3 Tools to Actively Control Your Online Reputation
There is not much in contemporary business that deals on more equity than your business reputation. Stock prices rise and fall because it, and the media boiling point is reached at surprising speed for either good and bad praise or hostility about businesses worldwide. The first step to managing your online business reputation is to be able to keep track of what is being said about you, by whom and how often. If it’s all great, it’s all good friends. Business worldwide both large and small duel every day using the double-edged, sword of Internet power. You need to know about the negative comments too, and naturally, if nothing is being said about your business online, well, that is a problem all in itself.
Buzz or Sting?
From a marketing perspective, we have the ability to reach more people in remote corners of the world than ever before, making use of the remarkable reach of the Internet to connect with our blogs, videos, and shopping carts that have no physical limitations. The flip side of that coin is that we now inhabit a world where anonymous people can go for their 15 minutes of fame as impromptu authors, video producers and critics, and that can spell trouble for your company.
Google, Yahoo and other search engines give tremendous validity to sites like Wikipedia and RipOffReport.com in the spirit of full disclosure, especially on big business. Trouble is, fact checking ain’t what it used to be if indeed it happens at all. Loud online voices providing great buzz on your goods and services can give a fantastic bump albeit unjustified by reality. Bully for you! The sting of acrimonious haters can cost you prospects, customers and dollars to an incredible extent also.
THE Keyword for Small Businesses
What do you think is the most often used keyword today in business? This isn’t a trick question or a trick. It is in fact the word, “keyword“. Think about it. There is so much instruction about SEO and online marketing that revolves around how people browse the web, particularly, Google. That means regulating what keywords you use to advertise your webpage and be found, trying to mirror what people are searching for and in a unique enough way to minimize competition. Consequently we have long tail keywords which are phrases like “How to winterize your boat” so that when someone does ultimately look for that, our page or Adwords ad is right there to be discovered.
To keep track of your online reputation, keywords are also what you use to determine who and what is being said about you. The easy way to do this to begin with is obviously to Google your company name. You’re going to find your web pages surely, but if there’s bad stuff out there you’re going to see that too. If it falls on page 1 of Google returns, you have a developing situation.
Remembering to do that weekly or every few days is something that just isn’t top of mind. Here are three devices you can use to effortlessly check out the real-time chatter.
Google Alerts
Google alerts enable you to select keywords relative to, in this case, your business name and Google will email you instances when they come up online as indexed by the Google browser. Go to www.google.com/alerts to set this up. Depending on the size and online notoriety of your organization, you can adjust the frequency of these email alerts from daily to weekly. There are a couple of refining options. Picking type = ‘Everything’ will monitor all the buzz about whatever keywords you type in, comma delimited. For most small businesses, a weekly notification should be sufficient.
Here are some points for what you might want to monitor to see what your customers might find:
- Your business name, including any divisions or alternative names as it applies
- Your competition
- Frequent misspellings of your organization name
- Your flagship product names, part numbers and trade names
- Your key executive names– bad juju on your top people will reflect badly on your company
Social Oomph
Google Alerts monitors the Google database. Social Oomph (www.socialoomph.com) allows you to track tweets. You should create a free account and then go to Monitors\/Keyword Alert Emails on the left hand menu. You are allowed to set up to 50 keywords or phrases to rake the tweet-o-sphere for and email you summaries either daily or every twelve hours.
The keyword tips are the same as for Google Alerts. The cool thing about monitoring Twitter chatter is that it has a very real-time element to it. If hostility is being spread, you may have the capability to join the current conversation and correct the record or counter the conversation when it is at its most harmful and influential to your business reputation.
LinkedIn Signal
Signal is a tool currently under development by LinkedIn in conjunction with Twitter, using a similar search on discussions groups, shares and posted answers. Access it by logging into LinkedIn and going to www.linkedin.com/signal. This is a bit cumbersome with the filters and for most results, search for your name and company without the filters box checked. This is specifically useful for product launches or branding efforts you might have to see if there is a buzz on LinkedIn among professionals. Unfortunately the search box appears to have no Boolean capability to add multiple search terms separated by commas or expressions like’ +’ or ‘OR’.
