Google+ has grown explosively, faster than either Twitter or FaceBook in their early days, and now has close to 100 million users with the network now open for all.  Even the Dalai Lama is aboard (see below).  Think for just a moment about the ramifications for B2B marketers. Prior to Google+, Google was simply a disassociated group of properties and locations — Gmail, Picassa, YouTube, etc.  But now we have the social binding — the circle(s) that bind them all together –  and this spells opportunity for savvy MarCom professionals. So here are five Content Marketing tactics using G+:

• Sharing of Circles
• Creative Hang-outs
• Lead with G+, auto-post to FB and Twitter
• Curated Content
• Authentic Presence

1. Sharing of Circles Content Marketing Tactic

Google has enabled the sharing of circles — lists of contacts with whom you in turn share content.  Recall that circles are the way you target only certain folks to receive your post content on Google+.  To share one, you choose a circle, click on share and it gets posted to those you choose. Other people can then click “Add Circle” in the post it creates.  I have shared some of my favorite Content Marketing Thought Leaders in this post (just click to add).

Share circles wisely with colleagues, friends, prospects and clients. Click this image to go add this circle of Content Marketing Thought Leaders.

2. Creative Hang-outs Content Marketing Tactic

Just this past week, the Dalai Lama held a Google+ hang-out with Desmond Tutu. Tutu can be heard remarking “it’s so clear” about the video from half a world away.  Note that the embedded video, I am posting here, was recorded during the live session, which was viewable even then by thousands.  Thousands can view live hang-outs (displaying up to 10 participants).  Thousands more can view later via YouTube.  You can even schedule a Hang-out with key prospects and clients to watch a video you’ve posted on You-tube, using the newly built in “Watch with Your Friends” hangout link. Remember how Google+ is stitching all formerly separate Google entities together?  This should have you moving quickly to take advantage of MarCom opportunities — c’mon if two old men can do it… so can you:

3. Lead with G+ Content Marketing Tactic

It’s tough to have an authentic presence in all social venues when you’re a busy MarCom worker.  But now there’s a new browser app that works with the three best browsers — FireFox, Chrome, and Safari:  SGPlus.me

(click to enlarge) – Install on the three best browsers, then you can click at top of browser window to display options shown.

• You can share helpful sites and information from three different browsers direct –no need to cut and paste across venues
• The application also automatically gave me a short URL name – sgplus.me/webfadds
• FB and Twitter is free, but integration with Linked in requires a “Business” subscription for $9 mo., but I am happy to support these guys.

After your install, you will see clickable icons to auto-post your comments over to FB and Twitter.

Looking for still easier integration? Hootsuite plans to incorporate it with its one stop dashboard soon, and WebFadds will support that for our clients.

4. Curated Content Content Marketing Tactic

Marketing Communication professionals usually complain about two things:  lack of time, and how to make sure content gets seen in all the noise.  This tactic nicely dovetails to address both points.  You lead with Google+, then use their “Data Liberation” option (under the gear icon at top right of your screen) to download what you’ve been writing in your G+ “stream”.

(click to enlarge) Using Google settings, you can "liberate" your Google+ stream (at bottom above), and download it for curation use on your business blog.

You will see a download file on your computer which you may open and then select posts from your stream which will then open in a browser window.

(click to enlarge) After I downloaded my Google+ Stream, I was able to click on any of the posts from the stream and they open in a browser window. You can copy and paste them into your blog.

I suggest that rather than a verbatim reposting, you will now have the opportunity to rework the posts from your Google+ stream — edit them into a new presentation incorporating some new ideas. Part of the strategy for this tactic involves first planning what you will “cover” on G+.  If you’re in Real Estate, or at a Law Firm — the topics are pretty clear, though I always recommend you inform your choice by learning what phrases with high search volume show up for your industry.  Choose topics your prospects will enjoy with a goal of engaging with them in comments.  Then, every week find the best posts and re-purpose them via this curation tactic.

