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January 19, 2012, Author: bgoodale, Comments Off

Go Market Yourself – With Google Plus

Categories: Google Plus
Tags:: google plus, marketing, social media, social networking

Google Plus has emerged – and it just might have enough force to give Facebook some competition. In a way, it is surprising that Google took so long to release a social network, but it’s here now. For anyone looking to market his or herself (for employment or just plain old networking), there are a few ways this can be done on Google Plus:

Your profile needs the right mix of text and images; quickly informing visitors about you, your business venture, and what you are promoting. Send a clear message. Without definitive clarity, the profile won’t be of much value.
Be sure your profile contains a few keywords that are relevant to what you want to be known for. What’s unique about Google Plus is that you (as in your profile) can show up in search results. How cool is that? But, in order for people to find your profile, you need to use the right keywords.
Content marketing is one of the best ways to help get a product, service, and your social network profile noticed. Google Plus is set up effectively for content marketing. And better yet, there is an additional component called Google Sparks which is intended to help raise people’s awareness of newly-published content. Google Plus makes it easy to get your content found through Sparks.
In addition to all these things, the fact that you can host “hangouts” with other people is pretty unique to Google Plus. After you’ve interacted with someone online, you might want to take things to the next level by having a face-to-face conversation (through video).
Google Plus also allows you to choose which “Circles” you want to share your content with, so you don’t have to alienate your buddies if you want to seem more professional. You can still be a goofball within your friend circle and a super-professional forensic psychologist (or whatever you are) in your business circle.

January 14, 2012, Author: bgoodale, Comments Off

Are You Worried About Online Privacy?

Categories: Privacy
Tags:: facebook, google+, marketing, online reputation, privacy, social media, social networking

With more than 800 million active users on Facebook (according to their data), you can’t deny that social networking is a force to be reckoned with. People are logging in to post updates about their lives and to see what you’ve posted. But of the over 800 million people who are using social networks, a recent survey shows that many of them are concerned with privacy.

Since Facebook has taken over the top spot (and held it for a few years), it’s no wonder people are concerned. Facebook’s privacy policy has been widely criticized by lawyers and users alike. Their policy is to make everything public unless you tell them not to. You can control your privacy settings, but there are no settings that tell Facebook to stop watching what you do online.

Unless you have taken measures to stop websites from tracking your online activity, Facebook is watching; so is Google. That’s why you get so many well-targeted ads. It’s no coincidence that you see an ad for a local tattoo shop after researching tattoo design ideas. They know where you are and they know what you’re looking for.

Some people look at this as a blessing. Why should they have to look at ads they have no interest in? If I’m looking at tattoo designs, I might actually appreciate an offer from a local parlor – regardless of how it’s presented to me. On the other hand, many people think websites have gone too far and taken too many liberties.

Personally, I fall somewhere in the middle. I don’t mind seeing relevant ads show up on Youtube or Facebook. I mean, there would be an ad there one way or another; it may as well be interesting to me. But I do feel a little perturbed by the fact that no one ever asked me if they could track my online activity. I’d be upset if I visited a store in the mall and the owner followed me around the rest of the day. It’s an invasion of privacy. If you also feel that way, check out this post about how to block those tracking cookies without affecting your ability to search and shop online.

January 9, 2012, Author: bgoodale, Comments Off

What Do You Know About Your Online Reputation?

Categories: Reputation
Tags:: business, facebook, internet, linkedin, online reputation, reputation, social media, social networking

It doesn’t matter who you are, reputation is important. I think the first time we learn this rule is probably in high school. That’s when we really first get gossipy and feel the need to brand each other as one thing or another. You might have a reputation for being the smartest kid in class or the easiest girl in school. Reputation can be a bad thing or a good thing, but usually, you’ve done something to help it along. Not in every case (the rumour mill can be cruel), but you get what I’m saying.

Ever since our high school days, we’ve each been managing our individual reputation. Everything you do when you’re in the public eye defines how other people see you, in one way or another. The same is true for your online reputation, except here it’s visible to just about everyone. The internet is like the most gossipy friend you ever had growing up. She’ll tell anyone who asks that you “liked” a few too many pictures of cats or posted something slightly obscene on a friend’s wall. Oh yeah, she’s always there for you; I’ll give her that. But, I’d be careful about trusting her with any of your secrets.

