The misconceptions surrounding business-to-business (B2B) social media marketing can make it challenging to know how to start up your social media marketing campaigns. Lauren Carlson of CRMSoftware.TV recently sat down with three B2B marketing experts from HubSpot and Silverpop to dispel some of these misconceptions and discuss how B2B companies can use social media effectively in their marketing campaigns.
Continue reading How to Create a B2B Social Marketing Strategy That Works
Are you being disrespectful to people when inviting them to join your LinkedIn network?
Is online video big with social media users?The answer appears to be a resounding yes, if views of online video advertisements are to be believed. Every year, we know that people love to share funny super bowl videos, and increasingly they use social networks to do so. But there’s more to it than just sharing humor. Video is interesting and engaging, and people remember what they saw. Continue reading Video Takes Over the Social Realm: How to Tap the Phenomenon
If you spend any time on the Internet then you probably already know that Google recently launched it’s newest attempt to create a successful social network and it’s called Google+!
Now, before you begin complaining about your lack of time and money for taking on yet another social network, give me a few minutes to explain my 6 top reasons for why you need to add Google+ to the list of Social Networking Sites you use in your Social Media Marketing plan.
Reason #1 It’s Google For Goodness Sakes!
Ok, Google is number one in the list of popular websites according to http://Alexia.com. Number two is YouTube (also a Google site)- so you can’t afford to ignore this important opportunity.
Reason # 2 Functionality That is Intuitive & Seamless!
Google has been paying attention to what makes Facebook and Twitter appealing to their users. They have also learned from the other sites’ mistakes with failed attempts like Google Buzz and the Google Wave. They’ve managed to incorporate the best features of both Facebook and Twitter and included them into their platform while at the same time adding a few cool features of their own. Take a look at circles if you don’t believe me. This feature alone is worth the trouble of joining!
Reason # 3 SEO Value
Nobody understands SEO (Search Engine Optimization) better than Google since they coined the phrase and have cornered the market with their powerful Google Adwords platform. It makes sense they would give the most Google juice and weight to their own sites.
Reason # 4 The Circles Feature
The ability to drag and drop people into any number of circles that you create is like poetry in motion! Now you can easily separate your friends into groups that make sense to you based on your own criteria. People will have no idea which circle you add them to or even if you choose to add them or not. They also will not know the name of your circles so you can even pick something like “lame friends” if you like.
Reason # 5 You Need to Claim Your Free Internet Real Estate on the Web
I have always recommended that you create a Google profile so you can control what Google knows and reports about you online. This is extremely important for consistent branding and credibility. Your old Google profile is now replaced by your Google + profile so it just makes sense to claim your Google spot on the Internet before someone with your same name beats you to the punch.
Reason # 6 Google+ is Fun!
Google + is the newest, freshest, and shiniest Internet toy on the block. Also, if you’re involved with social media you realize there will always be a new kid on he block. I encourage you to give it a try and at least capture your name even if you don’t think it will last.
I hope these 6 reasons have given you the gentle push you need to establish yourself on Google +, which has just moved out of the beta phase so anyone can join. I highly recommend you jump on board ASAP. There is no business feature yet, but Google is testing a few accounts like Scott Monty of Ford Motor Co. to see how it will work.
I would love to know if you have joined Google+ yet and what has your experience been like. Please make a comment below and post your Google+ URL and I will follow you as well. Mine is http://gplus.to/laurenmcmullen
Lauren McMullen is a Social Media Marketing Specialist at Easy Social Media Management.
It’s been rumored for months that Google+ will be out for business, and it’s still not out. And you were hoping Facebook and Twitter would be around forever, so you didn’t have to learn anything new. Fortunately for you, Google+ takes many of the best features of these platforms and combines them to make one excellent tool you’ll soon be able to use as a business.
In the meantime, I’d like to share some tips on how you can prepare your business for Google+, and a few of the features you can use in your business.
If you haven’t aleady done so, sign up for a free personal account, as yourself, at http://plus.google.com If you already have a Gmail account, you can use it.
Also, I’d encourage you to download Google’s browser, Google Chrome, at http://google.com/chrome. I suggest this because many developers have created ways to extend the functionality of Google+, so you can do more right now instead of waiting for Google to upgrade the application.
I’d encourage you to have each of your employees do this too, and have them follow along, so you can build up your business’ expertise before it’s needed.
Complete your profile – One of the best ways to take advantage of any Google product is by making sure your profile is complete. Write up a little bio for yourself, include links back to your company website, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn pages and add a headshot of you. Eventually you’ll be able to link this to your business in some way, just trust me on this one. This way if people find you, they get a feel for whether this is the real you or not, and will decide within 7 seconds or less if you’re worth circling. Circling is Google+ way of saying listening.
Add at least 1 public post – Add at least 1 relevant post that is relevant to your industry. Find something not on your business’ website in your industry that you can share and add a comment to. Make sure you mark the post as public so it will show up when people view your profile.
Think of this like a mini-blog post, where you could share your thoughts on a topic near and dear to your customer’s hearts, something close to your heart, or anything that would make people know you’re a real person using Google+.
Circle a few interesting people and add them to the appropriate circle – Find some people you know are interesting and see if they’re already using Google+. Circle them, and then create a circle named the reason you’re following them. For instance, if you followed me, it might be because I’m a social media expert, because I’m from Milwaukee, or because I am a curator of interesting information, so you could create a circle called Social Media Experts, Milwaukee, and Curators.
Log in and look around every few days – Now going forward, look around, and see if anyone new has circled you. If they’re interesting, circle them back. Update your status every now and then. Share someone else’s interesting status update. Set a timer for 12 minutes and see how much you can do. Then log out and do the rest of your work.
Even though Google+ isn’t yet open for businesses, you can still learn a lot about how to use the service to prepare your business for future success.
About the author: Phil Gerbyshak is the Chief Connections Officer at 12 Minute Media, and is a professional speaker, a published author, and one of the coaches here at MarketVid.
Connect with Phil on Google+ to see how he’s using it for his business.
