@BasilPuglisi

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#SMWF: How Hilton Does Social Media

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Hilton has one message from their industry that rings true into their social media campaigns. Hospitality is social. If it isn’t, the execs at Hilton think it should be. Their studies into how social media integrates with travel accommodations has shown:

  1. Those who travel often are commonly also active on social media networks.
  2. Those who use these channels do expect their favored businesses and locations to be listening, available, and willing to respond via these networks.
  3. Those using these venues are not only interested in deals, but often also travel advice, and to deal with customer service issues.

Hiltons Wide-Reaching Social Network

Hilton has made finding information on an incredible variety of things on social networks of all types, quite easy. They regularly post interesting videos on YouTube that show a myriad of benefits for choosing Hilton accommodations when you head out for your next vacation.

Check out this video about a spectacular special drink created by one of Hilton’s own bartenders at the Hilton Hawaiian Village® Waikiki Beach Resort.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4xZJbW5uBY]

Not only does this create an interest in this location and its amenities, it also builds upon true customer engagement by giving them a real taste of what to expect on their next trip, but also a familiarity that many can appreciate.

None of the above even takes into account that not only does Hilton engage their customers with this type of open information but they have also effectively engaged the employee. It looks like Hilton has taken the proactive stance that many other businesses have by utilizing their current staff to share the big picture through social media networking.

@HiltonSuggest

Social Media Guru for Hilton, Vanessa Sain-Dieguez, helps implement training for their employees on how to use social media to help take care of their customers. In a comprehensive study on using social media with their guest, they noted one very important issue, customers do not just expect their favored businesses to be ‘listening’ to them, but they also expect them to act.

A highly active Twitter account known as @HiltonSuggest stays on the lookout for those who Tweet messages like:

Although none of these Tweets specifically mentions Hilton, @HiltonSuggest still doesn’t mind offering immensely helpful suggestions based on exactly what folks are looking for in the Twitterverse. Also noticable is the fact that not all of the blurbs thrown into the Twitterverse have hashtags, which shows that Hilton is really listening, the replies show that they are also willing to act, even when it doesn’t mean a direct consumer experience for their industry.

It turns out that dbmei author had written an article that had personally touched him and his family, and yes Hilton was behind it! Check it out here.

Defining Social Media in the Hotel Industry

A panel co-hosted by HVS Executive Search and ESSEC Business School Paris was held on February 7th, 2011 to discuss what the rise in social media means for the hotel industry. Attendees were students, hoteliers and other staff, all of whom declared they are active on at least one social media network.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhg4vug1yZM]

Sources:

“Privacy” is a great way to stay unemployed, unconnected and extinct [Opinion]

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Social Media does not create a brand, it takes the brand (or character impression) and carries it. Just like in the “old” days when you worked in a community and everyone knew everything about you anyway, social media has played into the global business revolution.

“Privacy is for old People” but perhaps we misunderstood “old”? It was my interpretation, it was for people who try to “network” the “old” way. Keep sending out those paper resumes, no really keep doing it, in the mean time those that are out in the digital space that have embraced transparency are taking all the job leads and finding and creating careers.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pexGCUPlUeA]

“Think Digital, Act Social”, this is the best way to find a career and not a job. Your resume starts with one word, Google! This is what almost 90% of hires will go through before they get a job or enter into their career. The power of LinkedIn is not just in its ability to connect, it’s in the uniformity that the professional social tool provided.

A resume was traditionally put on a piece of paper that had a million different formats, was presented in infinitely different ways and contained a variety of info that could range from too little to too much. The paper resume then needed to be mailed, emailed, uploaded into a system that could scrape keywords, if you knew how and where to put them.

LinkedIn created a space that provided basic continuity in your digital resume, then provided you the flexibility to be different without losing the Education, Experience, and transparent influence.

If your concern is privacy, then good luck, your “old” way of thinking is what has you unemployed or in a dying industry.

Here lets show you a example of why this is so important and relevant.

  • Position: Writer
  • Duties: On a regular basis produce a variety of articles on subject “A” that people want to read to help increase site/paper/blog readership.

How will you apply? How will you be evaluated?

