Pinterest is Hot

Pinterest is the current darling of social media. It landed in the top 10 social media properties in November according to Experian Hitwise with 31 million total visits, notably beating out Google+. It grew an amazing 4,000 percent in six months as of December 2011 (Hitwise, Cnet).

And It Seems To Be Getting Hotter

The excitement only seems to be growing and you can’t turn around without bumping into another new Pinterest article. Typical articles feature information about how certain companies or specific industries are having business success using Pinterest, how the site drives amazing amounts of referral traffic back to the originating sites, how to market on Pinterest, and most recently, how copyrights are getting violated or how Pinterest is getting affiliate commissions from user-posted content using a service called Skimlinks.

Is The Hype Harmful?

I’ve been building up a repository of articles on Pinterest by pinning articles onto a Pinterest Tips & Articles board. That’s been keeping me and the other curators of the board very busy. But while I watch the amazing volume of virtual ink being spilled on the topic of Pinterest, one nagging thought that’s been bothering me is whether this Pinterest frenzy will trigger a massive surge of marketing activity, spam and commercialism onto the site that fundamentally changes the experience, reduces the usefulness and ruins the “fun” of the site. The original users were mostly women from places like Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Alabama who shared on topics like home decor, fashion, design, crafts and photography. Will the Pinterest frenzy kill the site for casual, non-business users like them?

The Survey Is In

Well, to answer that question I pulled together a short survey. Here are the results.

1) Are you a Pinterest user?

Most of the 55 respondents are either heavy or light Pinterest users. We have a fairly knowledgeable crowd here.

2) If you’re on Pinterest, do you use it for fun, for business or both?

Most of the respondents (50%) are using Pinterest for a mix of fun and work. The next biggest category (30%) includes people just focused on using the site for fun.

3) Is Pinterest the next big Social Network, joining Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ as one of the top sites?

The majority of people feel that Pinterest will be one of the top social media sites in the future. A large portion feel that it will be on the level of a Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or LinkedIn. An almost equally sizable group thinks it will be big but one notch below the biggies.

4) Is there a risk that Marketers will kill the fun of Pinterest?

On the major question – whether the marketers would ruin the experience and the “fun” – the results were cautionary. A majority of respondents (54%) feel there is either some risk (“maybe”) or definite risk of the marketing frenzy upsetting the apple cart and negatively impacting the Pinterest experience.

On the flip side, 29% of people think more marketing will help Pinterest thrive and grow. What’s your opinion?

Tread Lightly

So what do the results tell us? Here’s my take.

People love Pinterest. They love pictures, they love collecting things, and they love the semi-random process of discovery that Pinterest enables. As marketers increasingly use the site to sell, to distribute content, and to “build platform”, there is a valid risk that all of the commercial and marketing activity will degrade the user experience for the casual users and impact the popularity of the system.

Conclusion: As marketers, we need to learn to tread lightly so as not to ruin what makes Pinterest so unique and popular.

What’s your take on the results? Are you using Pinterest to market your business?

Pinterest comes onto the radar

 
Pinterest came onto my radar in a big way through a couple of groups that I participate in on LinkedIn (including my group). I decided that a good way to learn about it was to tread lightly, connect with a few friends, and curate the best articles into a Pinterest Tips and Articles board on Pinterest.

Does everybody have a Pinterest article?

 
Every time I saw a Pinterest article, I would pin it to the board to be shared and saved for future reading. I thought, what’s the big deal, there can’t be that many Pinterest articles, can there be? Well, turns out everyone and his (or her) brother is writing an article about Pinterest (see the latest Pinterest article from Copyblogger). It’s a Pinterest Frenzy. And part of the problem is that it’s the marketers piling in in large numbers.

Pinterest mentions in Google and in the News on the upswing

Will this kill Pinterest for “real” users?

 
With all of this interest in Pinterest SEO, Pinterest Marketing and Content Marketing via Pinterest, will this kill it for people who actually enjoy sharing and discovering pictures of clothes, art, furniture, cats, unicorns, cool products, home accessories, inspirational quotes, cityscapes, houses, movie stars, cakes, jewelry, food, shoes and babies (see for yourself)?

