Social Media Marketing

The journey from Social Media to Assured Sales

The journey from social media to assured sales is the one every brand would love to make.  As it not only ensures good business, but also helps brands to establish themselves as “Consumers Choice”.

Of the many aspects that are part of an online marketing campaign, there are few which are the core points that brands need to keep in mind while planning a social media marketing campaign:

Understand the consumer first -  Do your homework, research, analysis and understand the complete demographic and online social behavior of the consumers on:

• “How do they react” to specific tone of messages, words, phrases etc online.
• Each consumer (Industry centric) reacts differently online and offline.
• The idea is to have a very thin line between the two worlds and give the end users a real-time experience with rich content, feel in terms of demos, apps, videos, immediate feedback and responses too.
• In simple terms, it should result into value for connecting with your brand and a wonderful experience at the end for the users.

The consumer of today is well informed and it is to be used as an advantage by brands as their target market today interacts and engages themselves more than ever before.

So the first idea is to understand and connect with the consumer within and then with the end users.

• Don’t sell, but relate to their needs, buying patterns, customize and give them value for being a part of this online social engagement.
• Remember, every user online who speaks about you or “Likes or Mentions” you across social networking platforms, is your very own brand ambassador.
• Recognize them and reward them accordingly.Make room for immediate gratification.
• Look at what brands like Starbucks or Mountain Dew does. They take customers feedback and create products relevant to their needs.

Now comes the part of understanding what they need and the aspect of really making it happen based on organizational support and dealing with roadblocks that are inevitable (Organizational roadblocks – Rigid Policy, guidelines, in-house team support etc). Every effort towards customization for consumer, especially on an online platform, assures the Brands tremendous recognition and feedback via brand promotion and mentions by their consumers and the best part is that, its measurable.

Offer them custom designed services and products. Its wonderful when brands ask customers to design their very own “Combo products / services” It not only keeps them engaged with the brand, but also tells them that you value their opinions and doing your best to deliver.

Today e-commerce companies like Flipkart are doing really well because of many reasons, but few of those mainly owing to the fact that they have a “no-hassle return policy coupled with Cash on delivery” option which gives tremendous trust to consumers buying online today. With that, they also offer daily special offers, deals, low-price and that with great service is bound to make them popular. It shows that they have listened.

Another important aspect is, to not be on, each and every available online platform.

This is a mistake which many brands today make. Being or trying to be everywhere. Be at relevant online platforms. Understand whether your end users use blogs, forms, social networking sites, google searches, web banner ads, emailers, smartphone apps etc and establish your presence across those profiles only. Being across 4-6 such platforms to begin with is more than enough during a period of a six month to one year campaign wherein, you get a better understanding of their comfort levels with engaging online and you can then focus on may be just those 2-3 platforms, where their presence is more and for a longer duration.

Search engine optimization also is an important part of digital marketing today with feeds and comments appearing on searches. But with the pace with which social media monitoring and marketing seem to be growing, its become compulsory to integrate social media campaigns with seo. But make sure, you concentrate on on-page optimization as strong as off-age optimization too.

Customer insights and knowing your company or Brand’s social media quotient (SMQ) is the core of a social media or any digital marketing campaign. It also ensures brand monitoring for both, negative and positive mentions about your brand, product and services. Always remember, if you exist as a brand, someone out there is are already talking about you. Make sure you are a part of that amazing conversation prism.

SEO and Brand monitoring helps you to find the relevant sites when combined with social media influence strategies (SMI). It lets you study in-depth about the relevant sites, have a brief look at the profile of registered users on that site based on connect you have with the users or the apps integrated with the site. You then get to know the influencer(s) too. The idea is to gauge the quality of brand and or keyword related conversations real-time.

No campaign is complete without predetermined target to be achieved in terms of real ROI for the company or brand. Make sure your social media monitoring and brand marketing campaigns have enough strategies and process in it to help you evaluate the return on investment for your campaigns. Remember, good campaigns are those which constantly are improvised with consistent responses and feedback based on the social media quotient analysis and reports of your campaign.

