Armonk                            5

Bedford                            3

Bedford Hills                     1

Chappaqua                      1

Cross River                      1

Katonah                            2

Mt Kisco                            5

North Salem                      5

Pound Ridge                     4

South Salem                      6

Waccabuc                         1

$507,000                         median price
$1,995,000                      high price
$79,000                           low price
2902                               average size
$221                               ave, price/foot
246                                 average dom
$795,000                         ave. start price
$648,000                         average current ask price 

In 2009, Sheryl Sandberg the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook was interviewed and confirmed Facebook was “not planning on charging a basic fee” for its services. But then she also went on to say that Facebook “have no current plans to go public”.

That was 2009 however and I don’t think even Zuckerberg could have predicted the growth of the company since then. But if there has been a change in attitude towards making the company public, then could there have been inner discussions about charging for Facebooks services?

There has always been the problem how a ‘free service’ like Facebook generates money. Surely the easiest and most direct way of making money through Facebook would be to charge for a subscription service. But what would actually happen if such a thing was introduced?

So what would you be willing to pay to use features of Facebook, and how would you pay?

1. Pictures

You are likely to have hundreds, if not thousands of pictures stored. Facebook registration was opened to the public in September 2006 and most users have grown quite a collection in that time. Facebook has also become a place not only to archive, but share your photos with others. Would you pay to see your the pictures of you in your friends album they took on holiday?

Would you pay for it?

Likely

2. Chat

Facebook launched its chat platform in April 2008 as a rival to the already established and dedicated chat platforms such as MSN Messenger. Personally, I never use Facebook chat, but there are many who use it as a primary communication tool on a daily basis. Still, there are other alternatives around, and you are likely to chat to only a few core friends, which can be achieved through another platform.

Would you pay for it?

Unlikely

3. Business

Facebook has become an important marketing tool for many businesses. A social campaign I recently worked on was measured in its success by the number of ‘likes’ that a specific Facebook page had. These likes, guaranteed an audience for any marketing material distributed. Social campaigns to distribute content and build a customer base have become an important part of internet marketing, SEO companies investing time and money to make sure their clients have a big presence on Facebook.

Currently, anyone can set up a business page and promote it. The big money-maker here for Facebook is the option of selling you advertising to promote your page, although many choose to promote through other methods. Would businesses pay to have their page remain in the Facebook network?

Would you pay for it?

Most probably

Facebook’s shares were launched in a frenzy of excitement and were vastly overvalued. The problem for Facebook has always been how to generate income from its mammoth user base whilst remaining a free service. The dip in its shares and the lack of income compared to user growth has left a question mark about its future and whether subscriptions will come into play.

 

Many universities are remain behind in preparing today’s graduates for the demand of today’s marketers. If you study marketing at a university, getting a deep understanding of sales is not always a part of the cirriculum, social media gets a brief review, and the four P’s remain paramount. At it’s core today’s marketing (and marketing automation) knowledge must be centered on a deep understanding of how these critical components of a business work together to spur growth.

In this video roundtable from CRMSoftware.TV, Lauren Carlson, CRM Analyst, Software Advice, Eric Holmen, SVP Marekting & Sales, Silverpop, Kip Bodnar, Inbound Marketing Strategist, Hubspot, and Adam Steinberg, Segment Marketing Director, Hubspot discuss the evolved role of marketers and the skills universities need to be teaching students to equip them for success.

Some highlights:

• Learn how to tell great stories by understanding the buyer persona’s needs and craft a story around that person’s key problems and the solutions they crave
• Understand how to interpret and leverage marketing data to direct your marketing strategy and tactics
• Eliminate the focus on one thing, (like an email campaign), and focus on running frequent marketing tests, monitoring results and adapting

What do you think? What are the core elements of marketing that universities must teach today’s students?

More homes are being sold in less than a month according to the latest edition of the Realtors® Confidence Index report than was previously the case.  Approximately a third of properties were on the market for less than a month when sold, and 58 percent were sold within 3 months.

Conversely, 24 percent of homes were on the market 6 months or more when sold, lower than a year ago.