Google

19 Nov 2009

Google Friend Connect as a Marketing Strategy

November 19, 2009 By Beth Gasser 1 Comment

If you frequent blogs, you’ve maybe noticed a box like this (pictured left) in the sidebar titled “Google Friend Connect”, asking you to “Join this Site”. If you are like me, you skipped over it for months, hurrying on to articles and other business at hand.

Luckily, one day I took the time to explore Google Friend Connect and learned that it is much more than a friendly application. I’ve discovered a few great ways to use Google Friend Connect for business that I’d like to share with you.

Social marketing is all about meeting people where they like to be, adapting to the tools they prefer. Many people love this tool and choose to follow blogs by joining via Google Friend Connect. In fact, I’ve been asked hundreds of times to follow someone using this tool. As soon as I added it to my site, people started to join. While my preference is still via email/feedburner, I make the extra effort to join using Google Friend Connect. It is just one more option in building community, and hey, that’s what makes social media so great.
Google Friend Connect makes a great tracking mechanism. I frequent hundreds of blogs, some of which I bookmark. However, when I’m out visiting blogs and investing time in my blogging relationships, I like to stay focused. Each time I see a Google Friend Connect option, I click on the “Join this site” button. I am quickly added and my picture displays. It acts as a visual cue for me if I come across this site again. I know I’ve been there before, as I’ve left a bread crumb trail-of sorts.
When I’m looking for other blogs to follow or people in niche areas, I use “Google Friend Connect” to view profiles and blogs that others are following. This tool provides a nice one page of info on each blogger, and I can quickly see what blogs they follow.
It keeps emails organized so I don’t have to. I don’t want to keep track of people’s emails whom I may or may not want to contact in the future. However, on many occassions I have wanted to personally email a fellow blogger. Google Friend Connect has their email on file, which I can quickly access.
This tool also relies on gravatar pictures, which I love. I often see people I recognize who’ve joined a blog before I arrive. Seeing their picture and recognizing them plays into my trust factor and influences my decision to join too.

Take a minute or two to check out Google Friend Connect and see if it’s right for you. If you use it in other ways, please share with me. I’d love to hear your strategies.

Filed Under: Blogging, Google Tagged With: Google, Google Friend Connect, join this site, marketing strategy

17 Aug 2009

You know the look…

August 17, 2009 By Beth Gasser Leave a Comment

You know the look. That blank stare you get when you mention something the other person hasn’t the slightest idea what it is. Mention Facebook and people warm up immediately. Mention Twitter and they freeze. Why is it that Twitter is so hard for people to get? Well, there is good reason why people don’t openly embrace Twitter, and I believe it has to do with a sense of “lack of control”. We live in a country where we try to be in control of almost everything from our careers to the people we marry (both of which are predetermined for millions of people elsewhere in the world).

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Facebook, Google, Social Network, Twitter Tagged With: Google, retweet, rt, social media, Twitter

16 Apr 2009

How Much Time Should You Spend on Social Media Each Week

April 16, 2009 By Steve Gasser 3 Comments

I am often asked how many hours I spend on my social media sites every day. On average, I spend about 3 hours a day creating educational content for my clients and building stronger relationships with current and potential clients.

Something happens when you get involved with social media. You change. You realize that the more you give – the better you feel – and the more you get back. I am motivated to be even more active!

By the end of the week, I have created some terrific marketing materials that are customer focused. I have also created a bunch of ineffective materials that will not work, but here’s the thing – my social community helps me determine what is good or bad based on the comments I receive, the number of times an article is retweeted, or the emails that I receive with questions on the articles or tweets.

So – 15 hours per week [Read more...]

Filed Under: 30 Days of Social Marketing, Blogging, Del.icio.us, enewsletter, Facebook, LinkedIn, RSS, Search Engines, Social Network, Twitter, Video Tagged With: calendar, Facebook, Google, how much time do you spend on social media sites, LinkedIn, planning your social media time, social media calendar, Twitter

23 Mar 2009

If You Are Not In Local Search Engines Now, You Will Regret It Later

March 23, 2009 By Steve Gasser Leave a Comment

Local search has been around for awhile, but surprisingly, many businesses aren’t aware of how important it can be to securing your online presence and adding value to your potential customers who use this service every day. There is literally an entire generation of people who don’t use the yellow pages*. So how do they find you? They go to Google and search for your business with local terms. For instance, if you are looking for a jeweler, type in “jewelry” and your city & state, or zip code. If you type in “web designer 55350,” Vivid Image will come up two out of the three local listings!