Brian Carter - The Like Economy: How Businesses Make Money With Facebook

How Businesses are Making Money with Facebook

Brian Carter

800 East 96th Street,
Indianapolis, Indiana 46240 USA

The Like Economy: How Businesses Are Making Money with Facebook

Copyright 2012 by Que Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7897-4906-2

ISBN-10: 0-7897-4906-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing: December 2011

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Brian Carter is known as one of the elite Internet marketing experts in the world. His hands-on business experience, cutting-edge insights, and background in improv and stand-up comedy results in a speaker and trainer who leaves every audience not only entertained, but armed with powerful tactics and strategies.

Brian has 12 years experience with Google, Twitter, and Facebook marketing, both as a consultant and marketing agency director. He has trained and managed Gen X and Gen Y employees, in addition to the more than 5,000 students of his FanReach Facebook marketing online course. He is a social media keynote speaker who combines entertainment, comedy, and education into hilarious event experiences.

Brian develops strategies and builds search visibility and social marketing for companies of all sizes, including well-known entities such as Universal Studios, the U.S. Army, Hardees, and Carls Jr. He has been quoted and profiled by Information Week, U.S. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal, and Entrepreneur Magazine.

Brian writes for two of the most popular marketing blogs, Search Engine Journal and AllFacebook, and his combined readership exceeds 100,000 people. He has more than 30,000 Twitter followers and an overall reach of more than 50,000 fans through Facebook, LinkedIn, and his other marketing channels. A speaker and trainer for top marketing conferences that include Socialize, SEOmoz, SMX, Pubcon, and the American Marketing Association, Brian is one of the nations leading experts in Internet marketing.

Id like to dedicate this book to my parents and my wife, whove all made me a much better person than I would have been otherwise. I should also mention our dogs Seratonin and Brad Pitt, as well as our cats Larry and Little B, for telling me when to stop writing and share some love. Finally, this book is dedicated to the reader who thoroughly tests the ideas in this book for his own business until he gets the results he wants.

This book is not the work of one person. No good book is. The best business books stand on the shoulders of giants and require the contributions of many people and the backing of lots of good data. Ive done everything I could to ensure it would be a good and highly useful book. While trying to avoid thanking every person Ive ever met or bought coffee from, I do feel I should acknowledge those who had a part in shaping me and this book.

This book is not only about my businesses, my clients, or my students, but rests on the work of many companies, clients, agencies, and third-party analytics services:

Some of the insights about how people use Facebook pages come from PageLever, which at the time of my writing had data on a broad swath of Facebook pages containing a total of 400 million fans.

I cant name all the clients or businesses involved in what Ive learned due to non-disclosure agreements, but I can thank agencies such as Epic Media Group, Epic Marketplace, BlitzLocal, Pertnear, Fuel Interactive, and JB Chicago. And my own direct clients have been amazing. Im blessed to get to work with so many awesome clients and exciting businesses.

Facebook marketing is, relative to other channels, quite young. Certain authors Ive never met in person have played a huge role in developing some of my best practices, many of which have proven to transfer effectively. These include Claude Hopkins, Robert Cialdini, Patrick Lencioni, David Ogilvy, Harry Beckwith, Steven Levitt, Stephen Dubner, Marcus Buckingham, and David Keirsey.

Although I also thank them in ), the PR folks who helped me get a better understanding of PRs modern role in social media should be thanked here as well: Sally Falkow, Carrie Bugbee, Adele Cehrs, Li Evans, Chase McMichael, and Chris Brubaker. And heres an extra special thanks to Adele Cehrs for spending even more time with me discussing Facebook PR tactics.

Thank you to Barry Tubwell, who helped me on the FanReach Facebook Marketing course. Our course exposed us to many students and businesses who ran with our ideas and best practices and came back with more diverse experiences and affirmative results. I want to give special thanks to some of the our most active students and peers: Corey McNeil, Jason Morris, Heather Dopson, Victoria Edwards, Joe Hyde, Nickolus Cunningham, Mark Ellingson, Eliot Rosenthal, Bachir Salamat, Crystal Curtis, Brendan Mark, Joey Lowe, Yasmin Khayat Mitchell, and Martin Maybruck. My sincere apologies for anybody I may have left out. Our student community has been incredible, and that experience taught me a lot in itself about the value of Facebook Groups.