8 Tips for Creating A Personal Google+ Profile for the Professional
So perhaps you’ve been avoiding that leap to Google+. Why do you need another personal social media profile you ask? The problem with that question is that you are comparing Google+ (G+) to your experiences with Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. That would be a mistake. G+ is not like these other networks. Each social network has its own nuance and “flavor,” and G+ is no different. The strongest advantage to G+ is in the fact that it’s owned by Google. Duh, you say. But think about the implications of that for anyone who works in a field or business where the internet is involved in...
read moreTop 3 Things I Love About Google+
Google+ is an interesting social media platform for the business owner. It’s loved, hated, ignored, misunderstood, and more often than not, confusing. When considering what I love about Google+ marketing for this Top 3 series, my Top 3 were not as obvious to me. In fact, I wasn’t sure that I could come up with three favorite things at first. However, that led to the realization of why it’s growing on me as a social media platform, and why I expect it will grow on everyone – eventually… 1. “Wild West”– This is changing a bit, but if you ever wanted to explore the “Wild...
read moreThe Difference Between a Facebook Strategy and a Google+ Strategy
For the business owner, marketing with social media has its challenges. Among the questions that face you in your marketing, is how to best use the different social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, etc. – to promote your business and your services. There are many reasons to be active on all of the major platforms, but in this article, we want to address specific differences in marketing strategies on Facebook versus Google+. This is not about SEO. This is about content marketing. Yes, SEO is a part of an overall marketing strategy, but that’s where we want to make...
read moreCustomer Service Testimonials
Grab a cup of coffee or your favorite beverage – I’m going to tell you a little story. This is a story of two teenagers on summer break, but it could have been any two people, anywhere. This story takes place in the Richmond, TX area, where there are three separate pizza delivery companies in a close proximity to the characters in this story. Everyone loves pizza right? This is a story of pizza and teenagers and customer service…Hang in there. I will get to the point, but you need to hear the full story. When you’re hungry, you’re hungry, right? If that happens at 9:30 at night, or...
read moreTo Automate Posts or Not?
Having heard all of the arguments for and against, and based on some of my own experimentation, whether or not you automate posts through social media still gets answered with, “It depends.” So, focusing on the 4 major platforms, let’s look at some of the variables. The “Pros,” or reasons for using 3rd party software for auto-posting to the various platforms all include three factors. Automated posting saves time, it allows you access to more in-depth analytics than might be available through the platform itself, and it allows you to consistently take advantage of your...
read moreThe 3 Cogs of Social Media
Social media has multiple personalities and multiple purposes. No matter how you engage with social media, you need to be aware of the nuances, or you’ll likely find that it doesn’t suit you. It’s not just a trivial chatter platform, and it’s not just about networking. It’s more than just selling a product, but it can be about that – sometimes. It changes daily, but it focuses on constant principles. How you deal with these purposes and personalities, however, involves three common “cogs” – relationships, value and needs – if you are going to make the most of...
read morePrivacy Isn’t Private
Perhaps it’s time to revisit privacy versus private for social media use. While seemingly similar, those two words are in fact, very different in application with all the changes going on in social media platforms right now. SOPA and PIPA have fueled the fire of this issue and changes to the two primary contestants in this race, Google+ and Facebook, have kept this topic alive, so just for a minute, let’s consider this topic yet again. It comes down to privacy versus private. You can share all sorts of things to all sorts of places, but do you want to? Privacy settings can help on...
read moreQuick Posting Tips
It doesn’t matter what business you’re in or which social media network you’re on, sometimes the well can run dry on content. Maybe you have great products and services, but occasionally, coming up with meaningful posts is a challenge. In no particular order, here are some posting ideas. Have fun with these – have fun with your audience – and remember social media is about being social, so show some of “yourself” in your posts, and create posts that you would want to respond to. There’s a good chance, someone else will feel the same way you do! Post about what inspires...
read moreRevisiting Lists and Circles – Part 1
If you’re active on social media, this will be a review of something that you may have forgotten as so many changes have rolled out lately. If you’re new to social media, you may be a bit overwhelmed by the Newsfeed (Facebook) or Stream (Google+) items that flood your screen once you begin to make connections. So, let’s revisit Lists and Circles… You control your content! That’s the bottom line, and both Facebook and Google+ know that there’s a balance between giving you the content you want and allowing you to see fresh content. The answer is the “list” feature, and whether...
read more3 Essential Profile Facts
No matter which social media platforms you choose to use – Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, etc. – there are three things that need to be clearly marked on each one. How and where you “mark” them is slightly different for each platform, but consider these the “tripod” of branding for social media use. The number of times these are overlooked or left off is amazing, and while these may seem obvious, it never hurts to look at your pages again – just to be sure… Logo/Brand – This “image” sets the tone for your brand. It should be everywhere, and it...
read moreThe Power of a Check-In
It may seem like we focus more on Facebook than other social media platforms, and perhaps that’s true, but a “check in” is not just about Facebook. Google+ has the check-in option, foursquare is all about the check ins….So, what is the value of a check in? This is best illustrated by recapping a conversation I had today with a business owner. He has a successful business, and he’s been in business a long time. That alone speaks well for him. However, he’s noticing that “older” marketing methods are not working as well. He’s done a lot of “mailers” in the past. Like many...
read moreGoogle+ Opens for Business
Well, you knew it had to happen eventually! Google+ has now allowed business owners to create a business page on Google+. Did they wait too long, though? In a nutshell, setting up your Google+ business page is very simple to do. It takes only a couple of minutes to complete the whole thing, assuming you have your photos ready to go and your business information handy. Fancier pages will come, I feel sure of that, but for now, you can get the job done in under five minutes. However, some might suggest that the “glamour” is missing. The pages are pretty simple to set up, which means that...
read morePublic, Private, or In a Circle?
This may not be a popular position to take, but I have a social media question to pose today, and I’d love your feedback. First, let’s preface it with saying that I’m aware that someone will have a good answer that makes sense, and I applaud the social media platforms (Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) who are taking steps to allow stricter privacy setting options. These are good things for those who are on social media regularly. But here’s a question for discussion. Consider This If there’s something that you don’t want some people to know about you, why would you post it...
read moreThe Jekyll and Hyde of Marketing Strategy
Sometimes, random facts inspire a great analogy. Seeing something like that this morning, this one is too good not to share. Do you know the first names of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Most likely, you don’t. Now, before you run away from this article to Google those names, hang on and hear me out. I’ll give you their names at the end. In social media marketing, we like to make a big splash. We want to get noticed right away and make it big. Unfortunately it doesn’t always work that way, and often, the businesses that make it big right away can just as quickly fade out. In some...
read moreGoogle+ Dabbling
If you haven’t heard about Google+ (or G+) yet, then you may not live in social media “shiny object land.” That’s okay. Enough of us have been dabbling in the G+ field for awhile now that we can bring you up to speed. Here is our personal take on what Google+ is all about, and why it matters to the average user. (Remember, if you have a social media manager already, then they should be on top of this for you!) In our humble opinion, Google+ is like a hybrid of LinkedIn meets Facebook meets YouTube. Here’s what we mean. Google+ lets you connect with others very easily by just...
read moreFree Resources!
Behind the Scenes via Instagram
