First we heard about the +1 button and now the social media world is buzzing with Google+.  For many, the biggest concern is, do we need to learn another social media site and if so, how difficult will it be.

Google has always been a company that launched simple and useful services and managed to do it very well. However, when it comes to social media, Google has been way behind the times.  Their attempt at catching up to its competitors by implementing Google Buzz failed miserably.

Well, this is about to change with Google+ or so it seems.  In the last year, Google has learned from the competition and has now rolled out a new social media platform that will forego the mistakes made by their competition, such as Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.

For the most part, Google+ is very similar to Facebook; creating your profile and getting started is simple enough.  Where Google+ differs from Facebook is that Google took the time to listen to the cries of categorizing ones “friends” and keeping some things private from certain groups of people. Hence, Google has invented “circles”, which allows the user to systematically categorize who they share certain information with.

Unlike Facebook, every Google+ post has its own unique URL, making Google+ a contender with Twitter by easily indexing shared content. 

“Hangouts”, another new feature, implements Google Voice and Google Talk to allow users to “hang out” on line. Google’s spin on this new feature is to get together spontaneously on line.

 

“Sparks”, a service for tracking topics that interest you, easy upload of images, and implementation of +1 button all add to the simplicity and ease of use of this new social network.

A few hours after launching Google+, users were already divided in their opinion, many stating that it’s just like Facebook.  Over the last few days, many encouraging articles and blog posts have been written, stating the subtle differences that make Google+ interesting enough to give it a try.  I guess, we’ll have to wait for our invitation to make up our own mind.

For detailed information on usage…. http://mashable.com/2011/07/16/google-plus-guide/#

Does your company have specific business goals for your social media activities? If not, you should.

In a November 2009 survey MarketingSherpa discovered that approximately ninety-four percent (see chart below) of those surveyed use social media to increase their website traffic, which is not surprising.

What might surprise you is twenty-one percent don’t actually measure their results and five percent have no specific objectives for their social media activities. So I can only assume that they’re on LinkedIn and Tweeting, for example, because they think it’s the right thing to do.

Doing something for the sake of doing it doesn’t sound like real business to me, does it to you?

 

The other thing that surprised me was the relatively low number of respondents who use social media to reduce their customer acquisition and customer support costs. I mean, the tools are free!

The bottom line is social media is a free and easy to use platform for promoting your business and communicating directly with your customers and prospect, so use it.

If you’re not sure how, give us a call.

Steve Hartkopf

800-707-9150

If you’re looking for niche markets, hot topics and new ideas there are a bunch of sites that can help you beyond the search engines although, in some cases, they are sub-domains of the search engines.

I check out the hottest search trends at Google Zeitgeist. Since I’m usually targeting the US market, I’ll click on “U.S. Zeitgeist,” otherwise I’ll look at “Zeitgeist Around the World.”

Lycos Top 50 and Yahoo! Buzz are two other sites, like Google Zeitgeist, that I review when I’m looking for the latest trends in digital products and hot topics.

The eBay Pulse site is also an excellent place to start looking at niche markets and topics and is one very few people, from what I can tell, use for research.

If you still can’t find anything to get your creative marketing or writing juices flowing then here are some other sites to investigate:

Nichebot - http://www.nichebot.com

Shopping.com Searches – http://www2.shopping.com/top_searches

AOL Hot Searches - http://hot.aol.com/hot/hot

Google Groups - http://groups.google.com

Craig's List - http://www.craigslist.com

Delicious Popular - http://del.icio.us/popular

Digg - http://www.digg.com

Google Catalogs - http://catalogs.google.com

Google Suggest – http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en

Technorati - http://www.technorati.com

If you want to focus exclusively on what’s selling visit the Clickbank Marketplace (http://marketplace.clickbank.net).

The web is constantly changing so it requires effort to stay current, to remain relevant.

As a marketing consultant it’s my business to stay abreast of web-trends. Feel free to call me if you’re having trouble finding the information you need.

Steve Hartkopf

800-707-9150

 

In case you want your message exposed to millions of people, Aligned Marketing does social media and video.