If you’re in the consulting or professional services field this may be one where you save your searches and check routinely back, as these are folks who traffic LinkedIn. This is still in beta and isn’t particularly advertised by LinkedIn, and has a limited universe of professionals (those in LinkedIn who allow public view of their conversations) and will tell you more about trending topics than give you an overall analysis about what is being said relating to your business. I’d recommend playing with it to see if it is useful to you, but use the alerts in Google and Social Oomph to monitor the bulk of chatter.
Now that you’ve set up ways to more simply keep track of the online discussion about your business, you need to develop a strategy to displace and counter inaccurate dialogue and tell your company story. More on that next time. In the meantime, post the tools you use to take the online pulse about your company.
Author Bio
A hate page, Ripoffreport or Wikipedia lie can sink your business reputation. If your company needs strategies to fix yours, check out business reputation management services. Karl Walinskas owns Smart Company Growth, a firm that helps businesses grow through sparking sales and controlling expenses and cash flow. He’s been published for years on better leadership, communication, and marketing practices for small business and authored the book, “Getting Connected Through Exceptional Leadership”. You can read the Smart Blog for small business growth to learn more tips you can use today.
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Online Marketing for Small Businesses – a Social Media Primer
Small businesses that use online marketing have a number of tools at their disposal, including blogs, search engine optimization, review websites and other inbound marketing techniques. However, what may end up being the Internet’s most important contribution to advertising and brand awareness is social media networking platforms. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and even Yelp! are wonderful devices that make reaching out to customers simple and, most importantly, cheap.
Unfortunately, not every small business owner is internet-savvy enough to instantly capture a broad and deep customer base. This can make engaging with users on these services intimidating. With a little bit of practice and some clear guidelines, such efforts can actually be quite successful. Here are some of the most important lessons for using these social platforms to garner leads and additional business.
Establish a Policy
No two companies use social media in exactly the same way. For instance, some may choose to simply make Facebook posts and tweets messaging tools that inform customers about the latest promotions and discounts that an organization is running. Others may choose to use these services to actually contact customers and offer them deals and savings. Either way, be sure to set up some guidelines that will keep an organization’s tone consistent throughout a campaign.
Designate Users
In keeping with a consistent feel, it is a good idea to establish which employees will actually generate content for a social media website. The importance of these services is making it so that some organizations choose to hire full-time networkers to maintain their various profiles. However, this may not be necessary, depending on a business’ intent. Either way, choose an employee who is somewhat tech-savvy, grammatically sound and can maintain a level of professionalism that won’t sully a company’s good name.
Coordinate With Other Efforts
The odds are good that a business using social networking websites will have at least some other efforts ongoing in the online world. If this is the case, coordinate social media messages and profiles with them. Blogs and Facebook posts can link to one another, while promotions being held should be advertised as much as possible on these platforms. Even something as simple as the images and fonts used in traditional advertising should match those used on Twitter feeds and blogs.
About the Author: Guest Post by Myron Corp. Located in Maywood, New Jersey, Myron is a global provider of imprinted promotional products and works closely with businesses to integrate these products into their marketing mix. Myron manufactures quality items such as promotional calendars, personalized pens and other giveaways and corporate customized gifts designed to build brand awareness and customer loyalty.
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LinkedIn Publicity: How Online Press Release Distribution Can Help You with Your LinkedIn Marketing Efforts
Online press release distribution has not lost its power to create buzz and brand awareness. In fact, in speaking with many business professionals who have used our distribution partner’s press release services, we’ve been told:
- Their press releases were picked up by 40+ online sites and media news stations.
- Their press release placement brought additional credibility to the launch of their new books, products and services.
- They started to dominate the search engines – and “own” their keywords as search engines love optimized press releases
- They doubled and tripled their website traffic
- Multiple reporters and media professionals contacted them for additional interviews and media opportunities that give them more exposure.
- Their website now ranks higher on Google – because online press release distribution is a powerful link building too.
Here’s an additional benefit of online press release distribution that no one else is talking about…Online press release distribution will help you with your overall LinkedIn marketing efforts.
6 Ways Online Press Release Distribution Can Help You With Your LinkedIn Marketing Efforts
1) The press release generated publicity can provide you with instant credibility with your LinkedIn profile visitors.