Some power packed tools that always go a long way when used appropriately are:

• Blogs: It’s a powerhouse in terms of social media tool. A great way to engage your users with interesting and relevant information and at the same time, gives them an opportunity to interact with the brand too.
• Forums: Extremely efficient when it comes to users wherein the products need a lot of assistance in terms of support intermittently.
• Facebook: Wherein the end user is right in front of you
• Twitter: Users are consumption hungry and need quick information at jet speed.
• LinkedIn: For Corporate professionals. Connect and grow as a business together

So, what did your brand tell your customer today?

Share with me your views and comments here. Would love to hear from you.

Thanks and have a wonderful connect ahead.

Ananth V

Founder & CEO

Techdivine Creative Services

You can also Connect with me here: On facebook, On LinkedIn & on Twitter

Hot keys and tips for Your Google Plus

Try them out for Your GOOGLE PLUS Profile:

• For Quick Comment:  Single Click on any post from your Stream. It gets highlighted  & then HIT the Return / Enter key on Your Keyboard.
• Space > Scroll down
• Shift & Space > Scroll up in a jiff
• Letter “J” > Let’s you Scroll down a single post
• Letter “K” >  Allows you to Scroll Up one post
• Click on the time stamp on any post and it takes you directly to a permalink of just that single thread

Stylize your POST:

1. Type any Word inside *Techdivine* & this is what you get Techdivine, your word in BOLD
2. Type any Word inside _Techdivine_ & this is what you get Techdivine
3. Type any Word inside -Techdivine-  & this is what you get Techdivine

Hope you had fun reading the post, we sure had fun posting it.

If you come across some interesting hot keys, let us know.

Enjoy!

Join us on Google Plus

Your SMQ

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• Google Plus Review
• Google Plus is here
• Android mobile smartphones
• Google Android Rules mobile phone market
• Locate Your Lost Android Phone with this free App

The one we all have been waiting for, Google Plus is finally here!

What does it have in store for all of us!

Lets have a look…..

1. Starting with the Awesome feature of GOOGLE CIRCLES

Google circles is about sharing the right stuff with the right people

How does it work: Google Circles lets you Drag & drop Your Connections from one circle to another. So, no more getting annoyed or annoying your social connections with information that they do not want or that, You do not wish to share with everyone but a select few!

Here is an easy way to keep your inner circle close by social google circles.  There is no way your Boss will now know where you were, when you took the sick day off at work!

2.Google Hangouts

With Hangouts, the power of  check-ins is here. May be with a lesser finesse than a foursquare app but with a super powered Google video you get the video to web face to face chat for the first time.

3.  Google Sparks

Here is Google Alerts styled and delivered to your profile with Google Plus. Select your favorite or interesting topics that you wish to stay updated with and Google Sparks brings you the latest across the web to read, watch or share!

4. Google Instant Uploads

Upload your on the go Pictures and Videos from your phones instantly and share it in your circle!

5. Google Huddle

This ones Our Favorite.The power of Google Huddle is bringing in every different conversation on a particular topic under one single group chat! Now all of you can decide which movie to watch or where to eat out in the evening.

The Invites are currently being sent out on a limited number basis.

But dont get disheartened, connect with us and you might get some wonderful surprises from our end too.  Connect with us on our page here.

Want to stay updated with us on Google Plus with more updates, guides & may be some Lucky surprises too – Join us on Our Facebook Page Now & dont miss the action. Click here to Join in Now!

Have a  great day ahead.

Admin

Techdivine Creative Services

Connect with us:

Techdivine on Twitter

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Source Via Google Plus

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing (SMM), Social Media Quotient (SMQ) & BRAND ‘YOU’:  Social Media Monitoring,Measuring & Connecting integrated with a powerful SEO!

