Another reason you need to be on Google + is the new “Search Plus Your World” algorithm (Search+), which uses data collected from user who have logged in to their Google+ account. The search results that display will be promoting people and businesses alike on Google+. The personalization of search and the growth of social marketing are 2 subjects we here at AuthoritySeo have been talking about for 4-5 years. Google is moving more and more to delivering search results based on personalization signals that include elements of user engagement. Yes, this is still relatively early-stage, but make no mistake, new patterns are being established for the long term. Now, more than ever it is important to make sure you have your online strategy in place.

 Advantages of Google+ Pages for Business

Although related changes to search results were an easy prediction several months ago, there’s now plenty more visible evidence from recent Google algorithm updates that demonstrate the importance of Google+ practices effecting search results both inside and outside the Google+ environment. It takes a lot of work to maintain status updates and community response on an active Facebook fan page. Google does not index Facebook posts, and updates and neither does Facebook. Great Facebook updates and wall posts are here today and hidden tomorrow.

Lets say you have a awesome Facebook post that stirs up hundreds of commments, great but all of that original content is lost in the ethos in a matter of days on a active Facebook page. It will soon vanish with no commonly known way for anyone to look for or happen upon it in the future. On Google Plus like Facebook, you’ll see updates from those you follow in your Circle. But here is the critical difference, unlike Facebook, the content in your Google+ posts may turn into highly ranked search results on Google. Is it fair? no. It is important yes. For those on Facebook who could careless is their post about getting new shoes gets ranked, this is meanlingless to them, but to the business owner or fan page owner who is trying to market their business or themselves this is a critical difference. Google + posts will be providing keyword and topic-relevant search engine visibility that improves based on your “Author Rank” and content-specific engagement levels.

A second key advantage relates to how you can target your messaging and more directly interact with your followers, organizing those you follow into the circles (groups) of your choosing. Google+ has done a good job of enabling a fairly intuitive way to track and engage with segments of an audience curated by you.

This is what we do.

As a client of Authority SEO.com we take the time to learn the advantages of new social and internet marketing sites. We then implement those for our clients. As a business you can spend valuable resources, money, and time on websites that will yield very little results or in the end wind up being worthless. Contact AutoritySEO.com today to set up a consulation and review of your online or offline business.

There are things to think about before starting. The most important is your time. Viral marketing through social media really requires a lot of original content and a great amount of time each day and you have to understand the value of your time. This is where Authority SEO helps their clients. Many of the available tools are free to use some are not. That does not mean they don’t come at a high cost, because they most certainly do. They can cost valubale human resource time and customers if not done correctly. It takes time to set up accounts, create content for blogs, to tweet on a regular basis, to tie all of your marketing together and to focus your social media on your main gool.

Before you start with social marketing, make sure your strategy or goal is clear. There is a lot of social media hype and peer pressure to use these technologies. Just make sure you clearly understand your key goals and objectives. For example, are you trying to build direct sales with customers, improve positioning of your product or service, or build your authority in a specific area? Answering these critical questions will help you move forward with your strategy.

Your first step should be to verify whether the audience you are trying to reach is already using social media. If your target market aren’t using Twitter or Facebook, then why spend you resourse there? You also need to do your homework on where the audience you are trying to reach already exists. Are they on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter? Are they joining groups or creating new ones? These are all key questions to understanding your audience and how to best engage them.

What are some of the immediate benefits that small businesses are finding with social media?

Well, most small businesses will tell you that social networking can help foster stronger relationships with customers, enable a faster vehicle to answer customer questions, incorporate customer feedback, and build awareness for their expertise. One thing that is gaining prowless in social media is reviews. Customer reviews are becoming more and more important online and this is a good to convert lookers into buyers. 

Many small businesses are still trying to understand how social media can ring the cash register, and Authority SEO has that answer. A Phoenix based website called Natures Organic Market uses Twitter to successfully drawl in followers and send them coupons to use on their website. The company has created followers by posting interesting tweets and sends out the occassional coupon code to use. That means every time the company has something to say and people will receive the message and could retweet it to their friends and so on, potentially reaching way more than Natures Organic’s followers.  Before Twitter, this was lost profit. If you are ready to take a dip into social media give us a call.