5. Authentic Presence… Connection Marketing Tactic (should be a Content Marketing Tactic)

Too often, “Content Markers” and SEO professionals ignore a couple of things — sometimes because they are too busy, and sometimes because it’s simply outside their focus.  One item is authentic presence in social venues…

Tom Fishburne offers up great cartoons for your blogs, presentations and marketing communications — see his site and note purchase/licensing options*

While the cartoon above makes the point of how traditional PR and MarCom people don’t get it yet (it’s a conversation, people — not a content firing range), I’ve found that even more experienced Content Marketers are missing the point too.  Authentic presence means you hang out “live” in real-time at a chosen social marketing venue.  This is so prospects can get to know you and make a key “emotional handshake” leading to sales for your company.  Be authentic (not a content “bot”) and available.  Track this work with analytics to prove ROI (contact WebFadds and we will help you create a custom Analytics report for this).

* Cartoon from TomFishburn.com used per usage copyright instructions at the site.

Everyone’s abuzz about how Google and other search engines are now heavily weighting your “social signals” — how many people like, friend, retweet, repost at LinkedIN, and Google+ your content.   Google+ too?  Yep.  But how do you stay on top of your Social Media Strategy?

Why do I think Google+ is a winner for B2B MarCom professionals?  Power, placement and pull.  Its tool set is powerful (resources to help you here).  Placement?  It’s everywhere from YouTube, to maps, to Android to websites to… well, everything Google- – and more.  Pull?  Google has over 80% of search eyeballs, and they are factoring Google+ “social signals” into their ranking factors.  In fact… most savvy SEO practitioners admit that Social Media and SEO are converging.

Google+ “Listening” TIP:  Check out this professional directory with over 16 million G+ users to listen to your competition, and study your prospects.

Things are changing fast, and it’s hard to maintain an authentic (live) presence in all social venues.  Here’s a list of Social Media Strategy Success Tactics in a powerful B2B package to minimize time spent, and maximize your SEO and ROI benefits from emerging social media venues:

The Plan to leverage a Smart Social Media Strategy:

1. Get a Presence in the “Big Five” Social Venues — Twitter, Google+. FaceBook, LinkedIN, and StumbleUpon.  Just one of the tactics we use is the WordPress plugin that provides quick ways to bookmark your business blog posts into all 5 venues (see top of this page).  But we know, you don’t have time to be in all places, so ask us about our “focused lead social  venue strategy.”
   
2. Save time, and proactively promote from one social media dashboard (they’re adding Google+ soon):  HootSuite*
   

   Consolidate your social media work on one convenient dashboard for all accounts, accessible by all your MarCom team.

3. Use an emerging “curation” tactic offered by Twylah.com to present your relevant Twitter messages in a zine-like format — on a subdomain for your site, so you get added SEO juice… see ours here:  http://tweetradar.webfadds.com/
   

   Deploy a dynamically updated tweet curation subdomain at your site which serves the dual purpose of refocusing prospects on important tween content plus gathers more SEO value to your domain

    

   • You set your blog to auto tweet to Twitter using HootSuite tools — set it then forget it, and focus instead on the new emerging leader… Google+
4. B2B Marketers… jump into Google+ — it is now recommended over Facebook (more options), and Twitter (better content tools).  TIP:  You may “curate” what you post back from Google+ to your blog.. with an auto-download of recent posts, as I did at my own blog:  http://www.webfadds.com/2011/07/google-digest-of-primers-guides-and-resources/
   
   • Find me on Google+ at ScottGooglePlus.info
5. Make your Social Business Efforts Prove themselves for ROI.  We’ll work with you and create a custom Analytics report designed to show how visitors to your site from each social venue completes desired business goals at your sites including signing up for newsletters, downloading white papers, and completing lead forms.

This is a powerful Minimize-Maximize strategy for your Social Media presence that I  sum up like this:  Minimize time using a central social media dashboard (HootSuite), then use Google+ as your primary “live presence” social venue for B2B professionals.  Maximize ROI using content curation techniques and good Content Marketing tactics — always testing that your Social Media activities yield optimum prospects and customers.