  • Traditional Applicant: Resume with impressive samples, clean resume, quality education, phone numbers for references.

vs.

  • Digital Applicant:  LinkedIn Account, this includes a good work history, quality education, samples of articles from the connected blog. The impression that you understand digital, with 500+ LinkedIn connections, a Twitter account with 3,000 followers a Klout score that shows that you influence people in a call to action style with your tweets/articles. A Facebook page that shows who you are as a person, Spouse? Parent? Sports Fan? Alumni? Hobbies? the things that provide comfort about the applicant being hired is of good and cohesive character to the organization. How about the power of say 12 “Recommendations” on LinkedIn from people who you can see are reputable, professional and also of good character.

If you’re going to spend money on mailing paper resumes or email spam, you might want to consider target marketing ads on Facebook or LinkedIn, as you’ll only pay for who you target when you know they have looked at you.

Why this matters?

Social Media transparency is better than the traditional background check, this gives you a look into what has been legally off limits and even though you may say it doesn’t belong as part of the hiring process, the data shows that it clearly is! Now consider the business model, the writer with the traditional resume path only tells they can do the work, the digital resume can show you that they can do the work and generate revenue!

How?

Writers generate content to create readers, the first shows they can create content that people might be interested in, the second using the digital resume shows that they CAN and DO produce followers and views for their content. If you’re an online media source, like a news paper gone digital, you NEED the second writer more. Advertising revenue is about “eyes” the more eyes you get on your content the more valuable the ad space is, the second writer shows that they can generate more “eyes” or views from the start.

Now the same can translate to PR positions, Sales, Business Development and any position where reaching people is important. Then imagine you’re a prospective employee that can show a following or influence over 50,000 people across the social networks that drives 10,000 clicks or views a month, you’re on your way to being your own business. Big brands got to their ivory towers on the shoulders of their employees being representatives in their communities, social media is an extension of that practice.

This is why it’s important to “Think Digital, Act Social”. Having transparency allows you to show value by using digital means to display who you are, the professional and the personal. Things like video, websites, social sites create a foundation that then allows you to act social by reaching out in both traditional networking and digital networking methods.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5e-6psDk8U]

Sources:

Social Networking Statistics in Latin America

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Although Latin America makes up only 8.2% of the world’s population, they are the second largest consumer of social media.  The online behavior of Latin Americans is evolving right along with the rest of the world, but in many cases, a bit faster. The most popular social network by Latin America users is Facebook, while the most popular social network by time on site in Latin America is Orkut.

Latin American Social Media Statistics

  • Argentina and Brazil are currently among the world’s leading countries for Google+ usage.
  • Latin America has 118 million Facebook users with Bogota, Buenos Aires, and Mexican all holding top ten positions on this particular social network.
  • One-quarter of time spent online in Chile and Argentina is expended on social networks.
  • Latin America has 8.6 million LinkedIn users.
  • Users in Argentina spend 9 hours per month on Facebook; this is second only to users in Israel who boasts the top slot for user engagement.
  • There are over 55 million Twitter users in Latin America.
  • 14% of all Facebook users are Latin American.
  • Orkut is still the leading social network in Latin America by choice even though some statistics might show otherwise. Orkut has been a dominating social site since 2006.

Recent studies conducted by Synthesio show that social medias are also beginning to take on significant potential for agencies, consultants, and brands in Latin America.

How do Latin Americans Use Social Medias?

Although Latin Americans, like any other global population, uses social media to maintain cultural, regional and familial ties, the Synthesio study also shows the other elements most enjoyed by Latin American social networkers.

A social network named Sonico was created in 2007. This site was displayed in only Spanish or Portuguese. Unfortunately for Sonico, US competitors quickly overwhelmed it when they introduced their sites in the proper language formats.

Are Politics a Factor?

A ComScore survey showed that in April 2010, the Venezuelan audience on Twitter increased by 4.8% when Hugo Chavez joined the social network himself. The Brazilian campaign for president in 2010 also caused a frenzied deluge on social networks when candidate and subsequent winner, Dilma Roussef, acquired the services of the same web agency that had represented President Barack Obama during his 2008 campaign. The day that Roussef made an appearance on TV to send a message to her compatriots, Twitter messages peaked at over 90,000 during the period of 24 hours.