 As a small business or large one, the way you spend your time is critical. So if you do decide to pursue social media, make sure that you have the proper tools to help you succeed.  You have to be social at all times or lose that business to your competitors.

As it stands right now Google shows Twitter updates in its regular search engine results page and is the main feature of its real time search boxes.  Also, Bing incorporates Facebook “like” qualities to its search rankings.  The level of involvement of social media in search results will only increase.

Have you ever read something on social media and you know that it was just generic filler information.  Social media is about interacting with your audience or future customers.  The best way to use social media is to engage and interact with your audience.  If you want your information to “go viral” than it has to be genuine of interest to people.

Genuine interest is important as it relates to social media.  Just think of the last thing that you really like in Facebook or Youtube.  What was it that captured your attention and made you send it to your friends and family?

There is no one size fits answer for a company to use social media.  What is universal is having real people handle you presence.  People see auto filler information though real people updating content have the ability to engage and deliver results with social media.

For good coversations on posts it is helpful to know who you are.  With DISQUS service you can now post comments using your Twitter or Facebook account.  Many people stay logged into these two social media while they read online and can instantly increase the visibility of their profiles by adding good comments.  Check it out and post a comment on one of Authority SEO’s posts.

One other really cool feature is that DISQUS shows who has added the post to their social networks.  You can see who has tweeted your post, added it to Youtube, and many other of the popular social media sites.

Now that you are going to start social media strategies begin with how you are going to measure success.  Social media websites don’t always send direct traffic to your website so success can be more subjective.  Understanding how you are going to measure success will also support your strategy for how you are going to attack your social online profile.

Top 10 Social Media Sites

1. Youtube.com
2. MySpace.com
3. Facebook.com
4. Bebo.com
5. BlackPlanet.com
6. Tagged.com
7. Imeem.com
8. hi5.com
9. Orkut.com
10. Digg.com

For reference Twitter is ranked number 17th overall though has the highest growth rate in the last year.  The information I got from Ranking.com which ranks millions of different websites.

As the social media environment changes with new websites becoming popular and others fade away.  Your social media marketing plan updates so your strategy will always be up to date with the best social resources for your business.

SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
Each social media site has different requirements and social services so we don’t go into depth about each one.  We utilize each social media site to their fullest by posting, updating, adding content, creating friends, and so to maximize your profile for each social site.

1.    personalized profile on each site
2.    monthly updates to all social sites listed below
3.    utilize site’s features to create friends or share bookmarks; we interact with the social site based how that site was built to benefit your business

SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

The following is a list of the sites Authority SEO updates as part of our social media package.

1.    Facebook
2.    MySpace
3.    Tagged
4.    Skyrock
5.    Friendster
6.    Photobucket (optional: read below)

Photobucket is a great social media site for photos.  Authority SEO will update and utilize the Photobucket features for your business on the condition that you supply the photos.  On a monthly basis you supply the photos and Authority SEO adds them to Photobucket.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Search engine optimization works in a couple ways with social media.  First, many of the social sites are listed in Google’s search rankings, which mean people searching for your topic could find your Facebook page as one of the results.  This increases your ability to rank for more keywords.

Second, people are using each of the social media sites as well.  A proper updated social media site can drive targeted traffic with in the social site which then has an opportunity to read about your business.
Third, most social sites in some form allow a link to be placed on your profile page which people can click to take direct to your website.  Not having to type in your website into their browser increases the chance they will take a look at your website.

Contact Authority SEO about a free consultation

With less money to spend on marketing it is important to understand what is most important for your business.  An overall strategy for positioning and branding your company is more extensive than the information in this post, though the goal of this post is 2 things that your company should have online.

1. Your company should have one blog.  A blog is a great way to interact with your customer on a more direct way.  The writing for the blog can be more of your expert opinion on important topics relating to your business.  Also, you can incorporate many of the popular social networks into links and features on your blog.  One important aspect of blogs is that they are index based on time so updated content is a must.  Since blog search engines index based on time if you are updated your blog on a regular basis you will get traffic.
2. The second item your company needs is a Facebook profile.  Even if you are investing the time to update and utilize all the features of Facebook; people researching your company will find your Facebook page which can give them valuable information on the type of products and services you offer.

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Rush Hour Traffic Podcast – Back to the Basics instead of Facebook

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