We will be happy to provide you with a prompt estimate for consulting and integration work as you strengthen your Content Curation and Social Signals Strategy.

* Scott Frangos is a Certified Social Media Consultant for HootSuite, and WebFadds has a marketing agreement with HootSuite

I’ve been using Google+ and covering it on my G+ account (ScottGooglePlus.info — TIP: domains cost abou $10, buy one and forward it to your Google+ page, like I did) for a couple of months now — and the nascent social venue is really on the rise for B2B Professionals.  I recently worked with a couple of clients, one in the Mortgage Industry, and another in Law, and we uncovered a number of competitors and prospects using the Find People on Plus Directory.  In this post, we’ll look at some tips and techniques to give you a leg up on Plus.  Let’s look at:

• Social Signals & SEO
• Sales in Social Venues
• A Game Changing Disruption — G+ BroadCasting via “Hang Outs” Feature
• How B2B Professionals can use the Plus to up their business game

Google+ Tactics for B2B Professionals

Here’s we’ll focus on five tactics that have been working for me and other professionals:

1. Listen to Prospects, then engage:  Earlier, I mentioned the excellent Google Plus Directory, Find People on Plus.  With over 16 million members, you can tune into your prospects — put each in their own “Circle”.  You do this by refining your search at the Directory, to find the right group of people, which for a Mortgage pro, for example, could mean tuning into Real Estate agents who could lead them to prospects.  Watch for a while, by clicking on their circle to see only posts from this group, then start commenting in a conversational way to engage.
2. Keep an eye on your competition:  Next, watch how your savvy competition is using the new social venue  A Mortgage Professional in San Diego, for example would look at competition by searching for other Mortgage Pros in that geographic area — like this (39 competitors are already using Google+ there).
3. Write Plus-1′s from any site with a button now:  When you are visiting a site that has a Plus-1 button on it — click it, and you can immediately comment on what you find — which should be either colleagues, prospects, or competition in your industry.  +Danny Whatmough has more on this with a visual example for you at Social Media Today.
4. Connect with influencers prior to your next conference:  Here your tactic is to simply go to the website for your next business conference, then use Google+ people search to track all the presenters and infuencers for it — prior to the conference.  Throw them all in their own circle using the G+ tools, tune in, and engage.
5. Come join our Google+ Business Group on LinkedIN, and share your G+ address, plus discuss more ways to use it in business.

What a week for Google with 20 million new G+ users at last count!  Below you’ll find a reference list of usage tactics, guides to help you come up to speed, and some apps to help you work efficiently.  Welcome to the revolution – follow me at ScottGooglePlus.info.

The Future for Google+

• Is Google the Next Big Thing?  Find out what some thought leaders think.
• How will Google Plus change your Business Game? Take a new Poll on that and watch this one to see how your colleagues (at LinkedIN) vote.
• On Phones:  Huddles… the wedding of Google+ and Smart Phones (never forget the Android factor)
• Discuss Usage, Marketing, and the Future of Google+  in a new LinkedIN Group — Business with Google Plus

Google+ Usage Tactics and Techniques

• Been Invited?  How to get the elusive Google+ invitation.
  
• Very usable  Google+ Directory: Scroll down on left to find people by Occupation, State and City.  You can drill down by city, then profession if you like, or do a general search, for say — WordPress — then drill down from there.
• A real-time list of Google+ “Hangouts“, and you can list yours there.
• Great article on using G+ for your job search: Includes 5-slide overview of Circles is another good visual primer.

Google+ Articles with a Marketing Focus:

• Interesting take on G+ marketing strategies…Reshared post from +Carri Bugbee BruceClay – Google+ Profile Optimization: Branding, SEO and Social Media Marketing
• Is G+ the best Content Marketing Tool?  My own take is that because G+ emphasized Conversation over Content, that while it will serve many purposes of Content Marketers, that should be secondary to making authentic Connections.  Conversation, Content, and Connections are definitely three things that G+ enables.
• Excellent set of tips on using G+ for marketing, market research and other tactics.
• Here’s an excellent post about how to use Social Media to circle around your prospects (used “circle” on purpose… G+ is ideal for it) by +Chris Abraham — on Biznology.  Mr. Abraham not only reveals how to “smoke out” prospects, but also notes the huge organic SEO benefit.
• Wait a minute… what has Google been doing while we all are focused on Google+? +Steve Rubel has some excellent thoughts on that from an advertising and social signal perspective.