Understanding the Index of search engines, algorithms and the mathematics behind it is a key aspect of any social media marketing campaign coupled with a social media monitoring technique and a powerful SEO process. For readers, writers and the end user that is the audience of that particular content, the process needs to be equally refreshing too.

The reason being, any popular search engine be it, Google, Bing, Yahoo etc is getting more and more closer to giving the user an AI experience even in its searches and from what we hear, the search engine experience is only going to get richer, quicker and better for users.

For an optimized SEO integrated with your product based and or target based social media quotient measuring SMM campaigns for clear understanding of your SMQ, one needs to be sure of maximizing the ‘Index-ability’ factor across pages. So which are the possible pages that you would want an SEO campaign for:

• Your Social Networking sites
• Your Micro-blogging sites
• Your Blog(s)
• Your Website
• Your Media Channel platforms

The above platforms form at least  a basic part of any successful and qualitatively measurable online channel platforms for planning a SMM (Social Media Monitoring / Social Media Marketing) campaign for Your Social Media Quotient analysis and insights.

Does this mean that creating content across platforms ensures a powerful SEO?

The answer is a simple ‘NO’.

Like we quoted earlier, the mathematical calculations, various algorithms and more form part of a serious social media marketing campaign for your product / service optimum SEO.

• These include the keyword analysis, core product / category phrase density, url optimization, quality and quantity of content indexed. This needs to be carefully planned across platforms too.
• Having a sitemap always helps.
• Ensuring your place across Google Places with owner verified listing is also a great value add.
• Lesser frames on your website, lower use of flashy content animated and lesser use of tables with the least possibly complex and or numbered urls is the first way to begin your steps towards a successful continuous SEO process.

Ask us for a Free SEO report for a precise integration with a Social Media Marketing campaign from our end.  Write to us: socialmedia@techdivine.com or Visit us here if you are interested for a well designed, planned and implemented Powerful customized EXCLUSIVE FOR CORPORATES ‘Social Media Monitoring campaign’ for your product, brand and business.

At the end of the day, make sure you pay heed to your SMM experts / consultants insightful and detailed reports about your brand, blog, site and other online marketing services platforms.

Have a quality connect with your customers online!

Share your views on this with us here. We would love to read your comments and suggestions.

You can also connect with us here:

Connect for Free Web updates, Social Media tips, resources & Creative writing Blog freebies on our Twitter Profile: Tweet with us here: @techdivine

Join our Online Facebook group:  TD Studios: Social Media Marketing Services and be a part of our online conversation prism

Feel free to write to us at: socialmedia@techdivine.com

Interested to read our Experienced Online Brand & Product Marketing Consultants insights, analysis and resources – Exclusive for Our Premium Members Only ~ Click Here

Stay connected!

Regards

Ananth V

Techdivine Creative Services

@techdivine

What is Twitter?
It is a Micro Blogging tool or to be more precise a super power packed micro blogging marketing tool used by millions of people growing at an unbelievable rate for social, professional and interest based activities.
It has a character limit of 140 characters to send messages termed as ‘tweet’ to those who are following that group / user profile.

Tweet with us @techdivine

What exactly does Twitter do for:

1. Professionals:
Professionals can search across twitter in the Twitter website’s ‘find people’ section where one can search for groups, hobbies, topics, names, profiles, organizations etc and join in the conversation prism. It helps tweeters to find jobs, learn more about a particular subject, debate, understand, research, stay in tune with latest updates in their field of interest, find jobs, post openings, enhance skills, share industry updates etc

2. Individuals:
Individuals can be a part of this amazing learning opportunity. They can join in the conversations about their interesting subject topics, converse and learn faster than before. Following varied profiles of similar interest groups gives one the flexibility to learn from multiple domains, platforms across the internet in a matter of seconds without having to search through the internet for the same.

3. Free Birds:
Free birds are those who are not associated professionally or otherwise with a particular topic but just want to stay updated across industries, friends, colleagues etc.

