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Google+ Vs. Facebook

August 26, 2011 | No comments

History

Facebook has monopolized the social networking world for past several years. MySpace was still popular when Facebook came out in early 2004. Slowly, Facebook took over and currently has approximately 700 million users. Facebook is still evolving in many aspects such as privacy/security, & sharing information. Even with the short comings Facebook has had, it has become very popular because of the features it offers for networking. There was no other social networking platform that even came close to being as popular as Facebook, until Google+ was
unveiled recently. Within weeks Google+ has picked up more than 10 million users and it is only expected to grow. Main advantage I see with using Google+ is the ease of integrating  information with various Google layers such as Google Apps, YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, Google+1 button.

Overview

Main features in Google+ that I would like to highlight,

  1. Organize streams by circles
  2. Ease of sharing photos and videos through Google hosted websites such as YouTube, Picasa, Flickr
  3. Simplified privacy settings
  4. Option to selectively share with circles that are relevant

Google+ has not implemented all the features that Facebook has, but it is very simple & easy-to-use as is now. One main feature Google+ lacks is a feature similar to Facebook fan pages, to promote businesses. For right now, businesses may consider ,
1. A Gmail address dedicated for business, through Google Apps or just for email, and keep Google+ account separate for business OR
2. Separate circles for clients, prospects and business acquaintances to be relevant with updates.

Google+ Vs. Facebook

1. Profile Visibility

Google+:  allows you to selectively block/publish information in your profile to public. So, if you still want to visible on the web, but only want to disclose certain information to the public, you can do so by going into your profile and clicking on each field in your profile and changing visibility options.

Facebook: does not allow you to selectively block/publish your profile information

2. Circles

Google+: Similar to Friends list in Facebook, Google+ has Circles. You can add your connections to appropriate circles and keep them organized, so you can share relevant updates with these circles. This makes sharing information very easy. I can selectively share my posts with circles, & not worry about posting information irrelevant to many of my connections. I like the flexibility to hide people who are in my circles, to rest of the public. This protects the privacy of my circles.

Facebook: Facebook lets you organize your connections in friends lists. But, sharing selectively with these lists is not possible yet.  I can not hide my friends list from Facebook users that are not in my network.

3. Posts, Streams

Google+: I have an option to look at streams selectively by circles, or all streams in one page. I love this feature. Google+ also separates the posts/links I shared with my circles by +1ing (Liking) them.

Facebook: All the updates appear on in one place. If there are too many posts, I miss some posts because I have to scroll down so much. This does not happen in Google+ unless, each circle have too many posts, which is highly unlikely!

4. Videos & Chat (Hangout)

Google+: Google+ has “Chat” feature and Video Talk with “Hangout” features. I can control who I like to hangout with. by selecting circles or individual names. Cool thing is that my circles can see the hangout in their streams. With this
feature Google+ has also integrated YouTube. You can watch YouTube together with circles/friends you are hanging out with.

Facebook: has Chat & Video features

5. Sparks

Google+: you can signup to receive updates on topics of your interests such as movies, recipes, travel, etc. and share with friends.

Facebook: You can become fans of groups that you like to follow. But not comparable to Sparks.

6. Photos

Google+: – I love the convenience of sharing pictures from websites I use to share pictures like Picasa. I can control who I am sharing the album with. I don’t have to share all my albums with all my circles. I can do this selectively
I can also upload pictures to picasa (cloud) from my Android phone & share them later selectively.

Facebook: does allow you to upload pictures to share. However, you can not share them selectively with your lists.

7. Games

Google+:  has not made its way deep into gaming, contests, quizzes, etc. in this trial version yet. We have to wait and see where Google+ will go from here.

Facebook: offers numerous options for gaming, contest & quizzes.

Conclusion

Even though Google is the largest internet company in the world, it is still a long way from taking over Social Networking world. We can not expect all Facebook users to make the transition, & abandon Facebook. Facebook users may start using Google+ as another platform for social networking, like I have. However, there is a large group of individuals and businesses that were skeptical about adopting Facebook into their lives/businesses due to privacy/security concerns. For this group, Google+ might be the answer.

