Blend One Billion with a B

The powers that be ask questions like "can a Facebook or LinkedIn keep growing and are they good investments?" Today, Facebook reported to Wall Street that they surpassed over 1 billion users. That billion I speak of starts with the letter b. Its stock went down about eight dollars because an executive on a conference call said they may not be able to keep up with revenue growth like they have all year. Fair enough, right? That's Wall Street. So for the sake of this moment let's see if we can agree on something simple. Facebook is growing. It creates a lot of revenue and it has a pretty high percentage of users on this Earth despite my Farmer's Almanac idea that most 18 year olds and below like Snapchat and think Facebook is "for old people." But hey, that may change again based on acquisitions, VR and more.

Now let me try to get you to agree with me on one or two more things. Facebook should just be for sharing with your friends and a kind of personal and, possibly a bit of a professional, outlet. That's pretty modest, especially when in today's world there's often a blurring of personal and business relationships. According to Michael Franken, Digital Transformation Consultant who's played a part in growth initiatives at IBM and Cisco, "As Services becomes the primary revenue source across industries, companies will be competing more heavily for relationships. And that's not just for executives, deal-makers or sales people. Widespread, interactions among peer product developers, a retail store manager and their customers, perhaps even an Uber driver and passenger might have some downstream impact on revenue, costs or customer satisfaction." Bottom line? Any personal interaction can have unexpected business value in today's world.

Now I would like you to consider, even if you don't agree with me, about where I am going with this. Facebook does about everything in its power to find out everything it can about you through its algorithms. So does Google, right? I mean you know this don't you? But now let me ask you to consider one more thing. You should probably use Facebook for your career branding and focus yourself on this platform because it is simply a business and branding tool.

Here are three recommendations on how you might use Facebook as a branding and career tool, but first let's examine a very recent business event with perspective:

According to a report today by CNBC.com, increasing ad load — the number of ads on the website — has been one of three main factors driving Facebook's growth, Facebook's chief financial officer David Wehner said on Wednesday. But ad load could "come down meaningfully" after mid-2017, Wehner said, and revenue growth could decline in the fourth quarter. My advice: Watch the advertisements on Facebook, where they are and how they are dispersed for career and business trends that you can use in your career.

"We expect revenue growth rates will decline as we lap strong quarters," Wehner said in a conference call with investors. The company also said it would be hiring aggressively and investing in data center expansion, even as it reached a limit on how many ads it can show on its properties. My advice: If you are looking to advance your career in anything technical or digital notice this growth area trend. Data center expansion is where the jobs area. Watch this area. This area will require engineering talent but this area also will require everyone else who runs a business - salespeople, operations folks, customer service people and more.

Slow Up and Bear Down. To most small business owners Facebook can be pretty useful. My brother for years has augmented his online and now worldwide fitness business with strategic Facebook posts. It has been a powerful force multiplier for under20workout.com. For most who do not have a business on Facebook think about sharing more content related to your business brand and a little less on your personal brand. Again think of Facebook as a business tool and start studying your brand from that point of view.

Now here are 4 Career Takeaways - View Facebook as a Career Tool:

Ensure Your Facebook Profile is Complete. Don't take it for granted that people are already prompted to learn about you and your business. Blend your profile with some professional posts. Let people see a mix of professional and personal but start tilting toward more professional profile and posts. So many of my friends in business and sales don't even put in their “Work and Education.” List past employers, job titles, role descriptions and years. It's not like LinkedIn but fill it out unless you have a totally locked down (you are never really locked down because Facebook sees your every move) profile. Fill in a job description. Recruiters reference and cross reference you on Facebook. What am I saying? Be a little more professional.

Show Your Volunteer Side and Participate. Putting photos of you, your friends and your buddies at the social after the St. Jude 5K in your area or the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society volunteer party is really smart. You are being "social" but you are showing a side of you that recruiters, companies and others really like - you are cause focused and care about the community. This little stuff adds up on Facebook, humanizes you and at the same time adds a positive spin to your brand that you may not find the forum for on LinkedIn.

Follow Target Companies, Organizations and Add Apps. There are so many organizations that use Facebook that you should follow their activities, ideas, postings, information and more. Associations have groups on Facebook and share things they may not share on this platform. So follow them. Do research on companies, ideas, information and don't be afraid to "Message" people who monitor these areas for information, requests and ideas. Many apps like Glassdoor.com and others are best used on Facebook. Find these apps and use them.

All in all using Facebook and realizing that it is a business tool is key. Start moving your habits, activities, profile and usage of Facebook to a higher blend of professional vs. purely personal.