What is the process of Tweeting?
Tweeting refers to sending (currently) 140 characters or less including spaces in text format using twitter website. These are referred to as tweets and can be just plain text, contain urls, redirects to sites, etc and as of date no images or videos.

Can one find a way to share videos or pictures through twitter too?
Yes, soon enough twitter itself seems to be planning to share videos and pictures through its tweet. Other than that one can access varied sites and tools to do the same online.

How is it that sometimes one finds scores of users following a particular profile where you find unwanted chatter and nothing practical or logical?
That is the best part of any social networking platform. The concept of ‘content filtering’ rests with the audience and not the owner of those profiles. If the reader finds the topic / company / person interesting, one would want to follow and keep track to stay updated for the same.

What are Hashtags & Geotags?
Hashtags denote # with the name of a particular topic. For eg. ‘#Yoursmq’ denotes conversations under that particular topic. This is a good method to generate group discussions and following on that particular topic especially if the user creating the hashtag topic name has many different products / services to be offered or discussed. It creates an easy method to generate group discussions.
Geotags are location based tagging for others to know where the users are from. It is a more professional way to enable geo-tags and tweet. It also adds authenticity to the profile of the user.

What is re-tweet:
The re-tweeters are your online brand ambassadors. This is an amazingly powerful marketing benefit reaped by professionals and organizations. Once you tweet a message across to your followers, if a user reading it likes the message or it appeals well to them, he / she might re-tweet as in send the same message across to his / her followers and so on. Thus, your conversation reaches millions of users in just fraction of seconds.

Other benefits of using twitter tools:

On your mobile phone: Use & tweet while on the go. Go to twitter mobile settings and check for your carrier of mobile’s listing. Follow the simple steps mentioned and tweet while on the go. Also, if you want to follow someone’s tweets wherever you are, you can also ‘turn on’ the mobile updates option from that user so that you get sms every time the user tweets.

Some useful twitter related websites:

Hootsuite:

The owl keeps track of your conversations on Twitter and few other profiles like Facebook, Facebook Fan page, Linkedin etc  It is a powerful, free and easy to use tool to monitor conversations online and schedule your tweets over a period of time
http://www.hootsuite.com

Twitter Search:
http://www.search.twitter.com
This website lets you monitor your and competitors brand mentions across the globe. Type in the name in the search box and find out the conversation mentions across sites.

Tweetdeck:
For those managing multiple twitter accounts: A powerful desktop application tool to get a hold of and give you complete control over your multiple twitter profiles.
http://www.tweetdeck.com

Creating Background Profiles for Twitter:
http://www.mytweetspace.com
http://freetwitterdesigner.com

Want to Know WHY to create & What are the aspects one needs to keep in mind for designing your own completely Personalized Twitter Backgrounds using sites / tools: Stay updated with us: New Post on ‘WHY to create your own BG for Twitter’ coming soon:  Click Here  & Subscribe for Free to our RSS Feeds

For any queries, feel free to write to us: socialmedia@techdivine.com and do share your experiences with us.

Happy Tweeting!

Stay Connected.

Ananth V

Techdivine Creative Services

Social Media Marketing, Design Services, Your SMQ & Creative Writing

Blogging Made easy – Part 1:

About Blogging / Websites / Top websites / Buying Websites:

Thanks for the numerous responses to our earlier post “Blogging Platforms”.

Hope all of you received my replies to your queries.

For any further queries, you are free to contact us at: socialmedia@techdivine.com

Now to answer your other queries I am putting across few resources & links which I am sure will help you get a deeper insight into the same:

1. “What can I write on a blog”

One can write anything depending on his / her focus & expectation from the blog. Depending on whether you want to offer your writing to a niche market or your blog as a journal / story / personal sightings & stories or reviews for some practical tips / advice on products / services etc based on your experience, your blog needs to slowly evolve for that target audience.