The “Pinterest Marketing” backlash

 
With all of the hype, it’s inevitable that there would be a backlash. See this discussion on Twitter last night from Ameena Falchetto. I can’t say that I disagree with her concerns. I’m not an original Pinterest user but I can see the possibility of marketers destroying a very promising and unique platform.

Is this an Irrantional Pinterest Frenzy? Will Marketers harm Pinterest?

Take the Survey below:

 
Rather than go into a long article about the pros and cons of Pinterest and how marketers should or should not be using it, I thought I’d pull together a quick survey to get your opinion.

Please take the survey below so we can find out what people are thinking about Pinterest and its future. Thank you!

Feel free to let me know your additional thoughts in the comments as well (including what other questions I should be asking).

Here’s the recap of a discussion that I had with the two partners of a client company.

Client: Times are tough. We’re getting a lot less new leads than we used to because we’ve pretty much worked through our current network of contacts. We want to get involved in Social Media now. We’re ready.

Me: Okay, great. Are you willing to work on it?

Client: Uh, I don’t know. What do we have to do?

Me: (I explained to them a few different and very targeted ways that a company with their resources and current set-up could use Social Media to find their ideal clients, to connect with those prospects, and to turn them into leads and sales as quickly as possible.)

Client: Okay, we’re interested.

Me: Okay, shall we start with one strategy? Your LinkedIn strategy first? I think you’re well-positioned to do that right now and here’s what we could do (insert specific LinkedIn strategy here). Then we could begin working on your Facebook strategy after that.

Client: Well, we were thinking about a website redesign first. To make our site more “project-based” like I see others in the industry doing it. Then we can include case studies of each project and really showcase pictures of our work. That would be really cool.

Me: Well, then you’ll have to decide on your new look, do the redesign, write up those new projects, and then get the photography up. Knowing how busy you two get and the limitations of your budget, that could turn into a very, very long project. How about we use what you have now – which is fine, by the way – I know you regularly get compliments. Then you can get started with the revenue-generating activities starting next Monday!  Do you want a new, long project or to have some new leads starting in a couple of weeks?

Client: Uh, you’re right. We really need clients now and I guess we need to work in new ways. Let’s do it!

Me: Great, here’s how we get started…

It’s a choice.

As a small business (or even a big one), you could probably do things to get new leads within a couple of weeks or shorter using your existing infrastructure. Or you could start that in 2-6 months after you get everything just right. Do you need new clients now or several months from now?

It’s time for some tough love!

These particular clients had toyed with the idea of social media and online marketing but had always shied away. They were spoiled by a great network, but those leads have been tapering off in the last 6-9 months.

Three Important Rules that I live by:

1) You Need To Have a A Clear Business Model:

When you reinvent your marketing, you need to map out your new business model. Can you answer these questions?

• Do you know who your qualified clients are?
• What is your method of getting in front of large numbers of qualified clients?
• Do you have a sound funnel to bring them into?
• Do you have a way to capture new leads and to add them to your mailing list (and social media platform)?
• Do you have products or services directly aimed at them?
• Do you have a mechanism (e.g. webinars, 1-on-1 consultations) and the proper infrastructure (e.g. shopping cart, payment plans) for selling to them?
• Does your model fit your current capabilities and situation? If not, what needs to be changed?

2) You Need The Minimum Requirements To Do Business:

Are you set up for success. The last thing we need is for part of the process to absolutely repel your potential clients (like a broken website).

• Do you have a professional looking website?
• Are your products and services properly described?
• Does your funnel flow smoothly from one part to the next?
• How close are you to having the minimum requirements to do business?
• Where are the gaps, what tools can fill those gaps and how quickly can we put that in place?

3) You Need To Map Out Your Fastest Path To Money

It may sound crass, but let’s be up front. You’re in business to get clients, to take great care of them, and to earn an living. Right?

• We all have a lot of ideas and projects, but are these “long cuts” (rather than short cuts) to revenues?
• We all have to be realistic about what we’re really going to get done and how long it will take. Eliminate unnecessary activities.
• Can you draw the shortest line from each activity that you do straight to revenues? If not, what can be cut out ?