In the past year, Latin America’s social networking markets have seen an 88% gain in user engagement. Statistics like this should show us why it is so vital to incorporate social media marketing into every advertising campaign created for anything from the smallest startup, to the world’s largest enterprises.

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Facebook Changes & Facebook Timeline: Successful Social Media Disaster [OPINION]

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Often the missing element in successful social media is emotion. Why do millions flock to social media every hour, but only a few engage?

Traditional businesses have missed the mark, and Facebook’s recent changes are an example of how important it is to hit the mark, even if it seems contrary to your brand.

Facebook’s changes in September 2011 should mark the most “Successful Social Media Disaster” of the Social Media Revolution. At every turn the top topic inside of Facebook is Facebook’s changes. While the overwhelming majority are quick to criticize, most have failed to realize that the change is creating the most talked about event in social media history, well in social media anyway.

How did Facebook create a “Successful Social Media Disaster”

Anger! The keystone to successful social media is emotion. While thousands of would be social media experts flood our networks with useless posts every day, the small group that manages to actually capture our attention are the ones that are unconventional and tap into our emotions.

Facebook did not make its changes slowly, it didn’t even transition people into the new features. Facebook’s policy was a flat out “here you go, deal with it”. This change and introduction captured one of the key emotional states in social media. While others lay claim to Google+ being the big winner having opened their G+ network to everyone in the same week, all the talk or buzz is Facebook!

Opening the Google+ network to everyone should have been an event that created buzz for Google. This G+ buzz should have lasted over the course of at least a few weeks, allowing it to capture articles and feedback from both followers and critiques, but Facebook’s move cut that off cold. G+ might get a mention here and there among the articles, but Zuckenburg has stolen G+’s thunder and managed to evolve his social network in one swoop.

The purpose of this article is not to support or criticize the changes to Facebook, but to highlight the importance of emotion in social media, and how Facebook has used it to trample Googles G+ public launch. How Facebook uses this to their brands advantage is another story. Most politicians claim there’s no such thing as bad PR, only bad PR managers and brand storytellers who fail to capitalize on the spotlight. This would seem to be the case with Social Media, most are better having something being said then nothing at all, then you can direct and capitalize on being talked about in one fashion or another.

Enter Facebook Timeline:

This new feature looks to be the family, tree and life story publication of YOU! No Publisher needed!

Get Timeline NOW! Click Here!

***Your timeline is now live — Developer Release****

****Please note: During the developer release, only other developers will be able to see your new timeline. Everyone else will see your old profile.***

PS: Looks like there’ll be no way to hide who you are ever again!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CYATYjk5N4&feature=player_embedded]

Sources:

 

Facebook Changes & Facebook Timeline: Successful Social Media Disaster [OPINION]

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Often the missing element in successful social media is emotion. Why do millions flock to social media every hour, but only a few engage?

Traditional businesses have missed the mark, and Facebook’s recent changes are an example of how important it is to hit the mark, even if it seems contrary to your brand.

Facebook’s changes in September 2011 should mark the most “Successful Social Media Disaster” of the Social Media Revolution. At every turn the top topic inside of Facebook is Facebook’s changes. While the overwhelming majority are quick to criticize, most have failed to realize that the change is creating the most talked about event in social media history, well in social media anyway.

How did Facebook create a “Successful Social Media Disaster”

Anger! The keystone to successful social media is emotion. While thousands of would be social media experts flood our networks with useless posts every day, the small group that manages to actually capture our attention are the ones that are unconventional and tap into our emotions.

Facebook did not make its changes slowly, it didn’t even transition people into the new features. Facebook’s policy was a flat out “here you go, deal with it”. This change and introduction captured one of the key emotional states in social media. While others lay claim to Google+ being the big winner having opened their G+ network to everyone in the same week, all the talk or buzz is Facebook!

Opening the Google+ network to everyone should have been an event that created buzz for Google. This G+ buzz should have lasted over the course of at least a few weeks, allowing it to capture articles and feedback from both followers and critiques, but Facebook’s move cut that off cold. G+ might get a mention here and there among the articles, but Zuckenburg has stolen G+’s thunder and managed to evolve his social network in one swoop.