You really have to take care to manage your online reputation, just as you would in real life. There is one tool that can help you do just that. It’s free and it can be found at Reputation.com. All you have to do is answer a few questions about yourself, and Reputation will begin scouring the web for information about you. You might find things you’re aware of, like your Facebook page or LinkedIn profile, or you might find a few surprises.

You can also ask to receive an email update whenever you’re mentioned online. In this way, it’s kind of like setting a Google Alert up for your name, but it narrows things down a little more for you. For example, there might be 500 people with my name around the world. I don’t really need an email update to find out that Christina D., the paralegal from Duluth, Georgia, won an award for her stellar paralegaling skills. But, if someone in my town is talking about someone with my name, I sure do want to know (spoiler: it’s probably about me).

December 30, 2011, Author: bgoodale, Comments Off

Google+ TV Commercials

Categories: Google Plus
Tags:: business, facebook, google plus, google+, social media, social networking

If you’re not on Google+ yet, you might start thinking about it soon. At least that’s what the Internet juggernaut is hoping by enticing the masses with cute and funny television ads. You might think that’s a lame strategy, but it sure has worked for Chrome. I, for one, jumped on the Chrome bandwagon as soon as it came out. I can’t stand Internet Explorer (are they even still around?) and I wasn’t too happy with Firefox. Safari was okay, but I’m not a Mac kinda gal. And yes, I’ve been a Chromie ever since. But, I wasn’t so quick to jump on the Google+ bandwagon. In fact, despite my previous post about the benefits of the new social network, I still haven’t taken the time to setup an account there.

Maybe the commercials will give me the nudge I need to get myself on Google+. With social networks, if everyone’s doing it, you naturally start to feel the pressure to engage. I kind of look at my entrance to Google+ as an entrance to a cocktail party (that’s really all social media is anyway). You don’t want arrive too early, or you won’t have anyone to talk to. In the case of a social network, you’ll just be surrounded by techy nerds. At the party, you might just be hangin’ with the host’s weird cousin until everyone else shows up. But, you also don’t want to be the last one there either. If you show up two hours late, you might miss the good hors d’oeuvres or the joke everyone will be laughing about around the water cooler tomorrow.

So, back to the commercials. I haven’t seen any of them air on television yet, but I have watched a few online. Most seem to feature Google+s hangout feature, which basically a video group chat where you can have conversations in real time and even watch YouTube videos together. Other videos focus on the circle feature of Google+, which sets the social network apart from Facebook in that you can create circles of friends and decide who gets to see which updates. You might have a “work friends” and a “family” or “besties” circle. All of the groups might get different updates from you. Although Facebook does allow you to “limit” your profile, that’s actually a completely different thing. With Google+, you’re not excluding anyone, you’re just choosing who you want to share specific information with. Kind of like you would in real life.

December 25, 2011, Author: bgoodale, Comments Off

Can You Really Find Work on a Social Network

Categories: Work
Tags:: business, facebook, job search, jobs, linkedin, social media, social networking, twitter

Although your mom might give you a hard time about spending every waking moment checking and posting on a social network, it might actually help you advance your career. If you network properly, you can be among more than 18 million Americans who have found their current job on a social network. Somewhat surprisingly, the social network that was intended to connect business professionals, LinkedIn, isn’t number one on the list – with just over 10 million Americans finding employment through the site, LinkedIn is number two on the list. Can you guess which site holds the number one spot? If you guessed Facebook, you get the gold star for today. Twitter runs a close third at about 8 million job matches.

One reason that I think social networking is becoming so important in the job hunting arena is similar to why social networking sites have become a major source for news sharing. The Associated Press has publicly had issues with their employees “scooping” the story on social networking sites, like Twitter. That essentially means that they post a story before it gets published on the AP’s news wire. I think this happens with jobs too. If you’re networking with the right people, you might find out that someone who holds the job of your dreams (e.g., social media manager, marketing VP, or tax accountant) at a Fortune 500 company is moving to another state. Now’s your chance to swoop in and make your presence known. You might even be able to “scoop” the job posting and get hired before the ad even gets published.

Of course, you have a better chance of getting hired, regardless of your industry, if you’re active on social networking sites. This involves a long-term commitment aimed at forming mutually beneficial relationships with influential people. You’ve spent months or years helping them spread their word online. Now it’s time to cash in by asking them about the open position. Just respect everyone’s privacy and do it in a direct message, and you might end up as one of the many millions who can cay they found employment through social networking.

December 8, 2011, Author: bgoodale, Comments Off

Do You Have Klout or Kred?

