> The Idea:

George Moen. Emperor of the Blenz Coffee Empire. Internet pioneer (extreme early adopter). And now, Social Media Maestro? Yep. I just received an email from mutual friend, Norm Friend (aka Canada’s Leading Franchise Expert). After extending an invite to his next Franchise Forum, sponsored by Paragon Speaker Resources – an agency he created to serve Canada’s franchisors – Norm added: “PLUS, for those of you with a special interest in the role of social media in franchising, I have arranged a Special Invitation for you to attend a Blenz President’s Private Party. This is a product launch deploying a lot of social media platforms with “live streaming”over the net…and lots of cool marketing apps.”

> The Key Point:

Am I interested? You bet. Can’t wait. Sure, I’m interested in George’s healthy new protein shakes, but I’m even more interested in the social media connection – which you and I are already involved in, BTW (meaning “by the way”). When Norm sent this to me and I wrote about it to you – and if you respond by telling someone else – or by attending the launch – then we are “right now” participating in a way to use social media to promote business. And if you attend the launch (at the Blenz flagship store at 550 Burrard Street, Vancouver) you will be totally immersed. I’ll check with Norm to see if there is enough room for a contingent of us Dangerous Marketers. Check this space tomorrow for the okay and details.

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Challenge #3: It’s time to set up a Facebook page so you can follow our comments, event announcements and photos of recent events.

Your task today is to set up a Facebook page. That is, of course, if you are not one of the 350 million who already have! Jonathan is way ahead of me on this so I’ve asked him to write today’s blog post. Heeeeer’s Jonny!

What? Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and friends while a student at Harvard back in 2006. It was originally designed to connect students on campus – and has now become the best known and most used form of social media in the world. Many people have issues with Facebook because of privacy (or the lack of it) but, be under no illusion – if you’ve had your picture taken on a digital camera in the last few years the chances are you’re already on Facebook! So, it’s time to take the risk, and utilize this site for all of it’s business potential.

Why? Because the people on Facebook are not only your friends but also your customers. You can use Facebook to profile your business, your event, your social justice cause and so much more. Then you can share pictures and videos of how events happened. Tag (name) people on those pictures and soon you’re connecting like never before. You can join groups and create fans on your very own business page. It’s a great way to be found not just on Facebook but also through search engine listings. (Try typing your name or your business name on Google and you may be amazed at what you see!)

How? There’s so much to tell you about Facebook we could be here for hours, but for now here’s how to set up simple pages for you and your business:

· Set up your personal page here:

· http://www.facebook.com/index.php

· Now build your business page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

Tipzntrix: Need help getting started? Ask your teenage children or your neighbor’s  kids. If they’re over 13 they probably already have an account and can help you through. There’s no need to fill in every box, just the basics will get you started. Then we will help you discover all the ways to use Facebook to develop your business. (We already have 77 Facebook ‘friends’ who ‘like’ our social media challenge. You can help us make that 100, or even 1,000. (Do I hear 10,000?). Want to know how? Stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog post. (Click here to view our Marketing Dangerously blog). Questions? Please email me at jonathan@neilgodin.com.

The Facebook Logos

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A special request: We need your story. If you use social media in any way to build your business, send an email to ndgodin@shaw.ca, or jonathan@neilgodin.com with the details – or provide your telephone number, and we will call you for details.

A special thank you: We will say ‘thank you’ with a copy of Neil’s ebook, ‘How to Start Your Economic Recovery – Right Now!’ for every idea submitted – whether we publish the idea or not. If you already have a copy of this ebook, let us know and we will send you a valuable alternate product.

Thanks very much!

Neil Godin and Jonathan Christian