The purpose of this article is not to support or criticize the changes to Facebook, but to highlight the importance of emotion in social media, and how Facebook has used it to trample Googles G+ public launch. How Facebook uses this to their brands advantage is another story. Most politicians claim there’s no such thing as bad PR, only bad PR managers and brand storytellers who fail to capitalize on the spotlight. This would seem to be the case with Social Media, most are better having something being said then nothing at all, then you can direct and capitalize on being talked about in one fashion or another.

Enter Facebook Timeline:

This new feature looks to be the family, tree and life story publication of YOU! No Publisher needed!

Get Timeline NOW! Click Here!

***Your timeline is now live — Developer Release****

****Please note: During the developer release, only other developers will be able to see your new timeline. Everyone else will see your old profile.***

PS: Looks like there’ll be no way to hide who you are ever again!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CYATYjk5N4&feature=player_embedded]

Sources:

 

6 of the Best Guest Posting Tips

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Guest posting can be a very lucrative venture for all parties involved. The owner of the blog is provided with free content, and the writer of the content is given acknowledgement of their wisdom on the chosen topic. In this aspect, guest posting seems to benefit both parties equally. However, it can be just as difficult to find high-quality blog owners who will allow guest posting, as it is to find high-quality writers to make guest appearances on your blog.

Keeping in mind a few helpful guest-posting tips can be beneficial for all involved and will help to produce the highest quality content that will reflect well on both the blog owner and the content creator.

Posting Tips for Guest Bloggers

  1. Aim High – Look for highly traveled blogs or those with impressive page rankings. These links will also be highly valuable portfolio material.
  2. Research the Blog – In order to create what is fresh content for the blog, you will need to know what content has already been created. If the blog is a lengthy one, check for tag clouds or keywords on the topics that are the same as your posting idea.
  3. Catchy Title – Catchier content. Be sure that you supply an eye catching title for your content, and make just as certain that the content lives up to the title. A good blogger knows that even the most boring topic can be made interesting with the right language.
  4. Give Your Best Stuff Away – This may be a hard concept to swallow for some bloggers but you want your guest posts on any blogs to be the most shining examples of your work. Not only will this garner the blog owner increased traffic or interest in their site, but it may also cause others to take notice, and perhaps even offer you paying gigs.
  5. Interact – Reply to commenters and pay attention to your re-tweeters. Get involved and make sure that you are available to ponder any issues about your blog posts with others who may be doing the same. Building a rapport with readers is valuable regardless of the blog posted on. Thanks to social media, people with similar interest or interest in you, can find you with a simple click once you have engaged them on site.
  6. Promote Your Posts – Promoting your own post is never more important than it is when posting on someone else’s site. Show them that their effort to give you a great link in exchange for great content has not gone unnoticed. Tweet, share, Digg, and do all you can to make sure the posts receives all of the coverage that is in your power to create.

Sources:

Develop Your Brand with Daylife

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Providing consumers with cloud features including on-demand media options, DayLife is supplying their users with more features, functionality, and faster cycling. A comprehensive solution that is designed for digital publishers who may require the freedom to focus on creative experiences instead of constant publication input.

How Does DayLife Work?

DayLife provides a Publisher’s Suite that supplies the patented engine that helps users to analyze, ingest, and process digital media from the cloud. Uploading your media to the cloud begins a long process of collation, normalization, and data parsing. After the parsing process rich layers of intelligence and meta tagging data are incorporated into your content which will allow it to then become searchable.

Regardless of the type of content, DayLife dev’s assure users that their content will be processed and returned to them with added value. DayLife actually crawls the web like Googlebot, while retaining a direct focus on sites and content that provides high-value, frequently updated content.

Smooth Delivery

After DayLife’s system parses and analyzes the content, they will then deliver all of the power of media and intelligence straight to the user. Users can utilize their DayLife Dashboard, or APIs. The dashboard will provide a single user-interface to enable accessibility of the cross-referenced media. In turn, this enables further functionality allowing the creation, customization, and management of app deployment.

