I am sure you are aware of the recent debacle surrounding the U.S. debt crisis and the continuous debate between republicans and democrats. You may or may not know the ins and outs of what each side was proposing...but if not, it likely grabbed your attention in some way. What you may have missed if you aren't part of the tech world, is the role that Twitter played in the debate.
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With all of the “buzz” surrounding Google’s new social network, Google Plus, a lot of other cool announcements have flown by with less coverage in the tech news community. One of those announcements is Google’s new Page Speed service, an open-source and free project which helps folks optimize their web pages by applying best practices for web performance. That’s a big mouthful, but essentially what it means is that Google will help you optimize your website for speed, so when folks visit it they’ll see your content faster than ever.
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Remember when you decided to create a profile for your business Facebook page rather than setting up an actual page under your personal profile? Don't make the same mistake on Google+. As tempting as it is to setup a user profile for your business, it will bite you in the rear in a few months.
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With the launch of Google+ a couple of weeks ago, everyone has had fun learning the ins and outs of how they can best utilize it for not only themselves (circle me), but for their brands. Many brands even went ahead and created accounts as a brand despite being against Google's wishes. It did not take long for those accounts to be removed or converted to an actual name of a person, hence +Mashable converting to +Pete Cashmore. Google is currently testing accounts for brands (see Ford example below), but what is next for them? ...I have my opinions on what I'd like to see.
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There are plenty of reasons to avoid buying a smart phone these days, chief among them the cost of not just the device itself but the monthly data plan charge to go along with it. However, just because you don’t have a smart phone doesn’t mean you can’t use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare while on the go. In this post I’ll show you how to get started with each of those services, and all you need is a texting plan!
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Inbound marketing is still a new term, especially around Western NY and Northern PA. We have given inbound marketing seminars for many of the local businesses, most of which are aware of Twitter, try and use Facebook, talked about SEO...but beyond that their inbound marketing efforts are lackluster. The one area that is very hard for these businesses to grasp is knowledge sharing.
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Not long ago Josh wrote a post about the slow adoption of Twitter in the rural PA area. One of the big barriers to entry he noted was the lack of consistent high speed internet access. Many folks in our area of small town Pennsylvania are still using 56k connections or even satellite downlink connections where data access is limited or unavailable. This makes the user experience for services like Twitter annoyingly sluggish, and with limited 3G and non-existent 4G LTE mobile data coverage much of the fun of mobile services like Twitter is inaccessible to folks in the area.
Read moreGuess what! Another social network has cropped up from a little company in California called Google. They call this social network Google+ and it is the first true competitor to Facebook that I have seen so far. Here're a few videos produced by Google to explain the features of Google+:
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We've said it before and we'll say it again...you need to urge people to check in at your locations using location-based social media services. Yes, you will get some check-ins if you don't, but the volume and quality will be greater if you do. This is true everywhere but even more relevant for small businesses running brick-and-mortar establishments in rural areas. Check-in services are still relatively new and many rural areas are behind the game in these types of things. With a little awareness and activity amongst friends, the ability to take advantage of these services from a marketing perspective is much greater. Aside from putting a sign on your front door asking for check-ins, one of the easiest ways to get people to participate is to have a special offer.
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One of the coolest features of Google Android-powered mobile phones and tablets is the built-in voice search. Just tap a button, speak your search query aloud and your phone will automatically do a Google search for you. Recently Google built the voice search functionality into the desktop version of their Chrome web browser, so now you can speak your queries on your desktop or laptop computer too! How does it work?
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If you are executing digital marketing, congratulations! You are most likely already one step ahead of your competition, and making strides to meaningfully connect with prospects online. But, how do you know if you’re seeing continual success year over year, and improving your metrics?
Without the tools in place to analyze and benchmark your efforts, it is impossible to scale your online marketing and ensure continuous success.
