hosting software. This allows your customers to select products from your Web site, put them into the shopping cart on your site, and then checkout using their choice of various payment methods.

4. Apply for a business account (merchant account) for processing credit cards. It is critical to give your customers multiple payment options on your Web site. Most customers are accustomed to paying for goods and services online using their credit card. In order to accept credit cards as payment for your products, you must apply for what is called a merchant account. If you do not accept credit cards on your Web site, you are doing a great disservice to your site’s potential for success, so make sure you apply.

5. Secure your site to let customers know it is safe to do business with you. As an online merchant, security is a key consideration for you. If you are going to accept consumer financial information such as credit card payments, you are responsible for ensuring that data is protected and secure and that you meet credit card company security requirements.

6. Design your site to be user-friendly. Once you have all of the products uploaded to the Web site and you can accept credit cards it’s time to work on improving the site’s appearance before you go live with your new online storefront.

7. Test the site. You only have one chance to make a first impression with each visitor, so be sure that you test and tweak your site before going live with it. Plan at least a few days or weeks to do this. Make sure everything is working properly or all of your efforts can be for naught.

You might try inviting a few friends to help you test the site. Ask them to visit your Web site while you watch their browsing behavior. Try not to say anything as they click around. Give them fifteen minutes, and then ask them about their experience.

8. Promote your site online. Promoting your site on the Web can be expensive and complex, but taking advantage of search engine behavior to drive targeted traffic to your site can result in a favorable long-term return on your up-front investment, whether that investment is your time or money.

Using these tips, you can quickly and easily start selling products online. It may seem a bit daunting at first, but is actually quite simple. There are many vendors who can help fulfill the needs laid out in each action step. Simply visit Google and search for a place to buy a domain name (eg. GoDaddy.com), an e-commerce platform, and so on. Follow these steps and in no time at all you’ll be up and running.

Originally posted by Marketing Scoop

Those of you who have advertised in the yellow pages before know what I am talking about. There are very few industries that thrive in the yellow pages. People today do their research online on a lunch break or while on hold with Dell tech support. Search engines offer quick results that are much faster and more informative then a yellow pages ad. The last time I even saw a yellow pages book up close was at this youth event where a big guy was tearing them in half and launching the torn pieces up into the air. The kids sure enjoyed it.

Studies today show that people are spending much more time researching the products and services they are looking to spend their money on. With so much information at hand we can become better consumers. We make better decisions about what we get for our dollar. If I want to buy a home theater system then I go online to look at brands. Then I read reviews on the product. It is rare anymore that I just know what I want and buy it. There are to many companies making it and to many models to choose from. I need to read up on the product to find out which options will best suit me. This is the story for most of us today. Even the “techie” friend that most have that we ask before making a new computer purchase goes online to better help you make an informed decision. We are in the age of information. Nothing is to far to understand anymore.

Back in the day of the phone book the big colorful flashy ads used to get our attention. Now a visually appealing and content smart website reaches our souls and satisfies our thirst for knowledge. A good website is a 24 hour a day 7 day a week instructing and selling tool that reaches into the 85% of homes in America that have an internet connection. It’s so much more then a yellow page ad.

Cost effectiveness: Most cringe at the thought of spending several thousand dollars to get a website up and going. It’s a large expense to incur, lets do some math.

Business Card Size Yellow page ad cost is about $180 a month totaling $2160 a year only to increase in price each year.

The average website I design costs approximately $2500. one time.

A New York Times article states: The percentage of Americans in cellphone-only households has overtook the percentage in landline-only households, according to Mediamark Research, a firm that has been tracking such data since the mid-1980s.

Cable modems, Wimax, and cellular broadband services are making it possible to have internet in your home with out a landline. This is decreasing the amount of homes that will receive phonebooks.

Ask yourself this question: Does a phonebook have the capability to share a story, display compelling images and even play a video? No, but a website can do this. If your yellow page ad could display video would it be worth paying $400 more a year? Why not just have a website designed?

The cost is to much right now! This is the response I often receive from smaller businesses I meet with. I have asked many people and I believe that the reason people go with yellow page advertising is due to the fact that it is $180 a month instead of $2500 up front.

The employee that does nothing and you don’t even know it. This is how I would explain a yellow pages ad. How do you gauge your conversion rate on that ad? You have to ask each caller. How annoying that will get for your customers. Can you get the information you see below from a yellow pages ad?

The proof is in the pudding. A website will give you that extra edge and the ability to grow.

This is a Google Maps listing which is free. Between Google and Yahoo 85% of online searching takes place. Connect that listing to a website and you will reap huge rewards.

Search Engine Advertising: Depending on your industry, advertising for Premium placement in search engines can cost as little as a few dollars a month and reach thousands. For my wedding photography business I typically book clients in the winter and early spring months, so I spend money on ad placement during those months. On average I spend around $45-60 a month and an average of 120 additional people see my website because of it. On the high side thats about fifty cents per person. Plus I can turn the ad placement off and on as I wish. No contracts! Just for reference, the listings in the image below with “organic” next to them are listings that show up in the search engines for free. They are unpaid listings.

So what do I recommend you do for your business this year? If you can afford it, have a website designed. If you can not afford it, get a business line of credit or find a web designer that has financing available. I just began offering financing where I am able to offer my clients six months no interest financing. Spread the average of $2500 over six months and you have $416 a month. Spread that over a year and you are only out around $200 a year.

The payoff: You get a advertising tool that is 100% trackable, growable and has the potential to reach the world. What are you waiting for, get a website started for your company. Your competition already has one.