You can also write biographies of people, few personal success stories with examples etc

If you are creatively inclined as in terms of traditional or graphic / photography / digital art, you might make a gallery & showcase your works too to the world across.

Writing an imaginative story, discussing case studies can also be a great way to work on a blog.

Other than these, one has the option for writing their travel adventures, their passion for music, art, cars, books, education, career, parenting and so much more.

2. “How much is a blog useful for a business”

Life is not always about selling. It’s most important aspect is to connect with people at varied levels. At the end of the day, one needs to sell too to survive. Here again, a blog is a great medium. So the answer is Very much yes.

It keeps the customers  / readers updated and their responses over a period of time generates brand loyal customers.

3. “Functions, widgets & Plugins”, what are they used for in a blog / website?

They are tools.

Some refer to them merely as decorations, while I would prefer the term organized & systematic tools for planning and getting your message across to readers / customers / target audience easily.

Eg.1. These tools, lets say a widget that allows one to scan through only a particular category topic which is of interest to him / her, would be definitely popularly used and useful as one does not then need to scan across pages which might run into scores of posts otherwise. Thus, here a “Category” widget (tool) would be great.

Eg. 2. Plugins: Ratings plugins are very common and popular allowing new users to know by a single look whether the post has got positively notable ratings / review. Though it might not always be correct, but a rating allows the user (reader) to take control.

It also shows the reader of the trust & confidence a writer has, so as to share this power of reviewing his/her write up with the world across to judge it.

http://www.simplescripts.com

Widget

Plugin - Ratings

4. What are Statistics / awstats / Hit counters

Some more examples of the same:

• Google Analytics
• Sitemeter
• Awstats
• My Blog Log

http://www.google.com/analytics

http://awstats.sourceforge.net

They tell the reader of the number of Hits / readership views on the page  / website. They can be many a times triggered or hyped but with sites such as WordPress etc, the advantage remains for the reader to know the actual readership hits as such sites do not count the admin / main authors Machine IP hits. So what you see is what really is.

Great examples are “awstats” & Google analytics. It not only gives the viewers & visitors a brief peek into the site hits, but gives the creator of the blog / site many important details to plan ahead for.

For eg. “awstats plugin / tool lets the designer of the site know not only the page hits, but also, the number of people from which country / which page has main hits / keywords / search terms used to land here/ external links / time spent of page / site / most viewed content on site and many such other important info including user id, Unique users on the site etc.

“Share” Buttons at the end of the Blog:

They let you share an interesting post with others using social networkign sites like Orkut, facebook, MySpace, email, Diggit, Stumbleupon etc

awstats

www.orkut.com

www.facebook.com

www.digg.com

www.stumble.com

http://in.myspace.com

http://blogger.com

www.linkedin.com

5. Can you name few good Blog Editors

Qumana / Illuminex / BlogJet / w.bloggar / Ecto are few which are popular.

Few links:

www.qumana.com

http://Illuminex.com

www.scribefire.com

6. What are RSS / Twitter feeds / Blog feeds / Tags: When a Blog / website says, Click here to subscribe: How does it work and what does it tell the reader. Who is it useful for, reader or blogger? What are tags in a blog / photograph? How is it useful and for whom?

New readers / even regulars many a times may not be always there to check or visit your blog.

If a reader likes a blog and you as an author / writer / publisher / content developer want your prospective and regular readers to stay in touch with your site, be updated on new blog posts, new content etc, you can add FEEDS to the site. Best Eg RSS feed / Twitter Feeds.

What it does is, it takes at times few snippets from the new blog post / or the whole post / sometimes only the headline / title of the blog as modified by the user / writer of the blog and keeps the user updated on his machine if a new blog post arrives from that site.

Thus Blog feeds are great, both for the reader and the creator as the feeds contain recently updated content from a website without having to bookmark and keep visiting to check for updates or inform of updates.

