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Another Google+ Redesign
Starting today, your Google+ is getting a makeover. Ever since its inception, Google+ has fought hard to catapult its popularity (190 million active users) beyond Facebook (1 billion active users) and Twitter (300 million active users) – and has yet to do so. Google is hoping its continuous improvements will help.
What will you see?
1. A multi-column layout that can enable better viewing across devices (mobile, tablet, computer) that have different screen sizes. In our personal opinion… taking the Pinterest design approach.
2. New hashtag capabilities that corral text and images with related content. This way, your connections can see related content all at once. Auto tags can be removed or replaced.
3. A suite of photo editing tools and a identification tool that features your best, most important photos – eliminating duplication uploads or poor picture quality. Additionally, your storage space will increase to 15GB.
4. Hangout will now save all on-record conversations as history, allowing users to access it anytime.
What does this mean for businesses?
Google is simply enhancing the way businesses and consumers can use Google+ more efficiently. Now, industry content that is posted by a business can reach consumers through more accurate categories. Additionally, more visual content can be shared with the space increase.
Are you using Google+ for business? Consider exploring its use not only for promoting your business, but for keeping things organized. Use Google+ hangouts to brainstorm with colleagues and clients, or even incorporate hangouts in contests (e.g. Enter to hangout with…) or as webinars (e.g. Join us for our marketing 101 hangout!). Check out industry-relevant hashtag feeds to see who is talking about what. Keep track in Google Docs and share with your circles. It’s all about collaboration!
Five Tradeshow PR Tips
Tradeshows are a great way to cultivate relationships with media. While many companies focus on customer relationships (as they should), it is also a chance to spread the word about the latest and greatest products and/or services, and position the company in the industry. How? Here are some ways to leverage tradeshows for your PR goals:
- Media Meetings: Secure the show media list and reach out to schedule meetings with priority media and bloggers. Give them a tour of new products/services that are most interesting to their subject matter and readers.
- Press Kits: Develop press kits containing your latest news and background about your company. This may be in an electronic or print form. Keep in mind what your target media would prefer. Drop these in the press room and hand out at your appointments!
- Press Events: Consider hosting a press conference or breakfast during the show if you have something significant to announce.
- Speaking Opportunities: Showcase your experts! Tradeshows often have education sessions for attendees to learn about the latest in the industry. Keep in mind that tradeshows post the call for speakers well in advance of the show, so make sure to check on deadlines for submissions and requirements.
- Multimedia: Tradeshows can offer the opportunity to capture video and photos of customers, partners, new products, experts, etc. that can be used for social media, sales meetings, website(s) and more.
Establishing Experts on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a valuable social media tool for many businesses and is often overlooked as just a resume/job-seeking platform. While it is certainly beneficial for those uses, it can also serve as a tool for marketing your experts and ultimately your company. There is a lot of chatter about many different industries on LinkedIn and that leaves an opportunity to get your experts out there sharing industry knowledge.
How do you find out who is talking? Start by exploring the “group” section to discover who is talking about your industry – and what they are talking about.
1. In the search function, select “groups” and type in a keyword. See what groups come up and who is running the groups.
2. Ask yourself: What individuals are interested in the topic? Who is asking questions and who is responding? Where are my competitors in this space?
3. Continue this process by exploring other industry relevant keywords.
4. Begin your preliminary assessment of opportunities you can take advantage of.
How can I use my experts? Once you have gathered your research and determined where you and your company can make a splash, identify experts within your company that could comment and pose questions in the groups you have identified.
Keep in mind…experts are busy. Put together a process that makes posing LinkedIn questions and responding simple and easy for the expert. This is social media, so responses need to be prompt or they will be lost.
What if I want to start my own group? That is great! But, make sure you have a solid strategy behind it and a way to keep it active. Starting a group is like starting a blog. You want to make sure that it stays up to date and is beneficial to its members.
How do I show results? There are many different ways to assess the results, but a good place to start is to show how much traffic is driven to your website from LinkedIn already. Keep in mind that much of your content may be driven from your company page if you keep it updated.
To understand how (and if) LinkedIn is driving traffic to your website, start by taking a look at your company’s social traffic in Google Analytics or other analytic platform. This will give you a immediate assessment of the traffic driven from LinkedIn (in general).
Additionally, take a look at the posts your experts are commenting on and questions your experts are posing. Who is responding to them? How many people? How many member does the group have? Who is liking the posts? All of these can help assess success.
One last important tip! Make sure your experts’ LinkedIn profiles are up to date and position them as experts. It’s great if we know experts are commenting and posing questions, but how do group members know the experts are actually experts!? That’s where the personal LinkedIn profile comes in. It can give group members confirmation that the expert knows what they are talking about.
Goodbye Google Reader. What’s Next?
Waahhhh…Google is shutting down Google Reader on July 1. Gee thanks Google. Now how are we supposed to keep up with our favorite blogs, news sites and interests?
Following are some tools to check out as potential “substitutes” for Google Reader’s absence:
- Feedly: A mobile application that allows you to organize blogs, news sites, podcasts and YouTube channels and access them all in one place. Right now, you can actually sync the app with Google Reader to migrate your information. Make sure you do this before July 1!
- Pulse: A RSS reader that has a graphical approach to sharing your favorite blogs, magazines, social networks and newspapers. It can be used on your computer, tablet, iOS or Android mobile device. You can also use the simple importer to add your Google Reader feeds to Pulse (same requirmenets apply as above… do this by July 1).
- Netvibes: There is a free basic version of Netvibes that is very similar to Google Reader but includes a “read later” button. It allows individuals to monitor apps, feeds and more.
Have another solution? We would love to hear about it! We are confident that new platforms will evolve because of this change.
New Developments for Pinterest
Do you use Pinterest for your business? Just recently, Pinterest updated its design and created a new analytics platform to help businesses better understand their pinners and help users discover and explore even more.
Pinterest Design Update
Pinterest has always been touted for its exceptional user platform. Now, it’s even better as they have added the following features:
- a way to explore an entire board without leaving the page
- featured pins from the same source
- people who pinned “this” also pinned [...]
This is great news for businesses – a better, user-friendly platform that is already loved by millions.
Pinterest Web Analytics
The new analytics tool – Pinterest Web Analytics – allows businesses to track pinning activity, learn what pinners like and more. This tool helps to identify how to get pinners more engaged. Use analytics to help assess and modify your Pinterest strategy.
Want access to analytics? Make sure your Pinterest page is verified. You must have an HTML file or meta tag to your website to get verified. Hop over to the Pinterest for Businesses page for step-by-step instructions.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jim, Jennifer & Kayleigh
jim@sweeneypr.com
jennifer@sweeneypr.com
kayleigh@sweeneypr.com
The growth and expansion of new media is occurring at breakneck speed. It seems that every day brings with it new changes, opportunities and challenges, and major questions as we grapple with ways to incorporate the new with the established.
This blog was created to provide marketers, public relations professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, educators and students with real answers to their marketing, public relations, social media and advertising questions.
Through exe.QnA.tion we will cut through the marketing clutter, the industry idioms, the pointless jargon and dreaded smoke and mirrors to deliver real, tangible answers to really important questions.
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