In my last post, I told you about LinkedIn – a professional social network. But what if you want to combine your professional and personal profiles & networks? LinkedIn won’t do that for you. Facebook and Twitter won’t do that for you. Google+, however is posed to be the new hybrid! They have a lot of the same features as Facebook, plus hangouts (mass video calls), and a great way to setup a business profile too!

We all know about social networks like Facebook, Twitter, & MySpace, but it’s evident these are not business-focused. Sure you can use them to network with people to a point, and you can definitely advertise your business on them, but… what if you don’t know who to look for? What if you want to create a digital resume that is searchable?

You can’t do that.

Or can you? LinkedIn is a professional social network on which you can create a profile, update it with job, education, and skill information, and potential employers and employees can find you with a quick easy search! If you don’t have one already, I suggest you jump on it!

Pretty much everyone has a social media account nowadays, whether it’s Facebook or Twitter or something else altogether. But what does this mean for businesses?

Positive – Social media creates an innovative platform for sharing ideas, and business promo…. You can quickly get your name to millions of people through your own Facebook friends and they’re network, and their network’s network, etc. Which is great, because if you have a great product/service and you make it easy to promote (viral materials, such good stuff that people wanna shout about it, etc) people will help promote your brand on their social network accounts.. for free!

Negative – Just like social media can push your brand out and get you a following, it will do the same thing for bad press. Think about it, we’ve all gotten those news articles or statuses in our news feeds that are complaining about this brand or that company… This can cause major problems for your brand image if the word gets to enough people. To combat this, make sure you maintain positive relationships with consumers. Make the positive outweigh the negative.

Kickstarter is changing how creative ideas are funded. For example, Pebble raised more than $3,000,000 in just over four days for their E-Paper Watch. The owners of Pebble didn’t have to turn to venture capitalists or dilute their holdings through another offering of shares in order to receive funding; they financed their project with pre-orders.

Although most projects aren’t receiving $3 million on Kickstarter, it’s a great place for entrepreneurs to attain some funding for specific ideas.

Justin Kazmark, Kickstarter’s communications director, offers some advice to entrepreneurs:

Funding must be for a specific project – “Clearly articulate what it is you’re trying to accomplish in a way that inspires people to want to back it.”

Projects must give something in return – “Come up with a compelling rewards structure that brings you closer to your audience. Projects that offer behind-the-scenes access are very compelling, and that’s part of the Kickstarter experience.”

Projects should expand your support base – “Don’t be afraid to get the word out to your friends and family and networks.”

Source: “Pebble Raises $3 Million+ in Four Days, What Kickstarter Means for Entrepreneurs”

Infographics… They make everything more fun to learn about, unless your name is Mr. Cobb.  But I think this one may satisfy even him as it offers a fair amount of reading.  I posted one a couple weeks ago on just how much time and effort is put into the internet.  I recently ran across another portraying the opportunity for building your brand on Pinterest.  I personally don’t use it, but I was surprised to find the amount of time some friends stare at the site.  I can only imagine brands wishing to promote on pinterest must be targeting girls, however, there appeared to be a number directed at males as well.  A notable one is The Home depot.  Not exactly what you would expect the savvy pinterest user to be attracted to.

Here is the link to a page with the pinterest infographic.  Click it and indulge!

By most standards, Gentlemint is not going to do well. Sure it fits a nitch but it has got to be a very small one. Girls are the only ones who want to “re-pin” stuff and they would never leave Pintrest. There are already many blogs for manly things -gizmodo, jalopnik, thinkgeek, io9, stereogum, to name just a few- will surely they will steal the user base of Gentlemint.

Is there even truly a need for Gentlemint? Pintrest allows for individuals to post and share anything, regardless of gender perception. There is a board of manly things, many other subjects that one can arrange their interests around. The cars, sports, technology and food areas caught my attention as being tilted towards men. Pintrest has a clear territory and has the recognition and mass to not only weather this challenge by Gentlemint but to also incorporate the market of manly things. Is there any way that Gentlemint can survive? They are facing a giant and are simply too young. Just look at the facts!

One of the principles of Internet Entrepreneurship is that of innovation, action and a solid understanding of you problem and market. Is shifting the target to men enough? Are they too late in this game? Wikipedia states that the “development of Pinterest began in December 2009, and the site launched as a closed beta in March 2010. The site proceeded to operate in invitation-only open beta. Later, the site made registration possible after an email request.” Gentlemint was coded in just 12 hours and has only been in the news since January of 2012. Gentlemint doesn’t have a Wikipedia page, it does not have a lot of the things that are normally attributed with sites targeted towards men -no scantly dressed figures, the site is clearly limited in its subject matter -manly things- but it also allows females to sign up. Does Gentlemint understand its market and the problem it is seeking to address?