Steve Gasser» Google

Google Friend Connect as a Marketing Strategy

Beth Gasser — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:10:28 +0000

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.

You know the look…

Beth Gasser — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:08:33 +0000

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).

Twitter is free and open to everyone. Therefore once you have an open account, everyone is free to follow you. Yet, the more people who follow you, the more beneficial it is to you. Depending on your goals for Twitter, having a large following is critical. Write a creative Bio, start following people in your target market, get involved in conversations, be helpful, and watch your followers grow. Don’t let this “lack of control” over who your followers are worry you. Yet, this is the #1 worry I get when talking to people.

Some people feel the content of what people are tweeting can adversely affect their product image or business. The answer is yes, it can. BUT people are going to tweet about their opinions, successes, and frustrations whether you are active on Twitter or not. Therefore, using Twitter to listen to customers, monitor conversations about competitor products or offer insightful comments can be very helpful to damage control and gaining a healthy grasp on what people need and want in products and services. There is ample opportunity to be active on Twitter to develop relationships with key people interested in what you have to say and sell.

There is a wonderful, yet complete lack of control over what and who gets Retweeted (RT) on Twitter. You can ask to be RT’d, but you can’t make anyone. Therefore, you are responsible for writing tweets that peek interest and stimulate emotions that will end up going viral through followers who feel compelled to RT what you have to say. It’s a wonderful way to reach new people and get the word out about something for which you are passionate. You’ll be surprised what grabs people’s attention and gets retweeted.

And of course, you have no control over what Google decides to grab from Twitter and display in its search results. Yet, Google seems to really like social networking content. Therefore, use this new found method of reaching people via Google to communicate, market, and meet new people. Whether someone walks in your front door, tweets with you on Twitter, or finds you via a Google search, your relationship with him/her is priceless. Don’t be afraid of your lack of control using Twitter. Embrace the possibilities.

How Much Time Should You Spend on Social Media Each Week

Steve Gasser — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:45:58 +0000

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 to develop marketing materials that educate and creating powerful relationships. I think that is time well spend. Would your marketing manager be more effective if he/she were to be active in social networks?

My Blog (1 hour a day)

Write at least three blog posts per week based on research and conversations I have had on Twitter and on other blogs
Respond to comments daily on my blog
Write at least 1- 5 comment a day on other people’s blogs

Analytics (1/2 hour a week)

Review Google Analytics to identify trends and possible follow-up articles.
Review click throughs with FeedBurner

Twitter (1 – 2 hours through out the day)

Daily- retweet at least one good idea or something enlightening
Daily – write a response to at least one person I have not talked to ever before on Twitter
Daily – scan twitter for relevant conversations
Tweet my blog posts
Recommend my most active followers on #followfriday
TweetLater – schedule a #QOTD or #quote for each day
Twice a Week – Review new followers and follow active Tweeters

Google Reader (4 hours per week)

Monitor Google Reader news articles for relevant blog content and Twitter posts
Comment on relevant articles
Bookmark with delicious articles for future blog posts and idea generation

Google Alerts (15 minutes per week)

Monitor Google alerts for relevant keywords and phrases

LinkedIn (15 minutes per day)

Daily- Update Status
Daily – review friend (connections) status and comment on at least one
Tuesday/Thursday – Scan group conversations and engage in topics when appropriate
Wednesday – Ask one question in a group
Friday – help connect two of my contacts together
Friday – send one referral, ask for one referral

Slideshare

Monthly – Upload a new presentation
Weekly – Review comments on presentations

Facebook (15 minutes per day)

Daily – Update Status
Daily – review friend status
Daily – At least one non-business related comment to a friend
Delete any messages that are spam-ish or any polls or applications sent to me
Review photos of friends

YouTube

Monthly – Review my videos
Monthly – Review favorites
As they happen – Add a new video to my blog

Delicious

Daily – Book mark daily to share with clients, employees and twitter followers
Weekly – review bookmarks to generate ideas for future blog posts or future projects

Email

Check three times a day – morning, noon, and at the end of the day
Respond to all emails – even if it just says “I will get back to you.”
Clean up mail from last week and close any loose ends

Other Activities

Weekly – engage in other social networks that I belong

There are a few other activities that my staff take care of through out the week that include:

Managing two Facebook communities
Managing two LinkedIn communities
Publishing our e-newsletter
Manage two additional blogs

What are your thoughts? I would love to hear them!

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

Steve Gasser — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 23:39:37 +0000

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!

A short story about local search success…

A good friend of mine is a small business consultant. He consulted a plumbing client of his to get a phone number in a neighboring city 30 miles away. For an entire year, he did not advertise that number in the newspaper, yellow pages, or in print. They only place his new phone number could be found was on Google. He received new client calls every week! Now his competition is trying to figure out how they lost market share to someone out of town. People use Google and other local search techniques to find you. If you are not listed in the local search engines, you need to be. It is costing you money by not being listed!

It is disservice to you clients

Do you believe that you are the obvious choice for your clients to choose? Are you the best option? If so, then it is really a disservice to your clients not to be listed in the local search engines. You owe it to them to be found.

What is included

Local search doesn’t even require you to have a website! There’s really no reason to miss out on this opportunity! A local search listing can include your phone, fax, website, map to your location, method of payment, business description, pictures, coupons, company reviews, and more!

ONE ACTION ITEM you can take right now is to verify if you are in a local search engine. Go to Google, type in your industry, town, and state (i.e. plumber Hutchinson, MN or Restaurant Glencoe, MN) and see if your business is there. If not, Vivid Image can help get you listed quickly. Tomorrow, we will look at the steps to get listed. Then we will review the seven steps to local search engine dominance.

* Don’t get me wrong about yellow page listings. For many businesses, they need to advertise in the yellow pages. Most businesses can get by with a small listing. One of the biggest benefit of the yellow pages is that they sell their listings to the search engines. So being in the yellow pages can help you in the search engines also!