For example my client Sara LaForest’s headline reads like this: “Top Management Consultant Featured in Business Week, Fast Company & WomenEntrepreneur.com – Connect and Find Out Why”. This shows readers immediately why they should trust her and why they should trust what she has to say.
Here are some of the other ways you can highlight your publicity on your LinkedIn profile:
- Create a quoted media positions
- Showcase your media mentions within your summary
- Add the publications section to your LinkedIn profile
- Create a media kit on your LinkedIn profile using Box.net
2) Showcasing your press release generated publicity will prove to journalists that you are media worthy.
On LinkedIn you should be looking to connect with journalists, editors, online radio show hosts and other media professionals. Now for those media professionals to accept your invitation, you have to prove you are credible and newsworthy. When your press release is published by a top publication, you have completed half the battle because you have given yourself expert status. Now, you just have to build a relationship with the media professionals you connect with and show them that your information is relevant to their audience.
3) Use press releases to promote your LinkedIn group and community.
We recently created and distributed a press release that promoted Skip Weisman’s Workplace Communication Strategies group – and it was published on CNBC.com. This helped him:
- Increase his LinkedIn group membership by making more people aware of his group.
- Give him a reason to re-announce his group again to his email list as well as any LinkedIn connection that were not already members of his group. Any time you have a success, you should be letting your connections know.
- Give new connections a reason to join his LinkedIn group when we sent out group invites.
4) Your press release placements can position you as a thought leader in your LinkedIn group – and those other groups you belong to.
I like to create discussions around a topic and link the discussion to a press release or article I’ve written that gives more information on the topic and is featured on a top website. This automatically gives me a third party endorsement which offers more credibility than if the information was just placed on my own website or blog.
5) Use your press release placement as a springboard for discussions.
For example, I distributed a press release titled “More Journalist on LinkedIn Than Any Other Social Network, Study Shows”. I then created this discussion within LinkedIn group: “How are you using LinkedIn to get you more publicity?
In the LinkedIn discussion summary I put “In the press release below, I reveal that 82% of journalist are on LinkedIn and that is more than any other social network. So now I am asking you, how are using LinkedIn to build and maintain relationships with media professionals to get you more publicity?”
I then linked the discussion to my press release on Yahoo News.
This helped me:
- Get more exposure for my press release
- Create a discussion among publicity professionals as they provided their insights. I then responded to their feedback with other ideas and explained to them how I can help them with their LinkedIn publicity efforts
- Start a discussion among small business owners and other business professionals who wanted to learn how to get more publicity by using LinkedIn
6) Getting published or featured all over the Web on top websites and blogs will give you access to more people who will want to connect with you on LinkedIn.
You will have people coming to you seeking your advice. They will see your press release and then look you up on LinkedIn wanting to connect with you. For example, as I was writing this article, I received an invitation to connect that said, “Hi Kristina, I just read your tips in Canadian Advisor’s Edge Magazine – I’d like to connect with you and learn more.”
Your Next Steps
Now that I have shown you how online press release distribution can help you with your LinkedIn marketing efforts, it’s time you take action and start writing your press releases. If you need help, check our my Instant Press Release Templates at http://www.40InstantPressReleaseTemplates.com
About the Author: LinkedIn marketing expert Kristina Jaramillo helps small businesses and organizations get more publicity, prospects and profits using effective LinkedIn. Now, at http://www.HowtoGetMorePublicitywithLinkedIn.com, you can gain full access to her FREE 14-Day LinkedIn Publicity E-course that shows you how to create an expert LinkedIn profile the media will love, how to build relationships with the media plus sneaky ways to get more PR using LinkedIn.
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Crowdfunding Your Startup [INFOGRAPHIC]
In a down economy, it’s difficult for entrepreneurs to access the capital needed to build their venture from the ground up. Luckily, projects can now be funded by a powerful combination of the social Internet and generous networks of friends, colleagues, and communities. This model is called “crowdfunding” and is sweeping the startup nation by storm. It seem s to be an entrepreneurs dream,. bit are there problems in the way?
Check out the below infographic on how to navigate the new crowdfunding landscape (click image for larger view).
