The wild west days of social media will soon be behind us.
In addition to LinkedIn going public this week, Facebook has announced that their public offering is inevitable too.
Resources Always Attract the Highest Value
Remember the series of privacy issues with Facebook last year and the infamous Twitter fail whale over the past several? Those are the type of things that happen to young companies that are exploring uncharted waters. If you operate a small business you have no doubt experienced similar challenges.
As of today, LinkedIn's valuation is just under $9 Billion. Facebook will unquestionably fetch a price that could be as much as 10 times that. With those kinds of dollars floating around, you can bet that investors will demand a return on their investment.
What This Means for Businesses
So, now I'm trying to imagine what the future of social media will now look like. I don't think everyone will be wearing a suit and toting a briefcase like we did when I was in the corporate world, but I do know the stakes are going to go up as everything becomes more professional.
Resources attract money, and money attracts better players, and that means we are all going to have to play this game better, smarter, and with a renewed commitment. Social media will continue to influence the business environment, so you will have to accept the fact we will all have to redesign our businesses around a social web that is moving to the next level.
Plan Ahead and Find the Best Partners
On Monday I'll be launching a brand new version of JeffKorhan.com – the first since its inception five years ago. It's something that I have been thinking about for at least a year, and seriously thinking about for the past six months. I'm pleased that I found the best partners to help me make it happen.
When the stakes go up you realize you cannot do this yourself. I expect we'll soon discover the same for building and managing our Facebook pages, and possibly some of our other social channels too.
No matter how small your business, I suspect you have a CPA that files your year-end taxes. That's where this is going. The big boys are coming to town, so you need to align yourself with experts that can help you.
The Internet has enabled us to partner with folks around the globe. The logo for my new blog was designed in the Philippines. Some of my blog work was done in Vienna, and more in Las Vegas. I live in Chicago. Interestingly enough, I found all of them via the social networks.
We're entering a new chapter for social media – one that may take some by surprise.
Surprises can be good if you are prepared for them. Though preparation requires planning, learning, analysis, and an eye on trends – what's coming next for your industry, your business, and everything that affects all of it.
Other than the economy, I cannot think of anything that has impacted every industry in the past several years more than social media. Look for more of the same moving forward.
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Enjoy your weekend. I'll see you again on Monday — Jeff
Photo Credit: Ben Stein
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