Google+ Guides & Primers

• Another good primer on Google+, this time from Sitepoint — thanks to +Joel Falconer
• I have a simple one-page PDF for download showing Google+ integration with other networks (Twitter, FB, and LinkedIN), and also with WordPress.
• Another great visual guide (it’s a series of images you flip through on G+)  The Google+ Start-Up Guide
  

  From the G+ Startup Guide by Saidur (Cy) Hossain

• Flip through Mr. Wong’s slides – excellent strategic overview of what Google+ represents  (Click first slide to open larger and get navigation arrows)
• And here’s a short You-Tube video with ways to adjust G+ Settings:

Google+ Browser, Phone and iPad Apps

• Chrome Browser App: Let the G+ app enhancements begin… this one, G+ me,  does look nice, but I have to agree with +Danny Sullivan that adding too many browser apps have been known to slow things down.
  
  
• iPad Hack:  If you can’t wait, here’s how to Get G+ on your iPad (remember… you do the first 5-6 steps on your desktop or laptop Mac BEFORE hooking up your iPad to the Mac)
• iPad App Coming Soon: I’m waiting for this iPad app — there’s no name given, but it comes from the Google team itself (it’s waiting for approval from Apple)… read article about it and keep watch
• SmartPhones: Here’s how to get Google+ on SmartPhones (iPhones and Android)… go to: http://www.google.com/mobile/+/ Notice carefully the “Huddle” feature, referenced earlier — it’s specifically to help mobile people coordinate get-togethers.

So… is Google+ to become the holy grail of social hangouts online, an also ran, or bound to fizzle out? The CEO of LinkedIN, Jeff Weiner, was just quoted in PC World stating that he things there’s not enough time in the day for another social network (see: “LinkedIn Boss is Down on Google+“).

I think he’s wrong. Weiner may be correct in his assessment that currently, Facebook is for old friends and family, Twitter is for quick tweets, and LinkedIN is for business networking. But he’s forgotten two keys to the puzzle: there are plenty of integration tools to save you time, and the user-interface factor. I never liked the Facebook interface and look forward to Google features like “circles” to address some of the weaknesses on the Facebook platform.

“Google+ and the ability to become the only place you need to communicate, collaborate, share, discover, and work, creates a social OS that is promising to the say the least.” — Brian Solis [G+]

Oddly, the writer of the PC World piece, Sarah Jacobsson Purewal, reacting to Weiner’s postion, states, “No offense, but I don’t see anyone using LinkedIn — ever.” Strange. She must not have ever needed to find a job, or review job and colleague qualifications. I have used that network to also find two different clients (my score is one obtained entirely via Twitter, two on LinkedIN, and zero on FaceBook).

Before we see what some other thinkers make of the new network, here’s a quick video about the “Circles” in Google+ — one of its most attractive and powerful features:

What do other thought leaders think about Google+?

Let’s review and discuss what some other luminaries now think about the prospects for Google+:

Chris Brogan, (co-author of the New York Times Bestseller, “Trust Agents”), writing for Forbes, lists 10 Things CMOs Need to Know About Google+, prefacing his list with, “If people are asking for what the next big thing is for online marketing, mobile marketing, digital communications and social media, this is certainly my pick for 2011.” The list includes that Google+ impacts search (think SEO), evolves from Gmail, has a lot of Buzz and early adopters, and the fact that lots of companies block FaceBook.

Brogan [G+] also advises CMO’s that “First movers win,” and Google+ can put you ahead of the competition. Of course, Mr. Brogan has already invested “over 250 hours (and counting)” in Google+ (“so you don’t have to”), and so is looking forward to leading the way. I tend to agree with Brogan’s take here after watching Google’s earlier attempts with Buzz and Wave.