DayLife users also get full access to Publisher Suite APIs. These widely varied and well-tested APIs are customizable and best yet, have no hidden integration costs. However, Publisher Suite is not a CMS. It is designed to smoothly integrate with the setup you are already using.

Supply a Robust Source of Reliable Information

DayLife provides their users with a source of management, analysis, and content composition that will enable them to present their current content in more highly viewable and frequently utilized manners.  DayLife also has a variety of WYSWIG tools for specific platform accessibility.

DayLife technologies allows content creators, bloggers, publishers, and developers to try their own hand at helping to develop new user-end experiences by helping to leverage news-based content.

Who Can Use DayLife?

DayLife is an element of a business that may need to be handled by an IT department simply due to the programming languages utilized in creating the APIs. Those who have knowledge of languages such as:

  • RUBY
  • PHP
  • Cold Fusion
  • Perl
  • .Net

Although these languages are a bit more intensive than common HTML, users need not be IT specialist to learn how to manage them. Those with a general idea of what it takes to manage the above languages may be able to handle this element of their sites content aggregation campaign on their own.

What are the Benefits of DayLife?

  • Users can easily enhance their news content by applying proactive and supportive measures such as relating links or headliners, on any created topic.
  • DayLife can help users to generate new content, provide helpful and relating links, quotes, photos, headlines, and timelines.
  • Enable the recirculation of content from available affiliate publications or other relevant content around the web.
  • Help to create and nurture the end-users experience.

 

Sources:

Tumblr VS WordPress

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According to statistic reports, as of January 2011, the 4 year old site Tumblr.com has 20,873,182 users. For the same period WordPress.com, the older site (by 4 years), announced they have 20,787,904 websites powered by wordPress.com

This is the first time anybody overtook WordPress.com, and it became kind of big news among the blogosphere. To set the record straight, it is important to note that WoldPress.com numbers do not include the open sourced blog platform WoldPress.org, where people have websites they host themselves. The comparison is between the two hosting blog platforms only.

Still, it is clear that many individuals have been signing with Tumblr more than they have been signing with WordPress.com. Which one is better? Well, that depends on why you want a site or a blog and what you want to include in it.

What do they have in common?

  • Both are free.
  • Each site has free themes which can be easily installed.
  • Both can be customized.
  • Both can be updated from any computer or device that has internet connection.
  • Both allow you to name your page the way you choose.
  • Both are well known and popular, with good reputation.
  • Both have export capabilities. If you want to move your site, you can.
  • Both allow importing content from other content management systems.

Tumblr

Ease of use –

  • No installation or configuration of the program on your computer is needed.
  • User friendly dashboard
  • Easy upload of multimedia files
  • Custom designs (which do require payment) are cheaper on Tumblr than on WordPress
  • Easy to update from a mobile device
  • Has a built in community functions that allows following like-minded bloggers, reblogging what they wrote and “liking” it, which makes Tumblr a more community oriented site.

Functionality –

  • The server cannot be controlled by the user; it has to be hosted by the site. However, you can use a unique url that does not include .tumblr at the end.
  • The user has complete control over the content and can move his site or blog to another platform.

Design and customization

  • Has one basic layout and it must be applied to every page on the site. They now added page support to make the navigation between pages much easier.
  • Supports only 3rd party calendars and contacts, but it requires knowledge in coding.

Social Integration –

  • Built in. You can post and link to twitter automatically. You can also connect it to your Facebook page.

WordPress

Ease of use –

  • Downloading their program is necessary, but it offers many more options and settings.
  • The design and functionality of the page is more cumbersome and requires some learning.
  • Allows multiple pages, download of plug-ins, widgets and sidebars.

Functionality –

  • With WordPress.com the user has to use their server.  WordPress.org supports sites hosted by another server.
  • The site can be easily expanded to replace the current site.
  • People who have not designed the site but have administrative rights can post on the site without much effort.

Design and customization –

  • Many page layout options.
  • Ability to use different layouts for different pages.
  • Allows including native calendars and contact forms.

Social integration –

  • Can be done with the help of plug-ins.
  • WordPress.com has publisize allowing for sharing with Facebook Pages, Twitter, Yahoo, etc..

