Despite that this site has existed for two years, a startup known as Pinterest has recently exploded into the spotlight of social media with what I like to call an "improved" or "different" way of looking at aggregated links.

I managed to get an invite to look at the site a week ago and initially had mixed reviews, but I do see great opportunities and uses for many out there. Originally I wanted to give this site a month before blogging, but too many are asking me what this site is all about and thus I offer this look.

The day has finally arrived. A day Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been teasing us with for years. He's finally opened up his company to an initial public offering (IPO) where anyone out there can buy stock in Facebook. Before this day, Zuckerberg would only have private stock sales to investors when he needed money. Unless you were a wealthy investor, you were left out.

Facebook's IPO was hearty, thus adding new members to the "1%" the news media talks about. Billions of dollars were collected in sales of stock, but already journalists are asking if this will be a sign of a new tech bubble.

I can't blame them. The last time we really saw tech companies blow up on the stock market was the dotcom era, which ended up in a crash a short period later. I could see why the speculation will happen, but this time I think it's different.

Since the movement of brands using Facebook Pages began, the key goal for most has and still is to build a fan base. To get more people to press the almighty "like" button so they can further your connection with them on the social media empire.

Back in part 2 of the series on promoting your brand with Facebook, I mentioned a fairly new tactic many use called "Like-Gating". It's the process of setting up a system where one must press the "Like" button in order to see an end result you offered to them. There has been debate over how ethical and effective Like-Gating is, but I think it can be useful in the short-term.

It's been a month now since I first heard about Google's new attempt at making a social network, Google+.  When invites were being sent out, I did work feverously to get one, but now two weeks into my experience on Google+, I have to more say that it's going to take time for me to be convinced that Google+ will overtake Facebook, but I like what I see so far.

I WILL NOT sit here and pass judgment, and I think it's crazy how many are already saying it'll wipe Facebook out or it'll fail, when the site and system are not even out of Beta yet.  Everyone is so desperate to be the one to say "I said so" that we're seeing way more articles and editorials than needed.  All I'm handing you here are my thoughts and what I think of Google+ thus far.

With a Facebook page setup to promote your brand, you might have managed to gain a few "Likes" and thus build that following you're looking to utilize in Facebook.  The big fear at this point would be those same fans "Unliking" you as fast as you gained them.  So how do you keep those fans?

This third and final part of my series on promoting your brand with Facebook is going to dive into the key idea of social media: engagement.  What you do here not only will keep your current fans, but also help in the efforts you make to gain new ones.  People want to follow ideas and brands they not only believe, but feel they can gain some kind of benefit from.  You must build your brand to be a benefit.

In part one of this series, we explored whether or not you as a business entity should even bother with Facebook or not. Some businesses can benefit greatly from a strong presence on Facebook while others might not see any change in their bottom line. For those who made the decision to make Facebook a priority, I then explained why you should use a Page and not a Profile in displaying your brand.

OK, you have your page set up and branded. Now what? How do you get people to like you and thus follow you? How can we go from zero to 100, 1000, or 10,000? This part will hopefully set your brain motion on possible avenues you can try to build your following. I won't say they're full proof, but they again are proven practices that give results.