Your Actions:

1. Map out the business model you’re using now.
2. Map out the fastest path to revenues. Does that change the model?
3. Assess whether you have all the pieces (minimum requirements to do business).
4. Fill those gaps and get started

Rather than 3 months from now, let’s make it happen next week!

We all need to hear straight talk sometimes.

Do You Need Some Tough Love?

Do you find that you’re working on things (social media, blogging, adwords) that don’t seem to be helping your business? Do you feel overwhelmed by an endless list of tasks that seem like busy work? If you feel like a hamster on a training wheel and can’t see a clear path from where you are now to success, contact me here.
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Learn more about how to make your small business blog work for you by watching this free webinar: Better Business Blogging

A lot of small businesses are daunted by the idea of writing for their blog (or starting one if they’re not blogging yet). They’re daunted because they think they have to write all the time. Or those who are blogging already feel like they’re not adding any value to their businesses because their traffic stats are low. Others don’t feel like they have any unique ideas so why bother?

Well, let me set your mind at ease by debunking six common blogging myths. This can give you the needed perspective to approach blogging in a more positive way and give your company blog the attention that it deserves!

Myth 1) You have to write all the time

Look. I’ll tell you this straight. The more you write, the better it will be for you. But a couple of important things are worth noting. 1) Quality trumps quantity every time. If you write posts that actually help your potential clients, that are well-written (and error free), and that are attractive (include a picture), you’re much better off than the daily writer of garbage. 2) More is better, but even a few high quality blog posts can add credibility and authority and can motivate people who end up at your site to contact you or to do business with you!

By the way, most people who are going to call or meet with you will check your website in advance. If your website/blog combination leaves a good impression, it’s much more likely that they’ll be inclined to pursue business with you. Lesson: Get some really blog content up there – even if it’s just a few posts!

Myth 2) Traffic is the most important measure of success

Traffic is great. It makes you feel good to be wanted. Comments also help add credibility to a blog and give it a feeling of community. But, the fact is, most small business blogs will have low traffic and few, if any comments! That’s okay!

Business leads and sales are important. If your blog helps you convert the (sometimes few) people that come to your site, whether they met you at a networking event, were referred by someone, or found you by searching online, then it’s helping! Also, if you get a small amount of traffic but it’s the right traffic (and turns into leads), then you’re on the right track! Don’t be focused on traffic. Focus on leads and sales. Is your blog helping with these (or hurting)?

Myth 3) You have to be a great writer

Point 1: Many great writers will not be a good business bloggers. Point 2: You can write a decent blog post event if you don’t know how to write well. How? Follow formulas, focus on solving customer problems, and keep it simple until you get comfortable with your own writing “voice”.

For example, you can use the following formulas without being a trained writer:
- 5 Tips to Saving Money With Your Next __________ Project
- How To ___________
- 5 Reasons You Should _______________
- 6 Myths of ___________________ (look familiar?)

Myth 4) Every post has to be completely unique in the world

One thing that small business owners worry about is coming up with ideas. Yes, I believe unique ideas and creativity are important. But, that’s advanced math. For most small businesses, entrepreneurs or sole proprietors, getting started and getting some content out there is more critical than stressing over uniqueness.

If you decide to write a post but find that someone else has already written about that same topic, should you stop writing it? Well, is this in your same marketplace? Will your customers see that blog post? If it’s not your direct competitor, most likely your customers will never see that other post. And even if it is your direct competitor, come up with some angle to make it slightly different (and better). Then start writing!

Myth 5) Build your blog and people will find it

Starting a blog without promoting it is like buying a car and not putting gas in it. It feels pretty unfulfilling to sit in the driveway dreaming about cruising down Highway 1 with the top down. Same with a blog. It’s just going to sit there unless you do something about it! Tell your customers, put a link to your blog in your email footer, write guest posts for other blogs, send your best blog posts to your mailing list, and promote your posts via social media. Don’t spam people or overdo it (there are some nuances to all this), but you get the point.