The ongoing consensus among experts is that Tumblr is more user friendly, fun and easy to blog. Its design is slick and simple, modern and big. It is geared more toward pictures and media than WordPress.

Both can be customized but WordPress is more extensive and flexible. If you don’t need an extensive e commerce site with forms, listings, heavy content and advertising, Tumblr is simpler.

But the biggest difference is in the ease of social integration on Tumblr that is built in, while it has to be added to WordPress.com with different plug-ins. Tumblr functions as a cross between a website and a Facebook profile, while WordPress is more dry and functional.

Some companies in entertainment, news and fashion have blogs through Tumblr. The Washington Post Innovations, Newsweek, The Huffington Post and Rolling Stones are some examples. Musicians and photographer seem to flock to Tumblr as well.

WordPress.com hosts sites of top brands like CNN, National football league and TED.

Sources:

Google AdWords: Call Metrics & Click to Call

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Since Dec. 2010, Google has allowed placement of phone numbers in AdWords text body.  Their rational was that most people seeing the ad know they are one click away from the advertiser’s site, where they can find all the information without bothering anyone. They thought people would be unlikely to call instead of clicking the mouse.

Others thought that displaying a local phone number, especially if it is  for location based services such as a dentist, have their own benefits.

Google realized they might be losing money, if people do call instead of clicking on the ad, so they’ve added Call Extensions. Those are types of ad extensions that allow advertisers to include additional information about their businesses and specials in their text ads. Call extensions works differently whether or not you’ve enabled Call Metrics.

Call metrics allows advertisers to track phone calls that come from the ad. This is done by generating a specific phone number for this specific ad. With the popularity of mobile gadgets there’s a growing benefit for advertisers to receive calls from mobile users. In this platform, calls generated, duration of the call and the area codes of the callers are noted so advertisers will have information about the location of the calls. The Call Metrics is free to use, but by setting it up the advertiser started paying for the calls as they did for the clicks.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIJ36uUxJBw]

There are metrics available to see how effective it is and how many people call instead of clicking. If you did enable Call Metrics, Google assigned a custom phone number to the ad and displays it on both desktop and mobile devices. Vanity numbers (which include letters and numbers) are also allowed.

But In July 2011, Google announced click-to-call enhancement in AdWords ads which will affect charges for the ad. All non-clickable numbers in the ads will be converted to a click-to-call numbers, and they will start to incur extra charges when the number is clicked.

If you didn’t enable Call Metrics, your phone number will appear as a clickable phone number for users of smartphones using Google search, voice search, Google mobile apps or Google maps.

If you are using Call Metrics, and you have a phone number in your ad text, only the newly clickable phone number in you ad text will show. That is done to reduce confusion for users not knowing which number to click.

If you would like your Call Extension number to display, you need to delete your phone number from your ad. You will receive an additional line of ad text. The phone number will still be displayed without the need to take up text space.

If you didn’t use Call Extension and you have a phone number in your ad, it will convert to click-to-call automatically. You don’t have to edit your ad to make the phone number clickable. But, if you want to maximize your ad space, you should consider using Call Extension  to free up more space. You will be charged for the calls either way.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88VTa0GfBiE]

Sources:

Google Plus (G+): Business Review

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After months of rumors, speculations, analysis and fear, Google finally unveiled its social media platform  Google +, now what has that meant for business?

They’ve decided to roll it out slowly, by invitation only, and the response was overwhelming. So much so that they had to issue an apology for taking so long to register new users. It seems that one request or recommendation to connect is not enough. To get invited to this new party you need invitations from different sources.

As the platform came out and was evaluated by business people, it became obvious that Google+ system has a few advantages for business: Dell CEO, for example, started talking about it becoming an alternative to the traditional customer service call. He posted the following question on his Google + page: “I am thinking about hangouts for business. Would you like to be able to connect with your Dell service and sale teams via video directly from Dell.com?

Other businesses saw the potential as well. Mashable.com, Ford, Sesame Street, Search Engine Land an others managed to get invited and immediately opened a brand page. Mashable.com, the technology site, had 103,000 followers by the time Google+ put a stop to businesses on their platform and removed all those pages.

