Be aware facebook, google is taking big step towards social branding channel with the launch of Google plus pages for business this week. Well the question that lingers in my mind is “Do we need another social branding channel to engage and communicate to our customers?” The answer is mixed.

As google is the most sought after celebrity of the search engine, the channel offered by it is bound to get immense attention. Not only will brands’ Google+ pages be included in search results, but Google introduced a new feature, Direct Connect, that makes it possible for users to visit Google+ pages with a single click. If you google a company name with + sign in front you will be taken to the + page directly, Example: try +pepsi.

Web has made targeting audience faster and easier but it hasn’t been as transparent and segmented. Yes you can target your customers through paid ad in facebook but when it comes to content it is the same content for everyone. With Google+ you have different segments called circles. You can segment your customers into different circle and create and send more custom targeted message.

Google+ also comes with the clean and easy operating of google. The comment threads are compressed to a few lines and users can only respond, not post, so there’s less cluttering the wall.

These are the positive side of the google+ now lets see what are the limitation.Unlike facebook you can only have one page associated with your google company account. Also another problem I noticed was not being asked for verification to see if I was actually owned the account or not.

If you are interested in creating a google+ page for your business here is the link to get you started.

Facebook page gives a medium for business and public figures to start and join the conversation with their audience. It seems simple concept but lot of companies find it hard to determine their social presence on social media. Should you promote your brand or product or just share information and content?  What is that secret that will compel your fans to share your information with their friends or family? It is very important to think about your business, where social media fits and the information you gathered from your past campaigns most important of all how you can sell your vision with facebook or any social media.

To find answers to these questions and to find out how to increase fan interaction, I conducted experiment with two different pages. I started with two pages one was company facebook page and the other was the company blog page, I approached these two pages with different strategies.

On the company page I used it strictly to promote brand and product without personal touch, for example promotions, answer the query, information etc.

On the blog page I made it little bit more personal by sharing my pets picture and story and sharing other fellow bloggers work. Animal are always great way to attract attention or cute little baby will do too.

Both the pages had slow and steady start. I began with reaching out to my colleges, friends and family first.

The next step I tried was to have free giveaway. The giveaway was organized directing people to like company page. This seemed like a good idea until the giveaway expired and so did the likes from the fans. Also there was no engagement from fans, they liked the page only to be entered in the giveaway. Some of them actually dropped out after the giveaway was over. Don’t just organize giveaway to get people to like your page, also think about how to engage them once they are there.

The blog page(sensiblecooking) didn’t have any giveaway, but the likes kept increasing slowly and engagement was increasing too. So the lesson here is, getting people to your page through giveaways is great idea to get traffic but if you don’t engage them once they are there it is pointless.  If you want to gain loyal follower invest your time and build a relationship. engage them. Once you are through the hard part your followers will be there to help you spread the word.

As you can see above when I was about reach my 500 likes my fan helped me get there.

I have summed up some of the points I thought were helpful below.

• Reach out to your college, friends and family.

• Start off by liking others related to your industry or interest.

• There is no easy and fast way of getting social marketing to work for you until you have lots of money to giveaway or are very influential big brand. So invest time and build your loyal fan base.

• Experiment, play around and don’t be afraid to learn from your mistake to see what works for your business.

• Little personal touch always makes your audience feel closer to your brand or business. That makes them loyal too. But that doesn’t mean converting your business page into your personal. Know where to draw the line. If possible thank your fan using their name. You will be amazed by the results.

• Be constant and quick to reply to the query. There is no weekend off when you are on facebook page.

• Don’t only share your work, that is boring and selfish. Try to share your fans and followers work and other interesting things.

• Help others reach their goals that will get you on the good book and others will share their followers with you.

• Use @ to tag people, that way they will know they are tagged and return the favor.

• Post frequently but post the important updates after noon as post during that time gets more attention.

• Don’t forget to check your hidden post frequently and unhide them.

• Comment and like on other people’s post.

• Most important of all there is no rules to follow, try it and find the perfect balance that best suits your needs.

 

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have option of choosing what you see in facebook news feed? Now it is possible as facebook is introducing the new Subscribe button.