Categories: Influence
Tags:: influence, klout, klout score, kred, kred score, online influence, social marketing, social media

If you’re active on Twitter, or any other social networking site, you probably have heard of Klout. Klout is based on the concept that everyone has influence, but some have more than others. Until recently, Klout was really the only game of its kind in town. There were others, but none as user-friendly. Klout had captivated the social media elite. That is, until they changed their algorithm and alienated a few (thousand) users. In a nutshell their algorithm change told users who were previously believed to be awesome that they weren’t so great after all. Can you think of a quicker way to piss a bunch of people off?

Well, as they say, there’s no such thing as bad press. Sure, some people were outraged, but what did they do about it? They talked about it on Twitter, of course. Maybe some even deleted their Klout accounts, but I’m guessing the backlash from Klout’s little tweak brought on more users than they lost from it. People were posting articles left and right about why Klout is meaningless. You and I both know that if it was really meaningless, there would be no need to waste the time and web space trashing it. But, whenever there is conflict, one thing is for certain. A new company will emerge to appease the masses.

Klout vs. Kred

Klout gives you a total score and a list of topics that you might be influential in. Kred does the same, but it takes things a bit further and gives you a score for each topic. So for example, as a video game designer, you might not be terribly influential to the global community, but you’re extremely influential to a small group of gamers. Your score will reflect that influence.

Kred also allows you to see how much each tweet affected your score. So, for example, if you got a reply from someone who is very influential, it might be worth 30 points, while a standard tweet (by someone with less than 10k followers) is worth only 10. Its transparency is really its key competitive edge against Klout. Not only can you see which of your tweets were influential, but you can drill down and sort through your tweets and everyone else’s. Tweets, retweets and replies are all counted for both scores. Both give a summary of your followers, replies and retweets.

One thing Kred does that’s pretty cool is it gives you the ability to submit offline experiences, such as awards and charity work, to increase your Kred score. I do worry that people will game that system if and when Kred really blows up, but I think it’s a great idea to factor real world experience into the score. Think about it, George W. Bush doesn’t have too much social media cred, but I can think of at least one thing (three letter word) that he has influenced.

And one thing Klout still has over Kred is its perks. I’m guessing Kred may catch up there eventually, though.

December 2, 2011, Author: bgoodale, Comments Off

Social Networking for Students

Categories: General
Tags:: facebook, General, linkedin, marketing, myspace, social marketing, social media, social networking, students, twitter

MySpace was the first site to really introduce the concept of social networking to students (and really, to the rest of the world, if you think about it). The site was launched in 2003, so we’ve only been social networking (as we now know it) for about eight years*. Doesn’t it seem like so much longer? I mean, can you go a day without checking your Facebook or Twitter accounts? I’ve proven that I can, but it’s certainly not easy. Social networking can be fun – in fact, that’s what really drew us to it in the first place – but it can also be beneficial, especially for students who are looking to make a name for themselves in their industry of choice.

Certain industries rely more heavily on social media than others and some use very specific social networking sites. Ask your professors and fellow students to see which social networks they are on. Personally, I know that many journalists rely on Twitter to keep their fingers on the pulse of society. So, if you’re in school to learn how to become a journalist, you may want to sign up for a Twitter account stat.

Here are few pointers for students navigating through social networking for business:

Decide whether you’d like to draw a line between personal and professional. Your friends will absolutely post those embarrassing pictures of you at last week’s keg party. Do you want the influencers in your industry to see that? Maybe you do. It’s your choice, but if you don’t, make your Facebook page private and be careful about who you let in. There is something to be said about transparency, embarrassing photos and all. So, again, it’s completely your choice.
Find out who the online influencers are in your area of interest. They may or may not be the same people who are influential offline. Once you get your first three influencers, the rest is easy. Find out who they follow on social networking sites and follow them too.
Sit back and listen. Don’t jump into this with flags waving, or your first entry to social media may be a failure. See what other people are posting before you decide what kind of things you’d like to share. I’m not saying to copy anyone. Definitely, don’t do that. I’m just saying that you should get a finger on the pulse of your network to see what kind of things you can relate to them with. It’s like getting to know a person in-person. If you really want to impress them, you’ll find out a little about what makes them tick before you start spouting your mouth off.

*It would be easy to argue that people were networking online before MySpace, but you can’t argue that sites like this changed the landscape of online social media forever. LinkedIn is another, but it was only launched shortly before MySpace.

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