Bryan Eisenberg [G+], who co-authored a book I highly recommend — Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer, has been streaming some strategic thinking about Google+ plus… on Google+. Today he posted a list of Facebook employees on Google+, and over the last few days he has posed and mused on some interesting questions about the game changing nature of the new network. In Eisenberg’s column from last Friday, he takes careful note that Google+ is an open network, while Facebook is relatively closed — a model similar to the old AOL. He also lists the mobile factor — Google has the android platform to its advantage, and soon phones will be able to notify you of local real-time streams of conversations that are both in your interests and located geographically close to you. Finally… have a hard look at the engagement factor, detailed by screenshots showing comparison heatmaps of Facebook versus Google+. Google+ wins.

What is your take? I look forward to hearing from you in comments (an archaic technology?) here, and also on the network — Scott Frangos [G+ ScottGooglePlus.info].

Let’s conclude with some quick takes by leaders on G+:

Chris Brogan [G+]: Most of my traffic is coming from G+ already.

Robert Scoble [G+], former technology evangelist at Microsoft currently working with Rackspace to develop Building 43, a new content and social networking website: “I’ve noticed over and over is how boring Twitter has gotten when compared to Google+.” See his reasons, here: http://scobleizer.com/2011/07/17/google-has-made-twitter-boring-heres-what-twitter-should-do-about-that/

Brian Solis [G+] an American marketing executive, author, entrepreneur, speaker, and host of Revolution, a webshow: Solis believe that Google+ “will not run circles around Facebook”, but then writes a detailed and thoughtful essay on how circles gets it right. Huh? Maybe he’s just being cute with the title to his long post, because in the end he concludes, “Google+ and the ability to become the only place you need to communicate, collaborate, share, discover, and work, creates a social OS that is promising to the say the least.”

Download your Google Plus Guide (PDF) – click image.

Most tuned in Content Marketing and WordPress MarCom professionals are aware of the tremendous success Google is having with Google Plus. Just a few weeks ago, I wrote about a manual +1 embedding method to get the button on your blog and CMS.  Now, to answer questions about strategies, extensions and plugins, here’s your WebFadds Guide to using Google Plus (complete with PDF — download at right).  We’ll take a look at what I call “Circling Strategies”, plus (pun intended) learn how to integrate Google Plus with other networks and WordPress.

Google Plus Circling Strategies

One great feature of Google Plus that will empower you to speak directly to and listen (always remember to listen) to targeted groups is called, “Circles.” The concept is simple — drag and drop your important contacts into appropriate and specific circles you create, then you can set your stream to only display messages from a certain circle or circles — the listening part.  You also can send message only to certain circles, plus enable image albums to be only viewable by certain circles.  Let’s consider some “circling strategies”:

• Target Images:  You create a circle for potential clients in your industry, called “prospects.”  Then you create a photo album of helpful images (think screenshots and powerpoint-like slides that explain important concepts), enable it for just that group, and “stream” out a notice and trickle of individual photos just to that circle.
• Phone Stream:  Continue to stream your comments and images to a certain circle using your phone’s built in camera and a Google Plus app on your phone.
• Serve Clients:  Create another circle just for your current clients, and load an album with PDFs and visual examples to frequently asked questions.
• The Schmooze Factor:  People buy from those they feel they know, so you have an opportunity to let your personality shine by gradually allowing clients and prospects to see more of your personal side.
• The International Effect:  Recall that Google earlier intended to add real-time translation for chats into the Google Wave and think about what that means for developing your global circles.

Watch out Mr. Zuckerberg — the circling feature alone (not to mention all the other Google integrations with Gmail, etc.) zooms Google right past the clunky way FaceBook operates.

