Month: January 2015

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Ready to Connect on Google+ Here’s How

Man having an idea!
A Bright Idea!

I consider activity on Google+ important for business owners. The real SEO and search benefits are however not achieved by updating your Google+ Business page, but rather your Google+ personal page.

So, how can you connect with others to start building your Google+ empire and improved rankings for your company website in the organic listings? Start by making sure the content you write is on target, on topic, and engaging. I use my Google+ page for business and not personal use. Consider doing the same for now.

Work to actively add users to circles and respond when someone adds you to one of their circles. Click +1 and leave comments on posts you find interesting. You’ve simply got to spend some time.

Consider starting a hangout. Well I am still thinking about that one, but have participated in several others and they can be fun. I have just not initiated one.

I personally find that for placement Google+ should be considered important. As Google does not allow any automated or scheduled updates to be passed to your Google+ personal page (Google does to your business page), you will find the community of business people,legitimate, real and engaging.

Personally, I use Facebook for personal interaction on my locked down private page and Google+ as my face on social networks for business.

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Has Facebook Passed Its Prime?

Teens whispering
Find out where your teen and older kids spend their time online now and position your business there for the future.

In the long car ride I took with my kids (see my post on Monday), I found out, as I had suspected, that Facebook is not where the younger generation is spending their time anymore. They’ve moved to Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr! Forbes even verifies this with their own poll.

I have long suspected that the popularity of Facebook would wane over time and the statistics of how frequently young people log on to Facebook is now proving this trend.

Over the years I have seen how the young tech generation sets the trends, they were the first to move into Facebook and Instagram and now the first to move out. Adults will take a while to catch on, but I would expect that as my kids say Facebook is now the place to connect with family (older people) and not their friends.

What does this mean for business? First, don’t fold up shop at Facebook yet! Adults are still heavily involved at Facebook but are spending less time there already. Second, expect Facebook to rectify this, if they can, by implementing new strategies to keep visitors there longer.

For some businesses, due to their audience demographics, Facebook will be a great place to be for quite a while yet. For others, it’s time to expand to Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr as Facebook will not provide the reach and platform that reaches potential prospects. That being said, I feel that the place for business on Facebook will move off the business page and into Facebook’s pay per click platform.

There are still plenty of people on Facebook, but keep an eye on when it is “right” or “wrong” for your own business.

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Why You May Want to Consider Using Tumblr

Screen shot of my Tumblr page.
Follow me as “Just Nancy” on Tumblr.

When I drive a long distance with my high school senior kids in the car, it gives me time to ask what is trending and is hot with their friends. I’ve found that what happens with their generation is a very good indicator as to where businesses should be looking to build for the future. Temper that with a review with my older kid who is 25 and I get a great viewpoint of how businesses should be embracing certain new technologies and avoiding other ones that may be becoming passé.

In my most recent drive Tumblr came up several times with my kids, so I checked it out. You can view my own Tumblr page here at http://nancymccord.tumblr.com/. I call mine “Just Nancy” as it is a place for now for me to share just about anything.

This is what I have found using Tumblr and why you may want to consider using it.

1. It is actually incredibly simple to set up and actually fun to use.

2. It has a very nice smartphone integration that allows you to post photos, quick quotes, and just about anything on the go.

3. The desktop interface is cool, user-intuitive, and the smartphone app simple.

4. I love the ability to add multi-media and text simply.

5. It feels like there will be a more visual and different demographic on this platform and so may be a more energized platform than a blog for a business.

6. From my own initial testing to me this seems like this may be the place where you can merge all your online enterprises into one cohesive message.

It remains to be seen how I will use Tumblr for business, but for now, I am having plenty of fun checking it out.