Google+ Didn't Forget About Twitter

Google+ Pages for businesses were unveiled early this week and all the talk was about how the search giant's social network will fare against Facebook fan pages. A number of global brands and local businesses already have their Google+ Pages up. The most notable features to Google+ Pages for businesses is the Direct Connect function that enables businesses to be easily found using a [+] upon typing a brand's name. Social media pundits simply dismissed that Google+ Pages aren't replacing Facebook fan pages yet. Yes, 800 million users vs. 40 million users can really spark a heated debate regarding the value a social network gives to businesses.

So is Google just launching a social network for the sake of having one? A lot of talk about Google+ vs. Facebook really suggests that the latter is a direct competitor to Google's social network. But wait, Google+ didn't forget about Twitter as well. We all know that content fuels the Web and without user-generated content social networks will be a desolate place. Google being the content connoisseur that it is, will also try to grab some of Twitter's userbase comprised of brands and journalists.

Can Google+ be an Effective CRM Tool?

While Twitter has been a great CRM tool for businesses. The growth of the micro-blogging giant is either a good thing or a bad thing: millions of users equals a slow system. And oh, Twitter Fail Whale! Don't get me wrong, Twitter is an excellent tool for monitoring and user engagement which is why Dell's customer service is a success. Michael Dell actually thinks that the Hangouts feature is a great CRM tool!

Twitter might be a decent monitoring tool for customer complaints and suggestions, but seriously, 140 characters aren't enough to attend to a customer's complaint. This is where Google Apps come into play which can help businesses directly address an issue when someone complains about them on Google+. Customers always want a good conversation. It makes the CRM approach more personal yet professional. But in order to realize this, Google+ should consider opening their API for third-party apps.

Google+ for Enhanced Advertising?

Social platforms need to monetize their services through paid social ads. Social networks are free and they materialize from their biggest asset - user information. Twitter just launched Promoted Tweets a few weeks ago which inserts ads to the tweets of influencers and celebrities. I wrote in a previous post that trends are more influential than social ads. because trends are more viral. Would you rather advertise your brand or have people talk about it?

While Twitter wants to make money out of its service, Google wants its users to make money for themselves. As businesses embrace a more social approach to increase brand awareness and increase ROI, so aside from Google+ Pages for businesses, Google launched "Why These Ads" to improve a local business' visibility in the SERPs. if you’ re having a vacation in Italy and then you searching for pizza, don’t expect Papa John’s or Pizza Hut to appear on the results. The best pizza resto within the area will be likely to appear.

Photo via Google

Coupled with enhanced regionalized ad targeting, Google+ Pages for businesses will not only increase SEO for local businesses but improve user engagement as well. A business' Google+ Page can be link to their website URLs and AdWords account. When those URLs receive +1s, it will accrue to the business which will increase the numbers.

A Big Boost for News Publishers

There's a reason why Google launched hashtag support and real-time analytics. The search giant also released the Stand-Out tag for news organizations and blogs to highlight their best feature stories. Google wants Google+ Pages to be integrated with websites. This will make content more relevant and fresh especially for news publishers and journalists.



Twitter only shows the last 5 days of tweets and won't pinpoint where the article originated. Google+ makes convenient for news organization to spread a news feature using "What's Hot" feature. Aside from that, the Ripple feature enables users to view where a content originated from and how it has been shared. It can be a great addition to Google Real-Time Analytics in order to measure a particular content's virality. Google knows the value of making the latest content available to everyone and organizing content is what Google does best.

What's in Store For The Ordinary User?

People join social networks because they want to share content. Businesses establish their presence on a social network to feed content and merit user-generated content. Both merchants and customers will benefit from what Google+ can offer in terms of content-sharing. For instance, that bakeshop downtown shares a photo of a freshly-baked apple pie, I bet followers of their Google+ Page will +1 and share the pic to their network. A simple pic may not instantly drive flash mobs to the bakeshop to get a piece of that pie but the bakeshop makes people aware about their pastries. Google+ improves businesses' brand awareness and online presence.

Speaking of pies, what does Google own? Gmail, Picasa, and YouTube. It's a cross-platform that businesses can leverage from. Google is a buffet where you can mix and match a service to improve your business. Twitter just sealed a deal with Mozilla that makes Twitter one of the default search options on the new Firefox 8 browser. Twitter is doing a Facebook here, remember when Facebook wanted users to have FB mail as their email? Twitter is not search engine and should stick with what it does best.

For Google+, it has a long way to go before people realize the great function it offers. Some experts say that it doesn't have enough users to create value for brands and businesses. It doesn't have 800 million users like Facebook does nor it has a 300 million userbase like Twitter's, but Google is a search engine. And Facebook and Twitter are mere sites. The Web runs on content. Google+ ensures that social search will takes its place but it should continue to grow. With each new feature, Google+ hopes it will add more to its current 40 million userbase.

Original Source: http://squareberry.com/news/google-didnt-forget-about-twitter/

New Social Media Publishing Settings

Squareberry is launching a new way to configure your social account publishing settings!