Platforms for Building Your Brand Online

July 27, 2011 | No comments

If you are wondering where to begin building your brand online, following checklist will come in handy to prioritize and implement marketing strategies for your business.

  • As a business owner, you may have already setup a legal entity for your business by registering with the state and other entities depending on the type of business you are in. It is equally important to also secure a domain name for your business. You may not be thinking about building a website right away, but you must secure your brand name by
  • Once you have secured your brand, you can put a marketing plan together to adopt marketing strategies into your business. Prioritize strategies depending on your business environment and demographics.
    • If your target market is not looking for your products and services on social media profiles, Social Media Marketing may not be the best option for you. You can determine the effectiveness of different strategies by evaluating industry trends and competitive analysis data that is available for you. You can seek help from a professional if you need help on how to get started.
  • If you are going to defer company website for a while, customize your social media profiles to be consistent with your brand, so consumers can get to know who you are. Just having a profile online is not going to get you any exposure. Follow some of the tips I shared in my previous blog posts on how to remain active on social media profiles.
  • When you are ready to build company website, spend time in understanding your target market demographics. Information you gather in the research process is going to come in handy in designing your website in choosing the look and feel for the website and in choosing the right content to publish on the site. Consult with a professional and get help in designing a professional website. After all, this is going to be your greatest marketing tool for long time. You want the website to be built on a platform that is scalable and also
    easy-enough to update content, to keep your website fresh and up-to-date.
  • Consider hiring a Web Copy writer, if you are pressed for time and can’t focus on writing content by yourself. This is going to help you getting your website launched on time, so you can start marketing. Get into the habit if writing content in your spare time, that you can post on blogs and article websites. Remember, ”Great content in the Right Context is the King”.  Content Marketing is the best way to present yourself as an expert in the industry.
  • Once you have a professional website, integrate all your social media profiles with the website, and start driving traffic from search engines and social media to your website.

 

How to Optimize Social Media?

May 2, 2011 | No comments

Overview

Just to recap what I shared in my previous post, when you don’t have resources to manage social media profiles and engage fans in conversation on an ongoing basis, your best option is to adopt Social Media Optimization (SMO) strategies. You are working in the background creating links from various social media platforms, which in turn results in optimization.

Tips on Optimizing Social Media

If you have chosen to adopt SMO strategies for your business, here are some tips that might come in handy. Optimization takes work, initially. Once you have done it a few times, it becomes a habit. However, if you want to be really consistent with your tasks and be effective, you need to set Campaign Guidelines, to follow:

  • Optimize your social media profiles, with keywords in “about” content and ALT-tag for images in image gallery. Some of the popular platforms are LinkedIn, Face book, Twitter, YouTube & Blog.
  • Design a blue print/schedule for social media activities that need to be performed on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. This is the schedule that needs to be followed by resource responsible for executing Social Media Plan. If you are going to use in-house resource, be sure to train them for doing the job effectively. You also have the choice of outsourcing the effort.
  • Syndicate content. Content can be in the form of Text, Video or Images. For example, if you are writing two blog posts a month, when you publish the blog posts, syndicate these posts to multiple platforms & bookmarking sites. There are tools/plug-ins available to automate this process.  If you have scheduled one video per month, optimize the video with tags and SEO friendly descriptions in YouTube & syndicate the same video to multiple video parking sites. Content syndication generates many quality links, & contributes to SMO.
  • Be sure to measure the results of all the activities

Kriti Web Solutions, Digital Marketing

Social Media Marketing Vs. Social Media Optimization

February 1, 2011 | 2 comments

You are in the time of digital marketing era, where having social media presence for your business is critical. However, if your target market is not yet on the social media platforms to engage in conversations regarding your products and services,what do you do?

Benefits of Social Media

Before you jump into social media platforms, you have to understand the benefits. With this understanding, you will be able to build a priority list as to what kind of results you would expect from engaging in these social networks.