Click for Larger View
infographic source: drawing a crowd
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Internet Video Formats: Which is best for your Video Marketing?
OK, so you’ve decided that getting some web video on your site and social media profiles is a great idea to make you more eye-catching to customers and put your SEO (search engine optimization) on HGH. You understand that video marketing is a fundamental part of your overall search engine marketing and social media strategy. Bully for you! Now on to the tech stuff. Video formats can be overwhelming and vary depending on the equipment the video was shot with, the kind of computer you use, and the final destination where you want to host and serve up your on-demand video as part of your video marketing plan.
So which is best for you?
Lorraine Grula offers these tips from her years of experience as a top shelf video photographer and producer in ReelSEO.
Web Video Guidelines
Depending on whether you are doing research to get started with web video or if you are making use of existing equipment and software, you may be limited to formats as follows:
- Raw Video Format — As determined by your camera or, currently, your recording software. For instance, the software I record SmartVu Video Interviews with processes raw video optimally when stored as Windows Movie (. wmv). I have a PC based application. Your camera or software may have a different standard, particularly if you are using a MAC.
- Editing Basics — Your editing software may also have a limitation on formats of video it will accept and types that it works the best with. My videos are substance related, not glitz and glamour, so I use programs like Corel Video Studio and Windows Live Movie Maker. Most video editors will accept almost all the standard raw video formats, but you’ll want to confirm.
- Video Platform– What type video format works best with your online video platform that will work as your host? Will you host it on your site? Take into account Adobe Flash for speed reasons of loading without buffering. YouTube? They convert your incoming video to Flash (.flv) for display. If you’re using a 3rd party, ask about their preferred video format.
Obviously if you have a mismatch in your video camera output and your editor, for example, you’re up a creek without a paddle and will need to convert your raw video to be accepted by the editor. Avoid this, as every conversion results in quality loss for the video. Limit too many conversions.
High Quality or File Size?
Look, with internet video marketing, you are looking at a tradeoff between two things when recording, editing and finishing videos: resolution and file size. Lorraine talks about compatibility too in the ReelSEO piece, and we talked about that already. The greater the quality, the larger the file size (usually), and that means the longer the buffer when loading the video on your player upon demand (particularly if uploaded straight from your site server). If you want super-clear quality, the first thing you need is a work-horse computer loaded up with RAM and an uber-fast processor. I am a PC guy and I had to get an I-7 Dell to accommodate recording Hi-Def video. My old PC (5 years old) could not manage the large files without Japanese Monster Movie style mis-tracking between voice and image and I was forced to record at lower resolutions until upgrading.
The Main Video Formats for Web Video
If you ‘re trying to find the best of both worlds and your hardware can handle the recording and editing, see this brief (did I say brief?) summary of web video formats you’ll be utilizing:
Windows Media Video (. wmv)
This is the basic PC video file format that comes with Windows set up for Windows Media Player. It is well-known, delivers acceptable quality and a fairly small file size. Want higher quality? Record or finish-edit at a higher resolution and the file size increases accordingly. The advantage of .wmv is that it’s standard with all Windows PCs and, if shot in low enough resolution, can actually be small enough to share via email. I use this format for SmartVu Video Interviews and then stream them on Youtube, and they convert without much issue with good finish quality.
Audio-Video Interlaced (. avi)
This is the original video format from Microsoft and has a tendency to create very large files unsuitable for sharing, but of good quality for master files. For sharing, most videographers finish-edit the file in another format to lower file size. According to Grula there is some inconsistency with the codecs (tech video term here) depending on the recording device, making. avi not a great choice for small business video and novice producers.
Motion Picture Experts Group MPEG-4 (. mp4)
Increasing numbers of video producers online are loving .mp4 as the format of choice. It has the H-264 compression codec which is considered top drawer, and is quickly becoming the basic output of camcorders and video cameras. For online sharing the .mp4 format is moving toward the universal preference and in fact is recommended by Youtube, the big fish in the platform market.
Apple Quick Time (. mov)
This format has been around a while and is standard from Apple Quick Time, but is not restricted to Macs. File sizes are big and quality is high. If super-tight quality is your concern, this may be your format.