Squareberry sends automated reminders about your upcoming events and promotions to social media channels. In the past, the settings for publishing these reminders were handles per social account. Now, Squareberry is offering greater flexibility and control. Publishing settings are now handled per category - with the ability to customize settings for each of your social accounts with every category.

Your category "Family Fun" could be set to publish on the Day Of for Facebook, and 2 days before and the Day Of on your Twitter account, while your "Live Music" category could publish 1 Day Before on Twitter and on the Day Of on Facebook. These social media publishing settings can easily be adjusted at any time.

All existing accounts have been migrated to use these new publishing settings.

This flexibility came straight from use feedback and requests. We appreciate all feedback and feature requests and encourage you to submit yours. Visit our Forum.

Why Google+ Business Pages Could Overwhelm Facebook Fan Pages

Google just launched Google+ for brands and businesses. The much-anticipated release of Google+ pages for brands has been discussed for months and how it might be better than Facebook fan pages for businesses, celebrities, and organizations. From your local laundry shop to that pizza restaurant downtown, Google+ Pages will help users connect by establishing a firm relationship between merchants and customers.

Aside from enhancing local businesses, Google+ Pages will help people connect with their favorite sports teams, news organizations, and games like Angry Birds, Fox News, and Chicago Bulls. Google+ brand pages will carry a tiny square icon that suggests that it's a Page instead of an ordinary Google+ profile. Google+ Pages are now available worldwide to all international and local brands. But can Google+ Pages measure up against Facebook's Pages?

I've compiled a list on how Google+ Brand Pages could trample Facebook Fan Pages:

Search Engines Enhance Social Networks

It's not everyday that a search engine builds a social network. Google+ Pages will have the edge in terms of SEO. As Google supercharges its ranking algorithm, expect Google+ Pages to be on the top of the SERPs. But Google is all about social business and not just social networking. If you want to bring relatives and friends together then you build a social network, BUT if you want to entice customers then you establish a social network backed up by the world's largest search engine!

Enhanced Local SEO

It's obvious that local businesses can leverage social media more than a multi-national brand does. And as Google makes its search algorithm more "regionalized", there's a great opportunity for local merchants to be noticed by customers. If you type "pizza" the best pizza restaurant located downtown will be on the top 5 results. Google+ Pages will enhance how local business owners do their SEO and it will be more convenient for them.

Instantized Content

People don't really backread their feeds on Facebook just to read news. They search for it! and having a newsfeed ticker on the side doesn't really quench their thirst for content. Users want instant content! Google+ Brand Pages are connected directly to the SERPs. The good thing about it is that Google just tweaked it's search algorithm to provide relevant and fresh results about trending news and recurring events. Aside from that Google+ makes use of hashtags already that whenever clicked it yields search results of the topic.

Google Offers and Google Places

Facebook Deals and Facebook Places are now irrelevant. Google Offers are gradually making it's way through local merchants in every key city in the country. With Google+ Pages, businesses can easily offer deals and discounts to loyal patrons and potential customers. Aside from that, customers can easily know where a store is located with the help of Google Places. I'm looking forward on how Google+ Brand Pages will be integrated with Google Wallet as well. It also helps that Android users are increasing and we all know that Google puts a premium on mobile usage.

The Game Changer: Direct Connect

We live in a world of instant connection. Some people use Google more than their toothbrush. Users are always researching for products, services, and brands. Google's Direct Connect feature will turn every query into meaningful relationships for customers and merchants. When searching for a brand, simply add a [+] to a brand or celebrity so Google can show a brand's Google+ Page. Google+ Pages for Businesses is significant for Google+. Google is the most-used search engine in the planet and owns majority of searches. Google+ is not only connecting a person to another, Google+ now shows the value of connecting customers and businesses.

Tuesday Tip - Snag and Share

Social Media is built for sharing. The networks connect people and places with ideas and happenings. Your organization needs and wants to be part of the conversation and sharing. In most cases, this means publishing original content about your organization. But, sharing ideas, events, and messages from relative and interesting sources is another great way to utilize Social Media. Remember, what is important is that people stay connected with you (for any reason).

Social Media Sharing

Sharing interesting information gives your followers stronger reasons to keep following you. You become more than just an organization or person, you become a source for useful and/or interesting information and ideas. Let's say you are a restaurant with a music theme. You could snag the category "Rock n Roll Star Birthdays" and show off the birthdays of legends of Rock N Roll. You can publish these as reminders on social media and more. You are now becoming a source for interesting music information that is appreciated by your followers.

This kind of interesting and fun content can help your organization spread virally. People will turn around and Retweet and share your information to their friends and followers. It can help you gain more followers and reach more people. It also shws you have fresh content and gives your followers a bit of a change from your normal events, promotions and messages.