According to companies worldwide using social media, here are the benefits of using social media.

  • Customer Engagement
  • Low Cost of Marketing
  • Relationship Building
  • Ability to reach new customers
  • Reach/Influence customers
  • Direct Customer Communications
  • Gain Credibility & Build Brand Awareness

Though majority of companies are aware of the benefits, many of them have not taken the next step into implementing this in their marketing plan. Why? Either they are skeptical about the results or they don’t think it is important for their business.

Social Media Marketing

This is a process where you actively engage your customers in conversation about your products and services by posting, information that they can benefit from, on social media profiles. You are not always selling. So, when it is time to sell your fans are ready to listen to your marketing pitch and if they like what they see, they are doing the viral marketing for you online.

Social Media Marketing is an excellent strategy if your target demographics is already engaged in these social platforms. You can spread the word at low cost.

Social Media Optimization

This is a process where you are using social media platforms to secure your company brand online and to contribute to search engine optimization. You would choose this strategy, when your target market is not yet engaged in social media platforms. This will give you an opportunity to secure your place and be ready for social media marketing when your target market is ready for it. How is this done?

Social media optimization involves content syndication and content optimization. You can syndicate the content in text, image or video format on various social media platforms and optimize them with tags and seo-friendly descriptions. Content syndication allows you to build quality links to your website, which helps you in search engine rankings.

Should You Start Building Social Media Presence for your Business?

If you are skeptical about the results of social media campaigns, you will never know unless you try it. Consult with a professional to find out what works in your industry. If you decide to manage the campaign in-house make sure you have a resource who is trained to be a social media campaign manager. Most importantly, have social media tracking tools in place to measure the performance of your campaign(s).

If you are thinking “Why should I start social media campaign when none of my competitors are doing anything?”, then this is the best time for you to start implementing, so you can be ahead of the curve. Because, by the time your competitors realize how important this strategy is, they will be playing catch up, while you already have a fan base and all set for marketing & selling!

Kriti Web Solutions, Digital Marketing

Do you need Social Media Strategies for your business?

September 28, 2010 | No comments

I come across businesses that are skeptical about how effective social media strategies can be for their business. I understand their dilemma. They don’t want to invest their marketing dollars in strategies that are not going to help them extend their target market. If you are business owner or the marketing resource in the business, here are some tips on how to make a decision on whether social media is for you or not.

Is Social Media for you?

If you answer “YES” to one or more questions below, then if you haven’t already it is time for you to start thinking about adopting social media strategies in your marketing plan.

1. Do you rely on referral or “Word of mouth” to get leads?

2. Are you trying to find ways and wishing to increase online brand awareness and visibility?

3. Do you and your management understand what social media means and understand the benefits it can bring to your business?

4. Are you customers active in social media networks and very likely to join your network, when you start building one?

5. Do you have time to invest in managing your social media profiles and other social media activities and ready to engage your customers in conversation?

Next Steps

OK. You are ready to adopt social media in your business. However, there are numerous social media platforms to choose from to promote your brand. Syndicating content (text, images, videos, etc.) on multiple platforms is key to your social media campaign success. So, before choosing the platforms, make sure you do your homework on their effectiveness and be sure to allocate resources whether it is in-house or outside consultant who can help you manage the campaign on a daily basis.

Another very  important step is to have policies in place to assist you in managing the campaign professionally. Every employee in your business has to be made aware of these policies and follow them strictly, to maintain a professional image online. If you decide to have a in-house resource manage the campaign, make them go through social media training and have them get into the habit of keeping up with changes in social media technologies. This training would save you a lot of time and resources in the long run.

Facebook announces release of “Places” feature

August 19, 2010 | No comments

Face book announces the release of highly anticipated location feature, Face book Places. This Face book app allows users to “check in” on their mobile phones to notify their friends about their whereabouts and what they are up to.

People who have the Face book app on their phone can use this feature. Currently, it’s available on iPhone only and Android and blackberry versions are expected soon. By downloading the latest face book app on their iPhone, users can see the Places option.