In mid-May 2013 we woke up one morning to find the biggest Google Plus redesign since the social network was introduced in June of 2011. Let’s review the major changes to the interface, and then we’ll talk about their ramifications for business and marketing users of Google+. 1. New Google+ Homepage Layout The first and most striking change is to the layout of the default home page, the place where most Google+ users view the content shared by others. The former single column for content with a narrow info-sidebar has been replaced with two columns of content “cards” and a …
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By now (I hope!) most businesses realize that Google Plus is not only here to stay but offers a number of distinct benefits from a marketing standpoint. Many will mention the effect of Google+ on SEO (Google Search). Or they’ll bring up Hangouts and Hangouts On Air as useful, free communication and broadcasting tools. And more and more brands are finding creative uses for Google+ Communities. But for anyone who regularly produces content for the web, it’s likely that one of their first attractions to Google+ will be to Google Authorship and its fabled, much-speculated-about cousin Author Rank. As one of …
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Not too long ago I was looking at at thread in a popular LinkedIn group. Someone had asked whether Google+ has any relevancy for business. Many people tried to answer, but the following two were pretty typical of the positive answers given: Do you notice a commonality in these answers? It’s what I see time and again when such a question is asked: “Google+ is good for SEO.” But I’ve also noticed that when it comes to Google+ and SEO, in the words of the Harry Nilsson hit song, “Everybody’s Talkin’” but very few are explaining. Some seem to imply …
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I don’t think anything I’ve ever written online has received as much attention as last month’s “Your Google Plus Network Is More Powerful Than You Know” on this blog. So many people have told me that the post opened their eyes for the first time to why Google+ is not “just another social network.” In that post I gave you some basic starter strategies for building a Google+ network that can expand your reach and build your influence, not only within Google+ itself, but perhaps even more importantly in Google Search. This month I want to build on that and …
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This blog post has been a long time coming, and today I was reminded once again of the general misunderstanding that the public has regarding Google Plus with a tweet like this: Now, I’m not trying to pick on anyone in particular here, because social media is all about communication and the exchanging of ideas and information. It’s a valid question that I get asked a lot, and the most common thing I hear from savvy business people who might be more active in other social media channels yet stray away from Google Plus is, None of my friends are …
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My worlds are finally colliding. This week, as I prepared to write this post, one of my local friends and Facebook contacts asked a question about Google+. Specifically, she wondered if the platform was worth her time as a homeschool podcaster since she noticed a lot of active groups in her niche. I answered with a resounding yes! And I’m willing to bet there are more dyed in the wool Facebook users just like her that will be making the switch over to Google Plus in the coming months. As marketers, we need to be prepared to write for and …
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The real estate industry is changing. As the needs, characteristics and demands of today’s buyer and seller continue to evolve, so must the marketing style of any successful real estate professional. What marketing tactics worked yesterday, may not connect with today’s sophisticated and ever-changing consumer. According to the 2012 National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 90% of buyers used the Internet during the home search process and of that, nearly two-thirds only interviewed one agent before they found the agent they ultimately worked with. Think about the potential for any agent who has taken the time …
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A couple of weeks ago fellow Windmill Networking blogger Courtney Ramirez shared the following with me on Google+: Here is why I love G+ – I’m researching Quora for an article, and since I’m connected to Mark Traphagen, I see a terrific post, and a board he and AJ Kohn created, that was posted in October. Not only was it informative, but now I am following him on Quora and learning more about Google Authorship there. Where was Courtney researching? On Google+? No, she was searching in Google search. And because she and I have a connection there (we’re in each other’s …
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In its relatively brief history, Google+ has rolled out more new features faster than any other social network. Many are small changes; some are game changing (one word: Hangouts). But few have had the potential impact for businesses that the latest update promises. Google+ now has a groups feature called Communities. And here’s some really great news: Communities are wide open to brand pages. If you closely follow Google+, that last sentence has some shock value. Brand pages have been the stepchild of Google+. Typically new features are rolled out first to personal profiles, and pages only get them weeks, …
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As excited as I have been about the rise of Google Plus, I’ve been even more pumped about a Google feature intimately tied in to Google’s social network: Google Authorship. Authorship was rolled out about the same time as Google+ last year. It allows content creators to connect their blog posts, articles, videos, and other content to their Google+ profiles. In return Google may feature their content with a “rich snippet” result that displays their profile photo next to search results for their content (see the example for Windmill Networking head Neal Schaefer at right). But the greatest promise of …
