A hundred days after Google + gave brands the boot, they are welcoming businesses back with open arms. Today Google launched Google + Pages, allowing brands to establish their own pages to market their goods and services to its 40 million users. While Facebook boasts more than 700 million users, brands may be reaching a more captive, less saturated audience on Google +. Unlike Facebook, Google + Pages can add users to their circles, but only if the user adds the page first.
I just set up our company page (add treadsocial to your Circle … you won’t regret) and it was just like setting up a regular Google + profile. The only things I found confusing were:
1. Switching between my Profile and the company Page.
Managing photos is terrible.
I’m unclear as to whether or not you can create a branded url.
Should be interesting to see how this all pans out. Personally, I love Google +, but the thought of managing yet another page for another brand is giving me a headache. How do you think Google + Pages will impact brands online?
Social networks are an opportunity to create a unique environment where brands can speak with (not at) their audience. Engagement, brand awareness and fostering the coveted word-of-mouth marketing are all benefits of a successful social media campaign. And while we spent most of 2010 wrapping our minds around the significance of social media, some still have not jumped on board and many have not properly launched their campaigns.
Create branded destinations. Gunelius suggests using free social media options such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. to create a core online destination.
Establish entry points. Create meaningful content that enhances the user’s experience and gets them talking. In addition to giving your audience a reason to return, new content also helps to increase your SEO.
Locate your target audience and bring them back to you. Through a little research, locate your target audience and develop a presence there. Gunelius says joining online forums, blogs and write posts or comment on stories to gain trust from your audience and establish yourself as a thought leader.
Connect with influencers. Figure out who’s got the loudest voice online and connect with them. Follow their blogs, retweet, show your commitment and even make an intro.
Give more than you receive. Don’t spend all your time pumping out self-promoting messages. Remember this is a social environment. Gunelius recommends the 20/80 rule: “Spend no more than 20 percent of your time in self-promotional activities and conversations, and at least 80 percent on non-self-promotional activities. In time, you’ll see your business grow from your efforts. And it starts with leveraging these fundamentals.”
Sadly, I’m not one of the lucky people with access to the dramatically revamped Twitter, but boy do I feel like a kid before Christmas. I truly cannot wait.
Twitter has announced “A Better Twitter,” the biggest change to its interface in a long time … years. Leaving its comfort zone of 140 characters, the newly re-engineered Twitter will be providing “an easier, faster and richer experience.”
Also cool? Discover-related content. Soon (if not now), when you click on a tweet, additional info related to the author or subject appears.
These new changes, slated to roll out over the next several weeks, are going to mean incredible things for brands on Twitter. For years, Facebook has reigned supreme in social media marketing. Aside from boasting more than 500 million users (Twitter has just under 150 million users), Facebook has allowed users to post pictures, video, notes and events, whereas Twitter has just offered links to such things.
Now, brands on Twitter will be able to offer more engaging messages, with embedded images and video. In short, brands will be able to tell their stories with more encompassing content.
It will be interesting to see if Twitter’s new offerings attract even more users. It also will be exciting to see how marketers use the new features to interact with consumers, and which of them are successful. Already our heads are spinning. Yours?
Facebook recently announced it has 400 million active users and more than 20 million people become fans of Facebook Fan Pages each day. And while Twitter is seeing a leveling off, its users post more than 50 million tweets per day, an average of 600 tweets per second.
Clearly these social networks are not to be ignored. And according to a new study, consumers who engage with brands on Facebook and Twitter are much more likely to recommend and purchase those brands because of their online involvement.
In a recent study by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies, which included more than 1,500 consumers, researchers found that 60 percent of Facebook fans and 79 percent of Twitter followers were more likely to recommend those brands after becoming a fan or follower. Equally impressive, 50 percent of Facebook fans and 37 percent of Twitter followers were more likely to purchase the brands they follow on social networks.
Also of interest, when asked the question “What does it say about a brand if they are not involved with sites like Facebook or Twitter?” consumers responded with the following:
“It’s EXPECTED that a company have some digital face – whether it’s on FB or Twitter I don’t know – but they need a strong electronic presence or you doubt their relevance in today’s marketplace.” Female 50-54
“Either they are not interested in the demographic that frequents Facebook and Twitter or they are unaware of the opportunity to get more exposure in a more interactive method.” Male 35-39
“It shows they are not really with it or in tune with the new ways to communicate with customers.” Female 18-24.
“If they’re not on Facebook or Twitter, then they aren’t in touch with the “electronic” people.” Female 55-59
Click here to learn more about the CMB Consumer Pulse findings.
A hundred days after Google + gave brands the boot, they are welcoming businesses back with open arms. Today Google launched Google + Pages, allowing brands to establish their own pages to market their goods and services to its 40 million users. While Facebook boasts more than 700 million users, brands may be reaching a more captive, less saturated audience on Google +. Unlike Facebook, Google + Pages can add users to their circles, but only if the user adds the page first.
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