Google Profiles and Reputation Management - Part Two

In Google Profiles and Reputation Management - Part 1, I made a case for why building a Google Profile should be a central part of establishing a positive online presence (i.e. "reputation management"). Today let's look at a second, but probably equally worthwhile, benefit of Google Profiles: free PageRank "juice" to your sites.

Possibly as an incentive to get you to create a Google Profile, Google gives you a free gift for putting links on your profile: the links are NOT no follow. This means that as profiles gain PageRank themselves (and I believe they will), they will pass along some of that ranking power to whatever you link from your Profile page.

How best to take advantage of this? Use some of the "bio" portion of the Profile to talk about your web site(s), your company, what your company does or services you provide, etc. Using the little chain link button on the bio editing window, you can make these links to relevant pages on sites you or your company control. Be sure to make the linking text relevant to the page content!

Another Facebook Fail for Marketing

I have previously written about "Three No-Brainers that are No-Shows on Facebook Pages for Internet Marketing." In that post I detailed some aspects of Facebook Pages that limit the feature's utility for effective social web marketing. 

Mashable's post "Facebook Needs Its Own Version of the Twitter Retweet" points out another area where Facebook lacks the viral power needed before marketers or message spreaders can consider it a serious tool for their needs: there is no way on Facebook to easily share content posted by a friend. Sure, you could copy and paste it into your own status message, but that's so 1990s. Plus even if you do that, unless you make the extra effort, there is no credit back to the original poster. Twitter's RT (ReTweet) convention (where you begin a share of someone else's content with "RT @usrname" with "usrname" being the Twitter ID of the original poster) is one of the most effective way to build interested followers. I know of many cases where present followers followed one of my accounts because of something of mine ReTweeted by one of their friends. And most Twitter clients make posting a RT a one-click process.

While Facebook may be sensitive right now to the accusations that it is trying too hard to be like Twitter, this is one function they simply can't ignore if they want to achieve their goal of being replacing Google as the center of the web universe. 

Google Profiles and Reputation Management - Part 1

A few days ago I posted some suggestions about using social media sites to "ace" the front page of Google (fill the first page of Google's search results for your name with links to sites and content that you control). Let's review the value of doing this (aside from the obvious ego stroke!):

1. Create a positive impression on potential clients and/or employers. It is very common these days that people who are considering doing business with you (or hiring you) will Google your name to see what comes up. If you are involved in the marketing or advertising fields, the impression such a presence makes is worth even more than usual.

2. Force down negative links. If you are "out there" -- either because you are well known and/or you participate actively in social media, blogs, forums, etc. on the Internet-- sooner or later someone will write something negative about you. If the attack shows up high in Google results, the only thing you can do about it is bury it by creating positive links and getting them to rank higher than the negative post.

3. Create linking "juice" that can have a positive effect on other sites you control on the web.

One relatively new tool that should not be ignored in this effort has been provided by Google itself: Google Profiles. Google Profiles allows you to create a "one stop" picture of yourself and your online connections. You can easily post as much or as little information about yourself as you like. Additionally, this web app makes it super easy to add any or all of your social web sites.

Google has a high incentive to incentivize you to create a profile. Many are predicting that Twitter and Facebook will become the first real challenges to Google's stranglehold on the search market. Facebook in particular is actively pursuing the creation of Google-killing search functionality. The advantage that sites like Facebook and Twitter are banking on is that they are able to collect very personalized data tied directly to individuals, whereas Google's search data is more aggregation and generalization. Facebook's creators believe that in the years to come people will value the ability to find information, get recommendations, etc. in the same way they've always done, by querying their friends and acquaintances. And then, of course, sites that facilitate that will be able to present ads to users that are very tightly targeted.

Google gives every sign that they think there is something to that challenge, and Google Profiles is one of its first attempts to fire back. But because they are already behind in the game, Google has to hold out some kind of carrot to get people to create these profiles. So far, the main incentives seem to be:

1. Having a one-stop "business card on the web" that gives people searching for you all the ways to contact you, as well as where to find you on the web.

2. Rewarding profile participants with Google ranking "juice" that feeds back to their linked sites.

Tomorrow I'll post about how best to optimize your Google Profile to get the biggest Google bang from #2 above.

Maybe You Should NOT Use Social Media for Your Marketing

A co-worker pulled me in on a phone consultation with a client yesterday. The client wanted to know if they should be on Twitter, and my associate told them I was our "Twitter guy." 

I only got one sentence into my pitch--"Successful marketing on Twitter works best with a commitment to interacting with your customers or prospects"--when the client interrupted: "Wait a minute! Interacting with customers? That will take time. Twitter ain't for us!"

I happily left the conversation. He was so right. If he had let me continue (he immediately changed the subject), I would have advised him not to waste his time with Twitter or any other social media.