Steve
803-810-3180
800-707-9150

 

MotherApp’s BlogEngine is the amazing tool that converts your blog and tweets into a native iPhone app in minutes with zero coding.

Simply enter your RSS feed URL, Twitter name and a description of your blog, then upload two images and voilà – you’ve created your very own iPhone app!

MotherApp takes care of submitting the app to Apple for approval and notifies you when it’s available for download.

It’s that easy!

As my title suggests, I’m going off the reservation with this post. Today’s post isn’t about business or communication. It’s about me. It’s about you.

When I look over the expanse of human history I see three significant events:

1. Fire
2. Jesus and
3. the Internet

I know a lot more happened, I just think the rest of it is largely subtext. I guess I’m a big picture guy. Some of us operate at 20,000 feet and some us at 3 feet. That’s fine. We’re just different. One view is not necessarily better than the other and we need both types of people (and a lot more) in the world. We all have a role to play.

I’m a good guy to have on your strategy development team. I can spot trends early on in their development and ways that seemingly unrelated events and conflicting data are, in fact, lining up to a predictable conclusion. Rarely a week goes by that I’m not amazed that someone, or some company, “didn’t see that coming.” That’s one of my strengths, but I have weaknesses too.

Even though I consider myself a decent writer, I’m not the guy to hire if you want to a write long detailed process manual, which may be needed to implement a strategy. I’d get about 90% through, get bored and struggle with the last 10%. Attention to detail has been a life-long issue for me. My best work has been done when I had highly analytical teammates, people to help me with details. These differences are good, in fact they’re important.

Can you imagine how boring it would be if every night you sat down with your friends and family and said, “Okay, what should we talk about? Fire, Jesus or the Internet?” That wouldn’t work well, although I know people who, it seems, do only talk about the last two.

It’s hard to figure out your own set of words. It takes time and effort to work through and reconcile your inner-most thoughts and feelings. But that’s exactly how we learn about ourselves. My little three-word exercise is just one tactic and those are my results.

I’m going to assume your list, your top three (fifteen, whatever) is different than mine and that’s the point. Write your own list. Once you have it, study it. What does it tell you about yourself? How can you incorporate your natural tendencies, the real you, into your work? How can you mix it into your fun?

I’ve shared my list. Care to share yours?

Steve

#1 Googlenation

Google continues to expand its online dominance.

In early December Google announced five new services:

• Near instant voice translation – Language translation via mobile phones. This is all new but Google expects to have the major languages available in 2010.
• Customized suggestions based on location – While you type a search term into you mobile phone Google will pre-populate terms based on your location. That can come in handy if you’re in an unfamiliar location and looking for a restaurant, theater or retail store.
• Product search with local inventory – See who is selling what near you and whether or not they have any in stock right now. Amazing!
• Near Me Now – Android owners will get local results ranked by user ratings.
• Google Goggles – Also for Android owners, Goggles is a visual search. Watch video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhgfz0zPmH4

Google docs, think free Office applications, and Google Wave expand their reach. The applications are free. Doc programs are very good and Wave is an excellent collaboration tool. Once you start using them, it’s hard to stop. They’re that good.

Real Time Search includes social media in search results. If something happens in the world Twitter may be a better source of news than CNN, which was the case following the Iranian election.

#2 Video explodes

YouTube is the second most searched online property behind Google and in front of Yahoo. Whether you want to learn how to use software, film a videoblog, repair a deck or bust through writer’s block, there’s a video that can help you.

Smart marketers will use online video to get their message out. More online video libraries, premium content subscription services, and increased advertising bandwidth will result in more online video ads.

New entrants will join the club currently dominated by YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, MetaCafe and Hulu.

#3 More Mobile

In a September 2009 survey, eMarketer respondents anticipated an increase in mobile ad spending to $593M in 2010, up 43%! As more companies attempt to engage an always-on-the-go population mobile applications and investments will explode.

Personal Apps, such as the one I’m building for iPhone users, will automatically configure your website, blog, etc. for mobile readers. This will become a high-growth business and eventually incorporate the already popular Apps that allow mobile users to interact with Social Media, our next trend.