At the end of June, after a few rocky weeks for brands on Google+, Google announced that business pages would be coming soon and asked brands to stop making new accounts. They eventually invited some businesses to apply to be part of a test program.

A few hours later, Mashable and Ford accounts were restored, but not completely.  After talking extensively with Google, Mashable founder Pete Cashmore agreed that he will personally take over the account, which had 100,000 followers already, and wind down his personal account which had only 40,000 followers.

Immediately Christian Oestlien from Google posted the following announcement:

“With so many qualified candidates expressing intense interest in business profiles, we’ve been thinking hard about how to handle this process. Your enthusiasm obligates us to do more to get businesses involved in Google+ in the right way, and we have to do it faster. As a result, we have refocused a few priorities and we expect to have an initial version of businesses profiles up and running for EVERYONE in the next few months. There may be a tiny handful business profiles that will remain in the meantime solely for the purpose of testing how businesses interact with consumers.

In the meantime, we ask you not to create a business profile using regular profiles on Google+. The platform at the moment is not built for the business use case, and we want to help you build long-term relationships with your customers. Doing it right is worth the wait. We will continue to disable business profiles using regular profiles. We recommend you find a real person who is willing to represent your organization on Google+ using a real profile as him-or-herself.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4oafKRykUg]

What is it about Google+ that prompted businesses to jump on the bandwagon so quickly?

It is the wave of the future, experts say, and it might signify a drastic shift in social activity on the internet. Connecting to people will no longer be faceless. It addresses one of the fundamental problems of why social interactions through the internet are so risky. The one writing messages as a 17 year old girl, could turn out to be a 40 year old man looking for easy pray. No more. Now you will be able to connect and see the face behind the post.

It lifts the veil of anonymity. People can see and hear the people they interact with, can hear their tone of voice and see their demeanor. Business will become personal again?

Businesses can use circles to target their ‘tier one’ costumers with specials deals. They can provide personal attention by seeing the customer who can see them as well.  When a number of customers have the same question, one conversation with a whole group will save time on customer service.

It might also encourage personal interactions between people who see each other, who can lend a helping hand.

Companies will need to consider the intimacy of a given relationship. The first wave of social media forced businesses to become a little more transparent and compelling online, this wave of relationship relevancy will push them to take their customers more personally.

The biggest advantages Google + has against Facebook?

Google is a big company. It can offer an immediate search. It has connections to Google’s other platforms off the bat.

As of July 4 Google’s contract with Twitter expired and they did not renew it. Expert speculate that Google+ will incorporate some form of tweet possibility. If they do that, businesses will have one more reason to join them rather than the competition. It will make their life simpler.

Google has apps for business productivity as well as an apps market for third party apps.

Google can provide companies a web presence integrated with social networking. There will be very little reason for people to leave the Google platform at all.

Google has already the Checkout system and its Products search is connected to all sorts of online merchants. Google can tie those and enable e commerce through the company’s page – when those pages will become available – enabling payment service and database of products without sending shoppers off to another site. Facebook does it with the help of a third part tools which cost  anywhere from about $20 to a few thousands a month.

Google’s model of advertising and analytics is well established and most often used. AdSense and AdWords have been around since 2000. Google Analytics has a head start on traffic and advertisement performance tools, and is one most often used to check results on campaigns.

Google can, and probably will, tie-in the business pages of Google+ to Google maps and Google Places.

Google’s mobile integration includes mobile payment option, which allows users to transmit data by tapping two phone together or to a scanner. 

Facebook rushed to supply an answer to Google+ strength and announced immediately a connection with Skype to do the same. Their new video calling works by clicking on the Video Call button, being rolled out to users. It requires a plug-in to be able to use it. They are working on other means to come closer to the new things Google+ has to offer. Indeed this week Facebook unveiled a new step by step guide aimed at helping small businesses use their site. Facebook’s new business page does not come with any new features, it just puts a lot of information in one place, and serves as a reminder that Facebook encourages companies to use their services, while they can’t use Google+ yet.

Some statistics at a glance:

  • Number of users of Google+ – 20 million
  • Time it took to get those numbers – 3 weeks
  • Number of users from the US – 5 million


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