RSS (most commonly translated as “Really Simple Syndication” but sometimes “Rich Site Summary”) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works

Twitter Feeds:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications.

Tags:

Tags are basically labels to objects. They help to describe a post / photograph / place / person / item/ object / a specific purpose and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching on clicking it. Tags are chosen informally and personally by the item’s creator or by its viewer, depending on the system. Eg. Tags on a blog post tell the users different aspects that have been part of this post (blog / write up / photograph etc)

www.twitter.com

FEEDS for website or blog

7. How does one post comment. I always find it difficult to comment, It says REGISTER first. What & how is it done?

Comments can be posted in blogs  / sites many times without having to register.

But professional blogs usually require its users to register & comment as it also helps them keep away unwanted spams and moderate comments to control the quality of comments & language used.

One can find REGISTRATION link at the website or blog Top / Bottom Side. Saying, click to register.

Many blogs today also have Register buttons as a Widget under the META section, giving the blog a more professional look.

User Registration: For Readers to comment

8. What is a domain name & Why do I need to own it. Can I get it free?

Like the old saying goes, if you want something free, buy the giant size first.

Majorly, you can get a domain name free ONLY if you buy website first. There are always exceptions. Still, having your own Domain name URL (web address – Uniform resource locator) can give a sense of professionalism to a site / blog with of course loads of control over it in terms of add-ons,  features plugins etc.

9. What is a hosting service?

A company that is letting / subletting / selling Plots of land (so to speak webspace) on the internet is a Hosting service. Eg. http://bluehost.com

Thus in order for people to find your web site on the Internet, the site has to be on a computer called a web server. The web server runs programs to serve web pages, send and receive email, look up domain names and so on. It has to connect to the Internet, preferably through a fast connection.

10. Is there a free website to create available.

Yes.

Yahoo / Tripod

www.tripod.lycos.com

http://in.geocities.yahoo.com/index.php

11. If yes, why do I need to pay for one?

If you don’t own it, it ain’t yours to control buddy.

Free websites often run their own advertisements on your created content etc. If you want to try website creation & design just to start with, you can try with free websites with Yahoo / Tripod etc. Once you are sure you can build and run the same, go ahead get one and get creative.

12. Cost of a website & a domain name.

Tricky question.

Site costs range depending on what you are looking in for. Business site/ personal site / premium packages / Deluxe and so on. It can range anywhere form say $5 to more than $1000 including web site design / maintenance etc.

Domain names usually cost around $10 with the packages of buying the websites and many offer it free once the whole webspace is purchased.

You can refer Bluehost for more such services & cost: http://bluehost.com

http://bluehost.com

13. Do I need to be a computer programmer to build a website?

No, not necessarily to start with. One can use a content management system (CMS). It is a computer software that handles the presentation of your web site’s content to your users.

Few Good CMS: Joomla, Drupal, Mambo

http://drupal.org

http://mambo-foundation.org

14. Where can I learn more about designing websites, Creating blogs etc.

CONTACT US.

We have, whole range of services with us. We can help you build one from scratch or give you access to get the ultimate pool of knowledge for the same for a training material / workshop fee.

Email: socialmedia@techdivine.com

INTERESTED In Availing of Our Professional Blogging Services: Visit us here

Keep visiting

Admin

Techdivine Creative Services

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Twine & Web3.0

Radar Networks was founded in 2003 by Web visionary Nova Spivack and is pioneering the Semantic Web called as Web 3.0 with a new platform for the next-generation of Web applications.

That is termed as TWINE. In simple terms, Twine will provide a central hub that connects information from around the web in one location. The idea, urbanized mainly to provide a “smarter way to share, organize, and find information” with others.

This is what we term as knowledge networking as the Founder Nova Spivack quotes:

It’s the next evolution of collective intelligence on the Web. Unlike social networking and community tools. Twine is not just about who you know, it’s about what you know. Twine is the ultimate tool for gathering and sharing knowledge on the Web.

