January 10, 2012 - Posted by Amy Rose Brown
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In the coming days, you may see a dramatic change in how Google presents your search results. Google has already been integrating social search with regular search since February 2011, placing pages that your connections have shared on Google+ or other sites (excluding Facebook) higher in search results. For example, let’s say I search for The Marketing Zen Group.
This article by our CEO Shama Kabani appears very high up on my first page of results. Since I am logged into my Google account and Shama is in my circles on Google+, articles that she shares are deemed more relevant to me. When I log out of my Google account, this article no longer appears on the first page of search results. If you want to try this experiment yourself, try searching your own name while logged in and then while logged out.
Google’s new personalized search takes the old social search a step further. Search plus Your World introduces three distinct features that are sure to dramatically impact the way people search in the future.
1. You will now see privately shared content in your search results. You’ll still see pages that your friends have publicly given a +1, but now your search results will begin to include private or “Limited” Google+ posts and photos that have been shared with you, as well as pictures shared with you on Picasa. Although it seems weird to see public and private content side by side in a search, your privacy settings have not changed. Think of it as a standard Google search, now integrated with the Google+ search function.
2. Google+ profiles will appear in search and search results. Although Google+ pages already announced the direct connect search feature, personal profiles will now also appear in the autocomplete box and search results. If you begin to search the name of a person in your Google+ circles, autocomplete will suggest a personalized profile. Clicking on this will direct you to search results specifically for this person, collected from Google+ and around the web.
3. You’ll receive people and page suggestions related to your search. In an example taken from Google’s blog, say you search the term “music” on Google. A sidebar will pop up with suggestions for who you might like to add to your circles – musical artists, music reviewers, music publications, etc.
If your business doesn’t already have a Google+ page, get one right now. Search plus Your World is poised to revolutionize the way people find information, and your Google+ presence is now more valuable than ever. For those in the world of online marketing, this new type of search means that creating content people want to +1 and share on Google+ is even more essential. Integrate a +1 button into your website or blog. Optimize your Google+ profile, page, and posts with SEO keywords.
Search plus Your World is the new default search setting, but you have the choice to opt-out. You can turn personalized search off permanently, or toggle it on a per-search basis via a button at the top of your search.
What impact do you think the new Google search will have on search engine marketing?
November 29, 2011 - Posted by Amy Rose Brown
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Klout measures your online influence on a scale from 1 to 100. The average Klout score hovers somewhere around 20. Justin Bieber has a perfect Klout score of 100. Klout itself has a Klout score in the 80s, meaning the site is apparently less influential than a 17-year-old pop star (but then again, I guess we’re all at least slightly less influential than The Bieber).
Well. You can link various social sites to Klout, but it only measures your activity and friends/followers on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Foursquare. Additionally, Klout measures:
1. True reach: The number of people you influence, which is different from your number of followers. Klout claims to filter out spam and only focus on those people who interact with and respond to your posts.
2. Amplification: How many people are sharing your content and how often they’re doing it.
3. Network Impact: A measure of people in your True Reach with a high Amplification (i.e. how important your friends are).
One potentially useful aspect of Klout is the list of topics that you appear to be influential about. For example, Marketing Zen employees are overwhelmingly influential about social media, Facebook, marketing, and other related areas.
Sometimes the influential topics have slightly more mysterious origins.
The good news is that Klout makes it easier to find the most influential people on a given topic or in your industry, and other Klout users can give +Ks to people who influence them on topics – hopefully making the system more accurate at some point in the future. The bad news is that the most influential person for “snorkeling” might not actually tweet about the topic on a regular basis.
If you’re a business using social media marketing, take Klout’s metrics with a grain of salt. As tech blogger Aliza Sherman put it in a recent post, “Klout isn’t any more measuring your success using social media or your influence over others any more than Foursquare is making you the actual mayor of anything.” Are people clicking on the links you’re posting? Klout has no idea. Your social media marketing strategy should be to push traffic back to your website first, and then to build relationships with people. Getting the most influential people on the internet to follow your social media accounts isn’t really that high on the list of priorities, and might not do that much for you in the long run.
Paying attention to the rise and fall of your Klout score probably won’t do you any harm, but we don’t feel that there’s any real proof that it’ll help you. Our suggestion? If you choose to pay attention to Klout, pay more attention to influential topics and don’t put too much stock in your numerical Klout score.
What do you think? Does the rise and fall of your Klout score determine your every move? Are you just hearing about Klout for the first time? If you don’t use Klout, how are you measuring the impact of your social media program? Let us know, we love hearing from you!
October 27, 2011 - Posted by Amy Rose Brown
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Time for a pop quiz: what is this thing?
It’s a Quick Response (QR) code. QR codes are similar to standard barcodes retailers use to track and price goods, except they can hold and share much more data. Believe it or not, these funny looking black and white boxes are revolutionizing mobile marketing.
QR codes are activated when they are scanned or read by a mobile device. The only requirements are a smartphone with a camera and an installed barcode reader. Many free QR and barcode apps exist for both iPhone and Android. When you scan a QR code, you can link to many different types of content, including web, video, email, and IM.
1. Generating a QR code is not only easy, it’s free
2. QR codes are convenient for users, who can access your content after a simple scan
3. Many QR codes, such as the ones offered by Google’s URL shortener, come with built-in analytics – so it’s easy to track their effectiveness
So we’ve talked about what QR codes do and the benefits of using them, but there’s still the question of what exactly you should do with them. Here are a few examples of how you might integrate QR codes into your marketing plan:
1. On posters, brochures, and flyers
2. On your business card or an event nametag
3. On product packaging, restaurant menus, and sales receipts
4. On the front of your business (Google Places offers decals)
1. A mobile landing page, exclusive video, or your social media sites
2. A map or directions to your business
3. Exclusive coupons, discounts, or giveaways
4. A customer feedback form
1. Moo.com – Custom business cards with QR codes
2. QR Stuff – Free QR code generator
3. QR Code Reader and Scanner – Exactly what it sounds like, for the iPhone
4. Barcode Scanner – A QR code reader for Android phones
5. 101 Uses for QR Codes – If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, this article is full of examples
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