See, though I'm a huge advocate for incorporating social media into one's overall Internet marketing plan, I recognize that it's not for everyone. Those still marketing with the mindset of throwing heaps of spaghetti at the wall in the hopes that some will stick (and with little concern if any of the spaghetti stays or returns after it sticks once) should stay away from Twitter and its cousins.

I'm getting enough spam on those channels as it is. I don't need to encourage any!

Social Media and Reputation Management

Are you an ace? I don't mean you've shot down boucoups enemy planes in some WW I video game. I'm coining a new usage of "ace": to have all the first page references from a Google search of your name be your own links--or links about you--and have them all be positive. I'm an ace most of the time, except for when a certain D. C. lawyer with the same unusual name as me gets in the news. Of course, if your name is "John Smith," you'd better be the most famous John Smith in the world, or you're out of luck. Acing Google's first page is a worthy goal for any company name, trademark, or brand identity as well.

The popularity of a number of social media sites has made them valuable real estate to claim if you are concerned about what people see when they search for your name online. This may be one of the most overlooked benefits of having a widespread social web presence. Most marketers just concentrate on the possible contacts/prospects to be gained. But the tremendous "Google juice" many social media sites have can result in high rankings for your name or brand.

Obviously, the first step is to claim a profile for your name/brand on as many social media sites as you can. A great one-stop tool to accomplish this is knowem.com. But just having a profile is not enough; you need to begin to regularly post content to these sites. After doing this for a while, you should begin to see many of these site filling in the first page of Google for your name or brand. For my name, my personal blog comes up #1, followed by FriendFeed, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Amazon. I also created a Google Profile, which shows up at the bottom of the first page for my name.

Social Media Growing by Leaps....Or Not?

Two stories came across my FriendFeed feed back-to-back this morning:

1. Compete: Facebook US Traffic Nearing Google, Yahoo - http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/09/compete-facebook-us-traffic-nearing-google-yahoo/ (via http://ff.im/3Lnxo)

2. Study shows only 10% of Twitter users tweets - Cnet Asia - http://asia.cnet.com/blogs/infochat/post.htm?id=63011357&scid=rvhm_ms (via http://ff.im/3Lnxh)

So when will we have some accurate assessments of exactly how much traffic is being driven by social media? And is 80/20 (or even 90/10) a good enough ratio of sign-ups to actual active users to justify marketers investing significant time in these outlets?

Three No-Brainers that Are No-Shows on Facebook Pages for Internet Marketing

As a Facebook user for several years now I've become pretty numb to the hysteria that greets each new major change of the user interface. I suppose all the "1,000,000 Strong Against the New Facebook" groups gave people a cause to live for for a while. I usually try to assume the best about a new interface on a major on a major application or site, believing that there is too much at stake for the developers to put a major screw-up out live. Sure, there will always be bumps and mistakes, but for the most part I see each of Facebook's upgrades as adding value to the site.

So I was pretty excited earlier this year when Facebook announced that its Pages feature was getting a similar major overhaul. First peeks at the new Pages interface did not disappoint. Pages now worked more like personal Facebook profiles, with the Wall feed front and center. Best of all, from a marketing standpoint, Wall content would now be pushed out automatically to all fans of the page, meaning it would appear on their newsfeeds as well, increasing the chance that new potential fans would see it. Brilliant!

Well...while sitting today having my mind numbed by a "Facebook for Business" webinar I'd signed up for*, listening to the presenter get all bubbly about the positives I'd mentioned above, I found myself thinking, "Yeah, but..." every few minutes. Here are some of the Yeah Buts I've discovered about Facebook Pages:

1. The templates are way too limiting, especially in the blanks for "info." For one client I signed up for a "non-profit/charity" page. The only contact info allowed in the form was a street address and web page URL. No email address?!? Is this 1982? Wait....1982 is too contemporary; there's no place to enter a telephone number.
2. While putting the Wall front and center was a good move, there is little else you can do to the front page, other than place some apps in the left sidebar. I blessed the day I found the Notices - FBML app so I could finally post a campaign ad for the organization next to the Wall where it might actually be seen. You should be able to place customized content on your front page without having to install a third-party app.
3. This I think might be the worst: There is no benefit to your page whatsoever if someone "shares" something you posted on your Wall. Facebook seriously needs its own version of the ReTweet for its Pages. As it stands, if someone shares something you posted, it appears on their wall as if they found it and posted it themselves.
4. UPDATE: Just thought of this one - Facebook is much more "closed in" than other social web sites (FriendFeed, for example). It doesn't encourage sharing outside its own network. How much is that a hurt to the usefulness of Pages for marketing?

Have those of you who have been using the new Pages for these past few months found any other no-brainers that are no-shows on your Pages?

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*Aside rant: I want to shoot my brains out over how many social media webinars or presentations I've sat through where three-quarters of the time is spent on noobie basics. "Now, to sign up for your Facebook account, type your name where it says, 'Your Name:'" Just shoot me now. Post a link to a Facebook or Twitter or Whatever 101 page for the noobies and get to the announced topic!