Integrating Google Plus with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIN

Now that your circles are streaming, it’s time to get efficient.  This is a brand new network with its own learning curve.  Tim O’Reilly was complaining about its complexity on his Google plus stream today… but he does seem to be embracing it.  So, your tactic here is to seek efficient integration using a Chrome extension or two to make it easy to send Google+ stream comments over to Twitter, LinkedIN, and Facebook.  To do this, go and get the Extended Share extension from the Google Chrome Web Store:

Remember to be in Chrome (I’m usually surfing in FireFox), then just click install.  You will find options to select the networks to use under Window ==> Extensions.  Then you’ll see the “Share On” link which will pop-up a box with the network icons you selected.  Click the icons and post to those networks.

Integration on your WordPress CMS and Business Blogs

One of the best things about WordPress as a CMS solution are the thousands of plugins available in the great spirit of the open source community.  I have been looking for one that provides a smooth integration for Twitter, LinkedIN, StumbleUpon (many overlook this, but it is showing recent growth, and Analytics stats prove its worth), and now FaceBook — and it’s here, thanks to Kunal over at SearchTechWord.  You install, then configure it, with the option to have it placed at the top of posts and on the blog index page as you can see here at WebFadds.com, or use it in a side floating option position as you see in the screenshot below:

There ya go — you’re all integrated and on your way with Google Plus… let the circling begin.  Contact us if you need help with any of these integrations.

There are a lot of short overview videos about using your WordPress CMS at WordPress.tv. We’ve also done a few that include some strategic tips about optimizing your CMS. Below is a good overview video about WordPress — it’s getting older, but you can still get some good tips. For newer videos from WebFadds bookmark our new Videos Category.

Optimization Tip: As I say in the video below, you’re not optimizing a website — you’re optimizing how visitors think about your website and the actions they take including completing key business goals at your site. I recommend you take a good look in Analytics at the new “on page Analytics” that shows you “hot-spot” activity on your pages — where visitors click. Make sure those clicks are tied to goals you’ve set, like submitting a lead form. At right is a thumbnail you may click to review how this looks for our own site. Note that you not only see where visitors click but also get key insights to how those clicks may lead to goal completions, and other visitor behavior including what they do after scrolling down the page, “beneath the fold”. Contact us for an estimate to take your Google Analytics to the MAX with actionable advice.

Video: Overview of Using WordPress as your CMS:

In this Post:

How can you get the most out of your CMS plus stay on top of the opportunities to engage prospects on social networks? Well one tool I really recommend — Hootsuite — is busily combining all the major social networks on one dashboard, plus blogging on WordPress.com.  This collision creates a mashup that points to where we’re headed in the next five years, I think.  If you’re still asking, “is social media a business tool,” you’re missing the train. And our CMS of choice, WordPress, has added even more great Content Management features in version 3.0, due out in a couple of wees, so we’ll take a look at those.

Social Media Tip: Now, use Google to find out what people are chatting about in your city. Go there and type in “location *portland” (substitute your city). On the left choose “Discussions”, then “past week.” Note that you can also choose “blogs.” You can also choose further search refinements at left. Click here to see what I found.

A Social Suite to the Max

Hootsuite is taking the word “suite” seriously.  In the last few months they’ve added up and coming social network FourSquare, the ability to reach Fan Pages on Facebook (standard Facebook was already built in), LinkedIN, plus greatly extended the networks you can reach by adding Ping.FM, itself a network aggregator that reaches another 30 or so second tier media sites.  They’ve created an iPhone application.  They’ve beefed up team collaboration features — great for corporate MarCom departments.  Kudos to Hootsuite.

From one dashboard, I can now handle all the essental social media tasks — and automate a number of them.  In order to stay on top of all of this for our clients, I am attending “Hootsuite University” — several hours of training and testing on using Hootsuite, and best practices at the major social networks.  I’ll report on that in upcoming posts.  Contact us for Social Media training and campaign options.

Above, you see the tool to add a Social Network in HootSuite, with Ping.fm showing.  TIP:  Ping.fm is a stealth tool that extends your reach greatly via 30 networks, mobile messaging, chat, and a growing number of 3rd party applications. It seems like a lot to come up on, but with our help you can set it all up once, automate 80% of the work, and greatly increase visibility for your strategic Marketing Communication.