Flash Video (. flv)
This is the most popular file format on the web today, usable in the Adobe Flash Player which is standard on 99 % of all computers. Video sharing websites like Youtube, Vimeo, etc. take your existing videos and convert to flash for streaming to watchers of the site. File sizes are small, it streams fast, and the flash player can start playing the videos while they are still loading which is fantastic for longer videos (5 min or more). If you host video on your own server, converting to. flv is almost a requirement for user experience. I have used the Riva converter to convert some. wmv files to flash and noticed quality degradation in exchange for the file size and speed issue; nevertheless, Youtube conversions seem to be very clear.
Tips
Here is my recommendation to small business owners and entrepreneurs looking to get into video marketing on their websites and social media profiles.
Record raw footage in the best possible format for your device. If that is .mp4, you’re one step ahead of the game.
When editing, finish the video in. mp4. Test to see if your quality is acceptable with no degradation. MPEG-4 is much simpler to upload and move around. If you see a quality reduction, save finish edits to the same file format as your raw footage.
Upload your videos to a video sharing platform. I recommend Youtube. It is the most popular, gets the most traffic by far, and let’s face it. Google now owns Youtube. If you’re streaming video on your site from Youtube or another site, which one do you think will get the greatest SEO results and page 1 positioning? Youtube will convert to either .mp4 or .flv and do a fine job with it, taking that off your plate.
Now you just need to learn how to use Youtube without providing 100 options for people to leave your video and go view something else. I’ll tell you more on that in a later article.
About the Author: Want better results from Video Marketing? Smart Company Growth helps business SEO by Video Interview Marketing to generate site traffic and build trust with prospects to spike inbound leads. President Karl Walinskas works with companies on Growth Strategy and LinkedIn Marketing for brand building, and has authored Getting Connected Through Exceptional Leadership and been published in AOL, SiteProNews, Selling Power and a million more.
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Hatch’d: A Idea-based Social Network for Improving Business
Allow me to introduce you to Hatch’d: a recently born social network with a drastically different purpose than the social media we’ve become accustomed to. Instead of supporting interpersonal, social conversation like Twitter and Facebook, Hatch’d was conceived as a way to simply and efficiently share ideas. Hatch’d is a new take on outsourcing that aggregates product development ideas into one location for the creation and improvement of better products and services.
Easily Communicate Your Ideas
Have you ever had an idea that would allow a company to improve their product or service, but you could not find an effective communication channel that allowed you to be heard? For example, emailing customer service always seemed so distant and ineffective; and posting on Facebook, writing on a company’s Wall, or Tweeting at the business seemed just as hopeless. Now, Hatch’d is working to be the location for you to share and businesses to hear ideas.
Hatch’d works much in the same way as Twitter. A user can share an idea in 140 characters and can utilize the familiar @Username to directly target a business. For example, Brad H. shared his idea “@McDonalds serve breakfast all day.” Users can then vote ideas up or down and can comment on ideas to generate discussion. Through these social aspects, business owners can gain better insight into the minds of their customers and the rationale behind their ideas.
Standard social networking features have also been built into the site. For example, visible on a user’s profile page is a portfolio that displays your posted ideas, picture, and short biography. Users also have the ability to follow other users and businesses to track what is being discussed.
Crowdsourcing What Hatchd Will Become
Admittedly, due to how new the service is, the creators of Hatch’d still do not know what exactly the social network could be. On the About section of the site they ask users to “help figure that out” by sharing an idea @Hatchd.
The largest opportunity for Hatch’d and where I predict the service will find the most success, is for businesses to read ideas that will allow them to better serve their customers. Because voices are often lost in the crowd on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, Hatch’d is a promising tool for its narrow, yet distinct purpose as an ‘idea-network.’ Furthermore, due to this purpose, if a business creates an account on Hatch’d users can trust that their opinions are read and considered.
But Not Perfect, Yet
One aspect of Hatch’d that seems to stray from this well-defined intent is Groups. The About section describes this as a place to “brainstorm ideas with your friends. Plan a vacation with college friends or your family! [Hatch’d wants] to make it as easy for you to toss around ideas here as it is for you to do with your friends over lunch or hanging out at your apartment.”
