Posts tagged: social marketing

Google+ Page Tips for Engagement and Building Brand Presence

December 6, 2011, by No comments yet

By: Ryan Miller

In the past few weeks we’ve given a lot of coverage to getting yourself and your business/brand onto Google+.  We’ve given ideas for navigating Google+ personal profiles, tips on getting your Google+ page published and how to establish a link that will help verify ownership of a Google+ page. 

Now that your core Google+ page has been built, it’s time to start building up a voice for your page and get your page seen by those who are interested in your content.

The first thing that you’ll want to do, if you haven’t already, is to make sure that your website has a badge that can bring visitors from your website to your Google+ page.  This can be done through Google’s badge configuration.  Promoting your Google+ page through badges is an easy way to start bringing users to your page.  Incorporating +1 Buttons on your website will also give an additional signal to your users that you are on Google+.

One of the most important things that you can do with your Google+ page, especially when it is brand new, is to provide plenty of valuable content that people will want to share and comment on.  As with any social account, much of the upfront time will be dedicated to building up great content that will engage your targeted users to come back for more. With Google+ still being a relatively new social media network, and its users being somewhat finicky, you will want to provide only the best content whether that be news stories, photos, videos or updates centered around your page.

One of the more interactive options within Google+ is the live video conferencing for groups known as Hangouts.  Hangouts can be used for a multitude of user-targeted conversation such as customer service for e-commerce websites to product demos for merchants to news discussion of local events. Using hangouts can literally put a face to your Google+ page, and if you are in a competitive market, it can give you a leg up over your competitors.

While providing valuable content is one side of the coin, how you interact with those who have shared or commented on your posts is the other side. Quickly responding to questions or inquiries, whether positive or negative and especially when dealing with time sensitive matters, can help you control the conversation and message happening on your Google+ page.  Additionally, it will give a visual history to other potential fans that you are monitoring and interacting with the page.

One of the other great options that Google+ has is the ability to create circles, which is an account holder’s way of organizing friends and fans to target for updates. Once someone has added your page to their own circles (allowing them to see your updates in their stream) make sure to add them back. Depending on your page’s focus, create a circle that best suits them.  Is your page focused on local news? Check out where your follower is from on their profile page, and then create a circle for their city or region so when you have a news post for that area you can target it to that specific circle. 

Google also has some basic reminders for using circles within Google+ pages: 

No Google+ Page Can Follow You Until You Follow Them

We want Google+ to be a place you love to share. Pages cannot circle you until you follow them first. Of course, if you are in their circles, they can share great deals, exclusive coupons, product tips and hangouts, but the relationship is yours to start.

In Fact, Google+ Pages Can’t Even Mention You Unless You’re Connected

That’s right. The +Google+ page can’t even say your name unless you’re following. No +mention spam.

Google+ Pages Automatically Unfollow You If You Unfollow Them

If you remove a Google+ Page from your circles, you are automatically removed from their circles. You always are in charge.

While creating the foundation for your brand’s presence on Google+, you may want to hide your low follower count so that potential followers are not turned off by the low numbers. If you want to do this, click the “Change who is visible here” option on your home page and set your option accordingly.  Once you have established a solid follower base, be sure to make the follower count visible again.

With Google+ pages only being a month old, you can expect to see continued refinements and new abilities to be coming down the pipeline. A recent Q&A with Google revealed that multi-admin capability will be coming before 2012, that analytics will be coming soon and the ability to schedule posts or auto-post is something currently being talked about.  Keep coming back to Advance Search & Social to get the latest updates on Google+ pages and all that Google+ has to offer!

Ryan Miller is the SEO Manager for Advance Digital, and provides best practice techniques for improving your online business visibility. You can follow him on Twitter @cromiller and add him to your circles on Google+.

The State of Social Media (or Why Aren’t You Using It for Marketing?)

September 20, 2011, by No comments yet

By: Ryan Miller

Are you still not sure if this whole “social media” thing is worth your time and effort, and just a fad that will fade out soon? Is there enough unique traffic in social media to warrant your advertising dollars? The fine folks at Nielsen have compiled and just released their Social Media Report Q3 2011, featuring a massive amount of data to answer that question.  The short answer is “yes”.  Keep on reading to get the long answer.

Nielsen has found among other things that:

  • Social networks and blogs continue to dominate Americans’ time online and now account for nearly a quarter of total time spent on the internet.
  • Social media has grown rapidly – today nearly 4 in 5 active internet users visit social networks and blogs.
  • Americans spend more time on Facebook than they do on any other U.S. website.
  • Close to 40 percent of social media users access social media content from their mobile phone.
  • 70% of active online adult social network users shop online; 12% more likely than the average adult internet user.
  • 53% of active adult social networkers follow a brand, while 32% follow a celebrity.

One of the key takeaways from the information is seeing the breakdown of social media users demographics. It is vital to understand who that audience is, how to target their interests and what percentage of your marketing budget should be spent where.  As seen in this chart below, the majority of social media users are 18-34 year old females.

If your online marketing has been targeted toward attracting new business through standard websites, AdWord campaigns and display banners, these stats may make you think twice about reallocating some of that budget into social media.  Among other points, social media users are 47% more likely to be heavy spenders on clothing, shoes and accessories, 75% more likely to be heavy spenders on music and 45% more likely to go on a date.

Social media as a form of communication and engagement isn’t going away any time soon.  It doesn’t matter what your personal opinions may be on Facebook and Twitter or that you think you don’t have time for it.  What does matter is that your potential clients and consumers are using these platforms, they engage with companies within social media, they talk about products and services they like and they have many friends who trust their opinion.  So, why aren’t you in the social media sphere yet?

Stats and charts cited here are from Nielsen’s Social Media Report: Q3 2011.  You can read then entire report at nielsen.com.

Ryan Miller is the SEO Manager for Advance Internet, and an active user in social media. You can follow him on Twitter @cromiller and add him to your circles on Google+.