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If you haven’t noticed, Windmill Networking has become a community blogging platform with contributions from those that I consider true thought leaders in their fields. Take our Google Plus contributor, Mark Traphagen, for example. When Mark and I first “met” online, I was already impressed with his content and the early coverage he was receiving in the blogosphere for his G+ blog posts. Since then I have seen how Mark has almost singlehandedly leveraged Google Plus for his personal branding to become an established thought leader in the space. We’ve talked numerous times on this blog about the value that …
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To look at Google Plus today is to look at the Twitter of yesteryear – and that is where our journey begins to understand the value of G+ – and how you can start to leverage it for your business or yourself. I remember joining Twitter in late 2008 and entering a community of acronyms that I didn’t understand and an atmosphere that, to be honest with you, seemed a little intimidating at the time. I didn’t see its immediate value and ended up unplugging from the platform for a few months. In fact, most professionals that I met …
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Hangouts are almost without a doubt the most touted feature of Google Plus, especially when it comes to business use of the platform. So if you follow my Google+ for Business column here, you might be wondering why it’s taken me so long to write about them. I’ve had two reasons for holding off until now: I wanted to bring you vital tips and information that you won’t find everywhere and anywhere, and I was convinced that many improvements and new features that I’d want to include were yet to come for Hangouts. Well, “yet to come” is now here: …
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Among the many beautiful gifts that modern day marketing via the Internet gives us is the ability to segment and micro-target. Back in the Mad Men days of mass TV ads and junk mail campaigns, you threw your promotions up against a huge wall and hoped they stuck to some of the bricks. Now thanks to personal profiles and all kinds of tracking and data-collection mechanisms, we can pretty much find and direct our messages toward people who are most likely to want or need what we’re providing. The cost saving because of this efficiency is enormous, and it has …
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I don’t use Google+, why should I care? In my first column, I said that one challenge with social media from a security and privacy point of view is that “[i]t’s an axiom in security that you can only secure that which you can understand. It’s also the nature of new technology that it’s not known, certainly not to a level most security people are comfortable with.” Except maybe for Pinterest, these days this statement can best apply to Google+. It is been with us for just about one year now. While a year is a long-time in the social …
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We’ve all heard the old aphorism “give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for life.” I like to go it one better: “give a man a fish pond and you can forget about the fishing.” With G+ brand pages, Google is practically giving you the search engine fish pond. Why do I say this? Unlike some of Google’s previous toe-dippings into social media (Buzz, Wave), G+ is not a bolt-on. It is designed to be fully-integrated into all thing Google. Since Google is known primarily as a search engine, it’s …
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People ask me all the time why I’m so excited about Google+ as a marketing tool. After all, it doesn’t (yet) have anywhere near the user numbers of social media juggernauts like Facebook or Twitter. Doesn’t it just make sense to go where the numbers are? When I hear that I stop and wonder if it’s really 2012. Broadcasting to the big numbers was the way to go for the Mad Men of the 60s, but savvy marketers like Seth Godin realize that these days it’s all about the tribes we lead. In other words, if you can connect with …
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Content marketing is all the rage these days. The ” content” in content marketing might be blog posts, videos, slide shows, white papers, podcasts, ebooks–anything that can be read, viewed, or listened to by others. But why do it, and how is it “marketing”? Good content can do all of the following: Build your image as a trusted authority in topics related to your business concerns. Develop loyal followers who will come back for more of what you have to offer. Enhance the likelihood that you and your business will be easily found in search engines. Create new relationships with …
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Relationships used to be the way business was done. A handshake and a person’s reputation were all that was needed to seal a deal. Social media has brought about the return of these values. A recent post by Jason Falls even declared that we can learn about social business from America’s small towns. In small towns everybody knows everybody’s business, everyone looks out for one another, trust is essential, and the way to grow is by helping others. The most effective social media marketing embraces these values. And just like in a small town, a reputation for trustworthiness and helpfulness …
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When it was launched last year, Google+ set out to be part of the burgeoning social networking space already dominated by Facebook and Twitter. While admittedly it has been a slow climb for the newest social network, things appear to be changing with the introduction of brand pages. It’s the search giant’s version of Facebook Pages, allowing businesses to connect with followers or “circlers” in Google parlance. If you have a Facebook Page, now is the time for you to invest in Google+ Brand Page - and our G+ contributor Mark Traphagen has already given you great advice as to how to set …
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