While the ability and support to discuss ideas with your friends is nice to have, it seems more appropriate for Facebook, where interpersonal conversation is the norm, and even more effective “over lunch or hanging out at your apartment.” To me, Hatch’d needs to be about communicating ideas solely with businesses. Discussion with friends, like I previously said, is sort of played out at this point. Trying to be too many things could lead to its downfall.
Hatch’d is still in beta mode, but it seems solid and bug-free. Expect new features and improvements to roll out regularly. Hatch’d is also competing in Advertising Age’s contest for a reward of a $25,000 partnership to work with respected brand marketers to help launch its product.
Check out Hatch’d and start sharing your ideas!
What do you think Hatch’d’s strengths are? Where could it improve?
About the author: August Drilling works in the marketing department at CliqStudios.com, the online supplier of quality oak kitchen cabinetsand is a blogger, social media enthusiast, and Apple aficionado. You can follow him on Twitter @ardrilling and read insight and odd musings.
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Protecting A SMBs Brand With Social Media Monitoring
The Internet is a tool used by many people for different reasons. Social media has become a huge part of Internet usage. People are able to express thoughts and opinions and communicate with other individuals.
What is Online Reputation Management?
With the growing number of people using social media, Online Reputation Management software has been created. Online Reputation Management is a part of the Public Relations field that helps businesses enhance their online image. The Internet is a dumping ground of information, thoughts, and opinions, which is why small businesses should utilize this software. Social media is a way for individuals to gain information, share information, and express opinions about anything.
Some popular social media technologies are Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Each one of these has the power to make or break a company, product, or celebrity. Facebook incorporates “Fan Pages” for businesses and products to allow for discussion and opinions to be expressed.
The Impact of Social Media on Brand
The numbers of individuals who use social media technologies is constantly growing. Companies need to understand this fact and understand that it can directly impact their business and public image. With online reputation management software, a small business will be able to monitor all consumer talk about their business and respond to the situation in a timely manner. This will altogether increase customer satisfaction (which is very important!).
Another way in which a business’s reputation can be at stake is because of product and business review options on the Internet. Many people rely on the Internet to provide feedback on certain products and even company ethics.
Reviews allow consumers to express personal opinions, which may not be censored. A small business should use this software not only to monitor consumer reviews, but to learn more about competitor’s products.
Online reputation management software can also assist in unexpected ways. The software will help with marketing research.
A small business will learn marketing trends and how they should position their product or service in the community. Information about the industry as a whole will also help a business thrive.
Altogether, online reputation management software is the smart, efficient way to monitor your small business on the Internet.
About the Author: Stefan is an social media specialist with Reputation Observer a reputation management platform based in the US, Germany and France.
Photo Credit: karola riegler photography
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Google’s Social Media For Business Draws Ever Closer But What Will it Look Like?
Facebook has been an important part of many business’ SEO and client outreach for a couple of years now.
Anyone ‘on the inside’ knows that there’s an industry expectation that your business has a Facebook profile, indeed, many TV advertising and marketing campaigns use “visit us on Facebook” rather than using their own website as the platform is ubiquitous, user friendly and the API divulges a great deal of information about the consumer which wouldn’t necessarily be available if they went directly to the web1 address. Read more
A “Stand-Out” Google Feature and Why F8 Was a Mistake
Google released the +1 in response to Facebook’s Like button, then Google+ in an overall response to Facebook and all other social media platforms. Huge numbers of people were fed up with Facebook anyway so they all migrated, found it unfamiliar and went straight back to Facebook’s comfortable, cozy familiarity. Read more
Is Google+ Like a Post-Apocalyptic Facebook?
It was all the buzz in June and July this year but the disappointment of early adopters means that Google+ is like a post-apocalyptic Facebook, technologically advanced but with none but a few jaded survivors populating the streets.
I’ve been an early adopter on a few trends, I registered for Twitter early enough to get me own name but then didn’t even look at it again for about 2 years while it matured, the same with LinkedIn and I signed up for Facebook when you actually had to know the person you were friending up. Such a difference from MySpace. Do you even remember MySpace? But I digress. The problem is, with being an early registrant, that no-one really knows how a platform works so those who aren’t really engaged go back to their familiar utilities while the die-hard fans make it a useable place to be. Finally those who had lost interest realise that all their friends are talking about it again and they take another look and realize things have really improved.