As you are already getting posts from your friends and family in the news feed, new subscribe button makes it easier for you to choose how much and what you want to see.

You can use it to:

1. Choose what you see from people in News Feed
2. Hear from people, even if you’re not friends
3. Let people hear from you, even if you’re not friends

You can choose how much you see from them:

• All updates: Everything your friend posts
• Most updates: The amount you’d normally see
• Important updates only: Just highlights, like a new job or move

You can also choose what you see. For example only photo or only post or only the games.

What does this mean to you and me?

I am not quite thrilled about it. I like to keep my personal and professional connection separate and I am not sure if I want people to subscribe to my personal feeds.

But if you want to keep tab of Celebrities or Interesting people this is for you. If you see subscribe button on your favorite blogger or celebrity page, just click the subscribe button and their public feed will be on your news feed. Like with your friends you can choose how many and what you see after subscribing.

If you want to share your feeds with more than your friends you can get a subscribe button. People who subscribe to you will get the post that is set as public. This feature is optional. To let people subscribe, go to the Subscriptions Page and click Allow Subscribers.

Once you allow subscribers, you can decide who can comment and what notifications you get. You’ll also see a Subscribers tab on your profile, where you can see who subscribes to you.

What does it mean for marketers?

Marketing wise it is interesting.

Although facebook pages have like functionality that has somewhat similar functionality, subscribe has better control for the users and might be a great place to utilize this new feature. But it isn’t clear at the moment whether it is going to be a feature on pages or only the facebook personal account.  With increasing no of facebook pages that we like, subscribe button will be great addition to keep track of what you really are interested in seeing.

Also as you are able to see who is subscribing to you, it will be easier for marketers to know their target audience’s interest and create tailored marketing accordingly.

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People say that good behavior makes your more attractive and approachable. With more of us spending more time online, good online behavior is necessity. So how can you be best behaved online dweller.

• Create a brand appearance. Choose image that communicates your purpose.If you are individual use picture of yourself, if you are business use your company logo.  Until and unless you are big brand, you won’t make any friend with generic logos. Be careful before publishing it. Once it is there you don’t know who sees it. Make your profile easy to navigate and professional looking.

• Carefully select the network with the purpose. For instance if you want to get in touch with your professional network there is linkedin and if you want to be in touch with your friends and family use facebook. You don’t have to be part of all the social network out there. Find the one that works for you and stick to it.

• Moderate the comments to control what is being posted on your website. But doesn’t mean not responding promptly or approving the comment or ignoring the negative comment. Approve the comments as soon as possible and personally thank them in the post or through email. This makes them feel special and important, helps in building loyal relationship. Respond to negative queries and try to initiate conversation oriented towards solving the problem.

• Repeated posting suggests you are desperate. You don’t have to re tweet every positive comment every minute. Not posting frequently might mean you don’t care. So find the balance.

• Don’t be selfish and focus on promoting only your work. The saying if you scratch my back I will scratch yours works here. Try to promote others works too so they will return the favor by promoting yours. That way you will look more legit as someone else is saying you are good. With that said don’t try to spam by commenting every minute and emailing asking to re-twit or like you.

• Create relevant, fresh and interesting content for the reader. Have consistency in your posts. If you want to do it weekly or daily or monthly.

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PPC Pay Per Click, The pricing structure used by some online channels to charge an advertiser each time a user clicks on the advertiser’s ad. The amount is usually set by the advertiser, not by the channel. Also called cost-per-click (CPC). (Definition from Google adwords).

Pay Per Click: How it works? Continue reading →

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Until we live under a rock, we are familiar with GOOGLE. It isn’t just a search engine, its way of life. From business to personal google has huge impact in our lives. So today I will discuss various tools that google provides to make our marketing more effective and reach our target audience. Continue reading →

Today’s social media have put our traditional marketing values on the back seats.  Social media is defiantly the the thing today, but will it have survived without the support of traditional marketing? Can today’s business solely rely on social media for marketing effort? I am huge believer in social media as a marketing approach but these questions gag me time and again. So in today’s post I decided to find some answers and express my thoughts. Continue reading →