Twine can find patterns that may not be easily apparent to users, making information and content on the web more likely to be discovered by those interested. The main USP here is its skill to employ artificial intelligence and natural language processing to scan and understand the meaning of information.

One can also go ahead and register for the Web 3.0 invite.

This technology is created and designed on Radar Networks’ patent-pending platform and complies with the open-standards for the Semantic Web set by W3C.

As a matter of fact, W3C mentions that the semantic web is “about common formats for integration and combination of data drawn from diverse sources,” which is what Twine is all about.

Spivack has also quoted that:

Web 3.0 is best-defined as the coming decade of the Web, during which time semantic technologies will help to transform the Web from a global file-server into something that is more like a worldwide database. By making information more machine-understandable, connected and reusable, the Semantic Web will enable software and websites to grow smarter. Yahoo! was the leader of Web 1.0. Google is the leader of Web 2.0. We don’t yet know who will be the leader of Web 3.0. It’s a bold new frontier, but Twine is a strong first step, and we’re very excited about it.

Web 2.0 swept across like a wildfire with technology booming, so let us see how this adaptation and up-gradation of the booming resource centric world goes to. With so much technological advancements, we can only say a warm and wide welcome to Web 3.0

Facebook

That’s right! The rapidly picking up social networking website, Facebook launched on February 4, 2004 is said to have users writing to each other using a feature called as Wall of Facebook and it seems that this site could have a pricy wall after all.

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and the membership was initially restricted to students of Harvard College which got expanded to other Boston area schools, Rochester, Stanford, NYU, Northwestern, and all Ivy League schools within two months.

As of July 2007, the website had the largest number of registered users among college-focused sites with over 34 million active members worldwide and it also became one of the most visited websites taking a place of 7th ranking.

The name of the site refers to the paper facebooks depicting members of the campus community that U.S. colleges and preparatory schools give to incoming students, faculty, and staff as a way to get to know other people on campus.

The site is free to users and generates revenue from advertising including banner ads and sponsored groups and revenues were said to be around $1.5 million per week at one point of time.

In May 2005, Facebook raised $12.7 million in venture capital from Accel Partners and on August 23, 2005, Facebook bought the domain name facebook.com from the Aboutface Corporation for $200,000 and dropped “the” from its name.

On May 2007, Facebook launched an API that allows the development of applications to be used on the site, known as Facebook Platform.

In June, the partnership begun the previous year between iTunes and Facebook continued, with the download service again offering free music samplers through the Apple Students group.

In July, Facebook announced its first acquisition, purchasing Parakey, Inc. from Blake Ross and Joe Hewitt. To top it all off the great wall then also hired YouTube’s former CFO Gideon Yu on July 24, 2007.

The original big wall, the Wall street Journal reports that software giant Microsoft wants to buy a stake in Facebook before Google does and to top the icing is the pricing which is valued at around $10 billion.

The article seems to further add fuel to the fire by stating that this social networking site might hold out for a higher valuation than Microsoft is willing to agree on as much as $15 billion. Now that is one heavily priced Wall, isn’t it?

Facebook’s appeal to the massive audience out from every corner of the globe is that huge today. With growing internet users worldwide in billions, companies want to take advantage of such huge social media marketing opportunities on the site.

It has come to levels where people have started saying that this could be the next GOOGLE in the making.

It has all the great qualities of reach, rapidly increasing awareness, innovative style and loads of novel ideas for the growing users. It is definitely raking in all the big bucks with $30 million in profits on $150 million in revenue.

Well for the day, Facebook has a long way to go to be the next Google.

The question is whether Microsoft or Google, who would get their hands on Facebook first. With the big gates fighting page to page for a stake in the Wall the stakes only seem to be looking better for the newest face in the world of social networking.

With the increasing revenues and the millions of new user’s every day, let us watch who gets their hands on first on this quickly growing wall of FACEBOOK.