At the time of writing Google+ are asking business not to get involved on the platform while users get to know how the environment works and iron out any wrinkles that still exist. But that doesn’t mean that if you have a business you shouldn’t be getting to know your way around, investigating the facilities and strategising your activities when Google+ for business finally goes live.
Does Your Business Need Google+ Like It Needed Facebook?
In the same way that it became a truism that you business needed Facebook if it was to have any chance to survive on the internet, being on as many platforms as possible is equally as important. And when you bear in mind that anything you produce which you release publically (rather than targeted to specific Circles) will be crawled by Google’s spiders plus a plethora of other benefits you should be able to see why allowing yourself to fall behind the curve is a poor option.
In the old days of three months ago Facebook was the industry killer when it came to social media. Zuckerberg could make up any rules he liked regarding our privacy and we’d just go along with it because we had no option. We’d put our business on Facebook so that we could look into our likers’ and friends’ API and use it as part of our client relationship management strategies, it was an industry expectation and if you didn’t have a Facebook page people would think there was something wrong. Zuckerberg seems to have changed his ideas about whether users actually need privacy and want the same comments to be visible to all your friends rather rapidly and purely coincidentally as soon as Google+ introduced Circles.
Set up a Google+ profile and follow everyone who’s in your sector, build relationships in the same way it was recommended you did in Facebook but with circles you’re able to keep competitors separate from suppliers, stakeholders from staff (if you think that’s appropriate). In much the same way Twitter users generally follow back so will Google+ users. Add them to your Circles and every time they Google something, if you’ve written about it, your articles will appear in their first page. That’s some good looking SEO for nothing but an on-topic blog or two.
Keep On Doing Everything You Always Did, Just Add Another Platform
In the same way that everyone was encouraged to Tweet about their blog and any new developments in their industry Google+ allows you to reach your followers in exactly the same way only you can provide a couple of paragraphs of précis and a small picture. The comments you and your friends and followers add stay associated with the original post or commenter and conversations can be ‘muted’ if you no longer want updates on that topic but you can still hear from the same people making comments on other threads.
As well as these relatively ordinary facilities you can also start hangouts with followers and their followers even if you’re not connected directly. These can take the form of either instant messages or video conference. At the moment you’re limited to ten participants at a time, but any more than that would be an impossibility to organise and control. If you want to visualise ideas that you are talking about there are whiteboards which everyone can contribute to and then save, these developments make virtual team management and integration more than just a realistic possibility, they actually make it fun! And given that Google+ integrates seamlessly with Gmail, Calendar and Documents even if you don’t use it for client relationships, internally it’s a free resource that is provided by other organisations at a premium.
Seeing Off Panda
But getting back to SEO and SEM, post Panda Farmer Google’s SERPS have been based on quality and, increasingly, social, be that bookmarking, Tweets, Facebook likes and Google +1s et cetera. Reposting your blogs on Google+ means that you can increase your outreach and get double the number of +1 (on your homepage and Google+ profile) so that as well as being searchable your social is optimised as well. Talking of +1, if you don’t already have the button, add it now. Forbes published an article saying that if you didn’t you could forget about being indexed on Google. They had to pull it again sharpish but the suspicion persists. Plus, they wouldn’t have introduced it if it wasn’t going to affect search, would they?
Some people wonder if Google+ is here to stay. Look at the fuss they had with other tools such as Buzz and Wave. They were technologies which solved nothing and in the case of examples such as Buzz were intrusive and unwelcome. Google+ offers so much more. With increased, more intelligent security and privacy it’s hard to make the comparison. And if those early adopters who couldn’t see the benefits and kept to Facebook are right to stay away, is that such a bad thing? There’s a place for them and if they like it, fine. Google+ may become the ‘Facebook for Business’ that LinkedIn seemed interested in becoming for a moment. The thing is that Google can afford to do it bigger, better and direct into SERPs.
About the Author: @DanCash is a features writer living on the south coast of England. He’s taking his laptop over to a friend’s later to show them the advantages of using Google+ in SEO so they can replicate the method on their barebones PC.
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