WordPress 3.0 adds Great CMS Features

Here are some top new features to be thinking about using in the forthcoming update of WordPress to version 3.0:

• Control of Menus: Called “Menu Management” in WP 3.0, this new feature gives you a simple drag and drop interface to add links to categories, posts, external sites… plus package “custom menus” as sidebar widgets where your theme allows.  Wow — Kudos to the WordPress core team.  Note that WebFadds builds custom themes for CMS solutions with 13 widget-ready areas, and these menus could be available in any of them.
  Above – the new Menu Manager in WordPress 3.0 is powerful, but easy to use.
• Custom Post Types:  Right now you may only choose between a post and a page, but in WordPress 3.0, you can define your own post types and select attributes.  Think Directory.  For example, you could set-up a business directory, a set of photo galleries or portfolio pages, a set for case studies, etc.  Then you can assign special tags and categories just for this post type.  Then, modify your theme design so the user interface helps your visitors navigate through your new sections.
• Multiple Customized Blogs: We have been using customized categories to set up more than one blog for larger clients.  This works ok because each category has its own RSS feed in WordPress, and its index page may be styled uniquely.  But now, the WordPress team has combined “WordPress MU” (Multi-user), formerly a separate project and download, into the core WordPress program.  So, you may now host a collection of separate blogs, each with their own custom theme, from one hosting plan and WordPress administration area.  This should be great for universities, companies with satellite offices, news organizations — any group with the need for “departments” with their own identity.

Your themes will require modifications to accommodate these new features — contact us for details.

What’s with the metaphor in the title? Well, besides the fact that I hail from the Pacific Northwest — home of raindrops and rivers — there’s been a surge (pun intended) recently in new services for the techie-socials among us, with related apps — the raindrops. Then, there’s the great mash-up of services, where drops and streams combine to make… rivers of conscious social connections.  And guess what?  At least one new river looks to carry a raft of customers to small businesses in your hometown.

Streams Collide: Google Buzz  has millions of instant users — plus its own app store online — BuzzAware, already, in just about a month. One new service combines Buzz, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube — allowing easy sending of videos and photos — see HomePuzz.

Hootsuite, my social aggregator of choice, allows me to simultaneously monitor tweets about my company, linkedin network activity, and Facebook updates — on one screen. Oh, and Hootsuite just added FourSquare as a new network it monitors. Now what’s FourSquare? It’s yet another new way to connect socially, but it specializes in pulling online people into real world places. And, Mashable reports that Foursquare has momentum — 100,000 new users in the last… 10 days. Wow. Of course all of these social flows are streaming (another water analogy?) on the latest “phones” with apps galore for iPhones, Google’s Android platform, and Blackberries. Whew.

Above, my customized Hootsuite view monitors personalized streams from Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.  I’ve also added Plaxo, and FourSquare.

Local Business Enters the Social Media Flow…

So, what does all this mean for business? Well, quite a bit if you’re 15th Ave. Coffee & Tea in Seattle, Coopersmiths’s Pub in Ft. Collins, or one of 15 ice-cream parlors listed in the Portland area, including Granny Gedunk in Stevenson, WA. A popular promotion is to award a freebie to a patron with the most recorded visits to your establishment as reported by Foursquare. “Just show me your phone” –  you can ask to see the official Foursquare tally for someone with most visits to your venue.  In Foursquare parlance, that person is known as the “Mayor” and people compete to become Mayor so they can get the award — a free coffee, complimentary cone, etc. Heck, there’s even a “Mayor” of a Plaid Pantry on Interstate in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. Not a lot of imagination on the part of that Mayor, but it must be paying off for that chain convenience store.  You can see a list of some popular Foursquare haunts here.

Above is a promotion advertising perks for the “Mayor” from Foursquare

Not long ago, I resisted the torrent of social media washing my way. Back about 18 months ago, I had not even joined Twitter. Now I have over 8000 followers there for WebFadds. Any business? Yes. One confirmed client by Twitter contact alone, plus Analytics shows a good flow of traffic to my business site from there.