#4 Social Media

Twitter’s popularity may have peaked in 2009.  2010 will be the year more companies learn how to make Twitter, and other social media, work for business. If you disagree, that’s fine. Maybe you can explain why Google has invested so heavily in Local Search?
Customer service won’t shift entirely to Social Media but smart companies will understand that a quick post on Twitter to an unhappy customer that solves their problem is a competitive advantage over phone trees, automated messages and being placed on interminable hold. Reliability will have to be addressed but the speed and cost of social media already give them the upper hand.

#5 Convergence

The offline worlds of television and movie playing devices, for example, and the online will converge. You can already buy DVD and Blue Ray players that connect directly to the web and provide access to movie trailers, games, and search. Televisions with access to NetFlix, Blockbusters and other online video providers are coming this year.

#6 Cheap

Google Docs, iPhone App, Twitter and YouTube can all be useful business tools and are free, as are blogs from WordPress, Blogger, Blogspot and many others. Through Skype I have video conferencing capabilities through my Mac and unlimited calling for $30.00 a year. What’s your phone bill? Do you have video conferencing capabilities in your office?

Picture editing software, customer relations management programs, email marketing tools and a myriad of other productivity tools are available online and many of them are free or ridiculously inexpensive.

#7 Mish-mash

Copywriting, search engine optimization, tools that add more leverage to social media will all continue to grow in their importance and utility. Websites that can't be found are just pointless expenses and sites that lack purpose and focus are not much better. More companies will catch up with those facts. And writing that was exceptional for a brochure may not be adequate for a website, which works best with strategically placed keywords throughout.

What did I miss?

Social Media To-Do List

You may be confused about social media (SM), many business people are. There are literally hundreds of social media sites and sorting through them seems impossible. There’s Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, etc., and then there’s the ones with unusual names,  StumbleUpon or Posterous, to name two. No doubt, there are too many for a non-professional to evaluate and, since most SM sites are awash with non-customers for most businesses, why would anyone in a traditional marketing role take the time to review all those communities. So what should marketing professionals do about social media? Here’s my take:

1. Target your activities:

Information overload saps efficiency and limits productivity, that’s why many of us hate email. Take the time to investigate the top 25-50 social media sites and see if your company, your products, your competitors or your key industry words are prominent. Do a generic Google search for the same terms (company, product, competitors and you) just to see if you’ve missed anything. If any of the social media networks you evaluate have activity around your company, products or competitors, then join and monitor those networks. This approach let’s you focus on what’s important and weed out most of the “social media noise.”

2. Know who is talking about your brand:

You need to know who’s talking about you online and social media is the perfect mechanism. There are companies, such as Aligned Marketing (yes, that’s a shameless plug), that can break down the demographics of the people talking about your brand by gender, age and geography. If the demographics match your target audience then, again, you’ll need to pay close attention to those conversations and be ready to engage quickly, which brings us to the next point.

3. Engage the conversation:

It’s better to be proactive than it is to be reactive. Joining the online conversation allows you to speak directly with your target audience, your customers and your detractors. You can monitor the conversation. You can’t manage the conversation, per se, but you can insert your own perspective and, hopefully, influence the direction of the conversation. Engaging gives you the opportunity to react, share your side and, perhaps, steer a negative comment into a customer service success story before it becomes a trend.

4. Reporting:

Use your social media research and the available tools to capture relevant information. Organize that information and use traditional reporting tools, such as charts, graphs and PowerPoint, to combine both qualitative and quantitative analysis, to inform your organization. As the data increases you may find that even your most ardent critics will realize that spending a portion of your marketing budget to monitor online conversations is wise.

I may be wrong but, like it or not, I don’t think this stuff is going away anytime soon.

Steve

 

On Monday we learned that About.com forecast Twitter to reach 26 million users (15.5% of adult internet users) by 2010, taught you how open your own Twitter account and discussed being a good Twitizen. Today you’ll learn how to:

How can you locate the right people to Follow? Here are some tools:

• Wefollow (http://wefollow.com) lists the Twitter people –Tweeps, Twits or Tweople – with the most Followers by tag usage. Think of a tag as a subject, such as music or news.Follow the people with the most Followers in the subjects that matter to you.
  
