BlogPosts from July, 2011

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No More Minuses with Google +

Google+


There have been few serious contenders to the Facebook crown, and most have fallen by the wayside as the seemingly-immortal Zuckerberg army marches on. But is Facebook about to come face-to-face with its vanquisher at its very own battle of the Hot Gates? Could be. Here we look at some of the top reasons to choose Google +.

Walk between worlds. Sure, we all know we’re supposed to ‘just be ourselves’. But let’s face it, the you chatting to your aunt’s book club on a Sunday afternoon is not the you chatting to the hot dancer while downing mojitos at the samba club on Friday night. Gloople + allows you to interact as you would in the real world – in groups. Use those provided or create your own; but unlike Facebook, the best part is that people don’t have to know where they stand in comparison to your other, invisible circles – avoiding those awkward ‘I couldn’t see your wedding pics but Julie could’ conversations. Present the smart business side to your clients and colleagues, and the crazy, sky-diving side to your buddies at the Himalayan retreat. And ne’er the two shall meet.

Simplicity. Been asked how hot your friends think you are? Take the love horoscope compatibility test? Find out what Disney Princess you are? Yep, apps seem to have invaded Facebook like a fungus. Fortunately, Google + is, as yet, untainted by applications, and in general remains clean and simple to use. Long may it be so.

Fab features. Google + combines Facebook and Twitter together in terms of the main features. Awesome. But even more awesome is Hangout – spontaneous video chatting. Up to 10 people can join a Hangout – just start one up and watch people drop by, chew the fat and move on. Best of all, it’s completely free, giving it the edge on much-trumpeted Facebook partner Skype’s paid-for multi-conferencing video chats.

Better chat. Google + uses Google Chat, which, frankly, is better than Facebook chat. In our opinion. So there.

Business profiles. Well, we’re cheating a little here, because they’re not yet available. And tempting as it is, don’t set up your own in the meanwhile – Google are pulling them down. But anyway, when the official profiles are launched (circa Autumn 2011) you’ll be glad you waited. We’re promised that they’re going to be awesome – and rumour has it will include analytic tools!

So there you have it. Of course, there’s still some teething issues to work out with Google +, and if you really enjoy splashing every aspect of your personal life to anyone who ever encountered you, then you should probably stick with Facebook. But otherwise we say go for it. Life is too short not to live in circles.

Whats next for Google?

Word-of-Mouth Marketing Affects B2C and B2B

Word of mouth, one of the most effective marketing tools out there, used to take years of patience and infallible customer service to build up. Now, thanks to the lightning speed of social media, empires can be built or destroyed in the time it takes to ‘like’ a website on Facebook. People trust their friends’ opinions – and crucially their friends won’t bother telling them about products they know they won’t be interested in. With 6 out of 10 jobs in the US being secured through friend connections, it’s time to get up to speed with our top 5 tips.

  1. Get synced in. Build your page, and buy ‘like’ ads. Your page should have attractive but simple content, and encourage people to chat about your product. Push your page out to your customers’ networks to capture new business.
  2. Make your product advertise itself. That little chomped-out Apple logo displays to everyone around that the user values Macs over PCs. So think – if someone buys your product, how will other people know?
  3. Offer social currency. Can people use your product to offer something valuable or scarce? People like the value that such things bestow on them. Give them something special to offer, and they’ll offer it. Top hint – make it practical and useful, such as exclusive discounts.
  4. Emote it. Emotion sells, stories sell – a juicer needs a new home? Boring. A fluffy white kitten called Perdie who survived 3 nights in an abandoned car in sub-zero temperatures needs a new home? Now you’re talking. Sponsored stories have already given organisations such as Unicef great success. For added success, link with something that your key market is already talking about; common ground encourages people to talk more.
  5. Trigger it off. Amazingly, people tend to talk about breakfast…at breakfast time. Either tap into a logical trigger, or set your own. Did people automatically associate KitKats with tea breaks? Probably not at first – but they sure do now.

We would love to hear your stories of how effective word of mouth marketing has worked for you.

As you Like it

Such a small thing – such a big impact. The Facebook ‘Like’ function, that tempting little button sitting innocently on the page, has multiplied across the web, integrated into no less than 2.5 million sites – including a staggering eighty of the top 100.

And nowhere is its potential greater than in the booming industry of social commerce, that up and coming child of e-commerce. Facebook ‘Likes’ may seem like a simple click; a nod to your friends that, hey, these shoes are cool. But to a retailer, they’re much more. They’re thousands of potential customers. They’re invaluable word-of-mouth marketing. They’re the trigger for exclusive group discounts. They’re the birth of an army of online advocates.

Don’t believe it? Well, don’t just take our word for it. American Eagle noticed that 57% of their customers spent more when one of their friends had liked a product – the power of peer pressure right there.

Levi’s took it to a new level and created Friend’s Stores, exclusive stores that showed customers the products recommended by people in their social network circles. As a result, they enjoyed a fruitful Cyber Monday, when half of their online traffic came from Facebook.

Ticketmaster have managed to calculate – no mean feat – the value of each Like to them. What’s a Like worth? Well, about £3.20. Not to be sniffed at, especially when you consider the thousands of transactions they handle.

And OpenTable saw a 25% increase in reservations after adding the button. Think about it – it makes sense. Who wants to eat alone? If you’re promoting a product that lends itself to social activity like eating out, think how much a Like could boost your business.

As Facebook commerce, or f-commerce as it’s known, gathers pace, business will benefit from being Likeable. Don’t get left out.