Snagging

Snagging is a Squareberry feature which allows you to grab categories of events and promotions to display, organize and publish in your account. You can grab a holiday calendar, your favorite football team's schedule or even a category showing off the national "Food Days". Snagging makes it easy to add a lot of content to your planner quickly and with little effort. In a matter of minutes you can build a full calendar of interesting events and dates.

Original Source: http://squareberry.com/news/tuesday-tip-snag-and-share/

Google+ Launches Pages

Go to Google and search "+Pepsi" - you will immediately be taken to Pepsi's page on Google+. This is an interetsing new feature which enhances Google Search, allowing people to easily jump to an official page on Google+.

Google is now offering Google+ Pages to anything and any organization. They are designed to allow brands, products and local businesses to have a voice on Google+ and connect with their customers. Pages can even host Hangouts, allowing businesses to connect face to face with their customers. Google is sure to release more enhancements to their pages, including localization and more media/application options.

Here is an article from AdAge about the new pages: http://adage.com/article/digital/google-open-business/230862/

You can also see the official blog post from Google here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/google-pages-connect-with-all-things.html

The Squareberry Team is excited to integrate with more platforms and we feel Google+ is a great opportunity for Squareberry to take advantage of. Please stay tuned for updates on Squareberry integration with Google+, as well as other leading social media platforms.

Klout Standards: Do Customers Even Care?

Klout has been the reigning industry standard in the ever-sporadic social media sphere for 3 years already. It has become a standard for measuring social influence and reach. And just like any social analytics platform, Klout has rolled out changes last month in order to determine new categories in measuring social media influence. For web-savvy netizens, a person's Klout score is a validation of how his social media accounts are reaching people and how they influence the users that they reach, but for customers who don't really care about how many followers they have on Twitter or fans on Facebook, your Klout grade is a mere number. Why? Because most people don't really have a firm idea about social influence measurement and scoring.

Like any social media tool, Klout thinks their recent changes will improve the service amidst the violent uproar by users who saw their scores plummet. It's understood when people get upset whenever their numbers are reduced, but with Klout it's a bit irrational. Last week, people were dousing Klout with a gamut of complaints regarding their scores when in fact they don't really know what goes into their Klout score. How can you be seriously disappointed when your Klout score is reduced but you don't even know how your score is really computed? The same goes with how Google doesn't really divulge how it's algorithm works. That is why SEO specialists keep trying to nail the search giant's algorithm.



Some of you might agree that a Klout score is simply feeding a person's ego online. A mere validation that you belong to the "who's who" in social media circles if your Klout score is high. No wonder Klout has been answering tons of queries and complaints regarding scores. So are the changes in Klout scoring crucial in reaching your target niche and turning users into potential customers?

If you have great content on your Tumblr blog which are being reblogged by other Tumblr bloggers but you don't even share your posts on Twitter or Facebook, then you reach people through Tumblr alone even if you don't have enough retweets or shares. Should your Klout score be as high with those who tweet their blog post instead? Or for instance, you tweet your blog post which is retweeted by 10 followers that have at least 20 followers each. On the other hand, you share the blog post on Facebook as well and is shared by 5 of your friends that has at least 4k friends to share it with. Can you easily pinpoint which social account is better in terms reaching potential customers whenever you share your content? The idea here is that not every social media account is really significant to one's Klout score. If your reach isn’t as influential as your other social media account then a drop in your Klout score shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Social influence measurement is a bit tricky, it's like acupuncture or astrology which doesn't have any firm scientific claims to prove it's validity and feasibility. You can't turn people into instant customers if they are clueless about something. And it doesn't really help educating people about something that keeps on changing. Even if it's the most widely-used social analytics tool in the planet today.

Tuesday Tip - Scheduled "Real Time" Messages

Social Media is all about NOW! People want to find out what is happening, what is being discussed and who is doing what. With more and more people using app friendly smart phones, the world has become even more instant.

Scheduled Social Media Messages

While you may be planning your social communications far in advance, it does not mean that things can not sound current and spontaneous. It's all about what you say and how you say it. For instance, a message sent by a restaurant may read: "Things are going great at our weekend brunch, you still have time to stop on in. Brunch is served for two more hours. Stop by!" This message could have been scheduled two months in advance to go out precisely at 11:00 AM on a Sunday morning.

Anyone seeing the message would think it was written that Sunday by someone at the restaurant, when in fact it was planned and scheduled far in advance. This message, of course, coincides with a real world happening that is taking place at the restaurant. Its wording is in real time and it has a call to action. People who see the message no exactly what is going on and what they can do.

Social Media + Mobile

These "real time" messages are perfect for social media audiences who are constantly looking to be updated with new and current information. In the world of smart phones, Facebook and Twitter mobile usage is huge. You can reach people who are already out of their homes looking for places to eat and shop or activities to participate in.
"Real time" messages give the sense thats someone is there. There is activity and life at your location. People want to go places that are actively. Drive them in with your scheduled social media messages.
With Squareberry, they may have seen an automated reminder about your event or promotion days before. They knew about it but for some reason had not gone. Your real time message can drive it home and drive them in to your location.