• Twellow (http://www.twellow.com) is “a search directory of people by area of expertise, profession or other attribute listed in personal profiles. Use the same Follow tactic here as you did with Wefollow.
  
• Nearby Tweets (http://nearbytweets.com) is a very cool tool because it lets you find other Twits in your, or some other, geography. Personal note: I walked into an event in my home town and the first person I introduced myself to said, “Oh, I know you, I Follow you on Twitter.” It was cool. We both started laughing. The lesson: Follow people close to your home or work.
  
• Twitter Search (http://search.twitter.com) allows you to search the Twittersphere for keywords or topics and is an excellent way to find like-minded people, potential clients or business partners to Follow.
• Listorious (http://www.listorious.com) was explained in detail in my November 4 post (http://tinyurl.com/yal4ay5) so just let me say, it’s a super directory of lists on Twitter and I highly recommend you use it to locate people to Follow.

How you get people to Follow you:

• The first tip is a no-brainer: Provide good content. Post (Tweet) content that is interesting, useful and/or entertaining and your followship will grow.
• The second tip is to make sure your profile is well written, your page design is well executed and, in general, you treat your Twitter account as a marketing tool. Most people prefer to know the people they Follow and your online presence is your introduction, the beginning of knowing you.
• List your Twitter account on your website, blog, all of your social media accounts, email signature and printed materials, if you have them, and provide a link to your Twitter account whenever possible.
• Pick a tweet-niche and stick to it since it is, in effect, your online brand. Most of my tweets are about business communication and using technology in digital marketing. However, I also throw in a few posts about current events, sports and fun stuff, such videos, to show the lighter side of my personality.
• Since most of the people you Follow will Follow you in return, using the previously mentioned tools will drive your Follower number up is a great way to increase Followers.
• Retweet (RT) the people you want following you. Most Twitters review their list of RT’s and if you are helping them spread their message it’s likely they will Follow you out of courtesy/reciprocity.

How you can locate topics to Tweet and Retweet:

• Follow your passions. If, like me, you enjoy social media, current events and fun-stuff, then post about those topics.
• Visit websites that have great content and either comment (tweet) about what you read or RT articles, posts and videos.
• Here are the sites I visit often for content.
  • Google (http://www.google.com) is my #1 source. When a topic strikes my fancy, I Google it to learn more and that often spurs a post.
  • The Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/home-page). WSJ is right in my wheelhouse as far as business reporting, quality writing and politics. I think the online subscriptions is, like, $69.00 a year.
  • YouTube (http://www.youtube.com) is my #2 source. I’m always amazed at what is available on YouTube. There’s a video on almost every subject imaginable and a lot of them are either hysterical or surprisingly informative.
• For information about technology and what technology marvel is coming next I visit:
  • Fast Company (http://www.fastcompany.com)
  • CNET (http://www.cnet.com)
  • TechCrunch (http://www.techcrunch.com)
  • Alltop (http://alltop.com) is an online magazine rack where you can pick up great information, current thinking, well-written articles and post about almost any subject.
  • There are a lot of great blogs and blogger directories online. Here are the ones I use the most:
    • Mashable (http://www.mashable.com) is a blog dedicated to social networking news and events.
    • Copyblogger (http://www.copyblogger.com) promotes itself as a site for “copywriting tips for online success” and, in my view, it delivers.
    • Problogger (www.problogger.net) helps “bloggers add income streams to their blogs.”
    • The Bloggers’ Bulletin (http://www.thebloggersbulletin.org) is an excellent source for “Tips, Tools and News on Blogging!” (Yes, this is shameless self-promotion since I’m a contributor. So sue me. Check it out, I think you’ll agree that the team is producing good content and helping a lot of people get started blogging.)

Final thought on behalf of all bloggers, most of us put a lot of time and energy into our blogs. We take this stuff seriously. So tell us how we’re doing? Is this information useful? What else would you like us to report on, discuss or teach? If you’re not comfortable making public comments, send me an email at shartkopf@aligned-marketing.com. I’d really like to hear from you.

It’s Wednesday, the only one this week. Do something remarkable!

Steve