Use Analytics to make Social Media prove itself for your business. Above, I can see direct traffic from Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIN to WebFadds.com.  TIP:  The next step is to review dollar value goals in Analytics so you can gauge the ROI from Social Media activities. LinkedIN shows a 7.7% conversion rate, with Twitter landing 2.3% in conversions for the past month.  Make it pay — contact me for more details.

So now it’s time to dive into FourSquare, and widen my Hootsuite monitoring window to add another Social Media flow to watch. Tweets, Facebook Friends, LinkedIN business, Foursquare hometown — scrolling on screen direct to stream of conscious connection.

Where does it all end? It doesn’t — the ocean is too big. The better question might be — where will it take you? My advice is to connect anew on Foursquare now — the tool automatically finds friends from Gmail, Twitter, and Facebook. It’s good to see social become local, once again.

We’ll be pleased to give you a quote on launching, and monitoring your Social Media Marketing campaign.

Are there Twitter Business Tactics that work? Let’s find out…

I often get questions from clients about if and when and why they should use Twitter in business? Answers: Yes. Now. To listen and connect. Will they lose control? Answer: Sometimes you have to let go for a bit in order to get a better hold. I am going to give you some specific examples here.

I’ve been taking “Inbound Marketing University” courses (recommended), and a recent one was with Laura Fitton, co-author of Twitter for Dummies, and @Pistachio on Twitter. I’ve added her to our Cabal list of Content and Connection Cycle Marketers on Twitter  – click and follow the list for some great, SEO, SMM insights.

Why would a business use Twitter even if most customers are not there yet? Great Question. Fitton, listed a number of great reasons in her webinar, including SEO, listening to your industry and market, and even using it for internal brainstorming and team building. And listening is very important. Most good CRMs like SalesForce.com, SugarCRM, and Batchbook are building in Twitter modules. Using Batchbook, which I recommend for companies of 5-50 people, I can see what a prospect has been tweeting about right on their record page — very valuable “listening” for consultative selling.

Above is a screenshot from Batchbook CRM for a client record where the client’s Twitter stream and LinkedIN Social information are visible — an excellent sales tool.

But are the big brands using Twitter for business? Yes.  ComCast famously uses it for customer service.  Starbucks puts out promotional messages.  Even Walmart has a Twitter homepage.  And, check out the Zappos Twitter home page.    These are pages built at their home site to feature who’s doing the tweeting, and provide visitors with an entre into the conversation — a recommended tactic.

How do you prove to the boss that Twitter is worth it? One of our services provides custom Google Analytics with actionable advice, and so we look at Social Media and track visitors from Twitter.com and other Social sites through to $ value conversion goals for a direct link to ROI.  Using this tactic you can find out exactly the conversion value (visitors coming from Twitter and “converting” to a prospect, lead, or customer) of your Social Media Visitors.  It’s more difficult to calculate “Brand Awareness”, but that’s another benefit of Twitter visibility.

Still another way to show value is the “ripple” message extension factor — how far your tweets go via retweeting. I recently wrote a post here about “Why Content is King No More“, and the tool TweetReach.com (go try it) shows it reached 6,119 people via Twitter:

Above, Tweet Reach reports on the ripple effect of my post, who retweeted it, what they said, and gives links to their Twitter pages.

Ok… you get the idea. Now get started. Wait — who should you follow? Well, that’s my last tip. There are a lot of great helpful applications for Twitter, and one that’s very appropriate for this answer is: Mr. Tweet.

Mr. Tweet suggests people to follow: Mr. Tweet isa powerful connection application that learns about you as it goes, recommending people, and conversations as you recommend friends and build your network:

Mr. Tweet offers you a simple but powerful tool to build your network the smart way on Twitter.

We’ll review more twitter business strategies and tactics in posts to come, and remember that we offer a Twitter-Pro marketing package to help you focus on the best methods for your business.