Myth 6) Blogging is separate from Social Media or Search Engine Optimization

Some small businesses think that they would like to do a social media campaign or get better SEO for their website but they don’t want to address their blog “issue”. Well, I have news for you. Blogging is an integral part of an effective social media campaign. Sharing the headline and link for your recent, great blog post is the perfect the excuse to get in front of your potential customers on social media and to bring them back to your site to read that blog post (or watch your video).

Regarding SEO, great blog posts that get shared are the best thing you can do for your SEO strategy! Yes, you can optimize your existing pages, but creating new, high quality keyword-targeted blog posts will give you even more bang for the buck. Don’t try to do SEO, Social Media and Blogging in a piecemeal fashion! Really, blogging is integral to any social media or SEO strategy.

Ready to tackle your blog with a new perspective?

Now that we’ve addressed these 6 myths, are you ready to get started working on your company blog? Stop playing around on Facebook and give that “5 Tips” post a shot!

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Learn more about how to make your small business blog work for you by watching this free webinar: Better Business Blogging

It’s no longer enough for businesses to just have a website and a company blog. To effectively market online , they need to engage in social media. Using social media platforms, they can connect with their potential customers and industry influencers and share and distribute their content.

Getting Started with Social Media

Learn the basics via this useful social media cheat sheet, including “how to get started” tips for Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Tumblr and Digg.

Infographic Source:
Flowtown – Social Media Marketing Application

Blogging for a small business is different from blogging as a professional blogger (“problogger”) who is making money with advertisements or affiliate products on their site. As a small business, you benefit from your company blog in a variety of ways that make your situation different from an internet marketer or problogger.

1) Credibility

The mere existence of a professional-looking web site with information about you, your company and products is a start. Having a nice-looking blog with quality content adds to that impression (“Yes, we’re a real business!”) and goes a long way to comforting sometimes wary customers. Remember, you don’t just qualify your new prospects, they qualify you! If they don’t see what they like, they just have to close the page. If they can’t find you online, they probably won’t buy from you.

2) Authority

A step beyond credibility is authority. Even a limited amount of very authoritative content on your company blog can impress potential clients and help you turn them into prospects (i.e., they call you, ask for a consultation or sign up for your free report or other lead generation mechanism). To achieve this, your content has to be very valuable, well-written and helpful (i.e., solves a problem). It generally helps to have a specific point of view versus trying to play it safe.

3) Search Engine Optimization

More content is better, but having some relevant, keyword-rich content is better than none. Ranking on page 1 in the search engines for industry-specific and local keywords can definitely help a small business get more leads. Even if they are less trafficked terms (like “San Diego boat cleaning service”), there are a lot of combinations of keywords that you can rank for. If you generate relevant and focused content, you can potentially rank your site for various combinations and start getting this regular, free traffic. Blogging is the best way to add more content that Google and the other search engines love to put into their index.

4) Goodwill With Your Potential Customers

A problogger is less concerned about helping potential customers than they are about getting them to their site and then selling them on a product or getting them to click on an ad. As a small business, you want to generate goodwill with your potential customers, help them answer their questions, and to become a valued resource.

5) Industry Connections

When you start blogging as a small business and promoting your content via social media, you start to get noticed more by other related businesses. Many times this can lead to partnership discussions, referral network opportunities, guest posting opportunities or can generally increase awareness of your brand. You’ll be surprised what can happen if you start getting more active!

For these reasons, I highly recommend you spend the time to get your small business blog in order and think about how you’re going to get found, impress customers and get more business!
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Learn more about how to make your small business blog work for you by watching this free webinar: Better Business Blogging

Guest post written by Peter Sandeen.

The ability to give quality referrals has significant advantages. Not knowing whom to refer to an important contact can seriously undermine your credibility. The same applies to businesses and bloggers alike.

Creating a network, of referable businesses, creates the most value to you and your customers – even more than just giving random referrals. In a referral network businesses refer each other as long as there are no better options. It has the obvious benefit of keeping customers inside a circle, which you’re a part of. But that’s not the only benefit.

Why create a referral network?

The most obvious reason for giving referrals is the value it provides to your customers. If you can’t help a customer with a problem they have by selling the solution, at least you’re able to give a quality referral.

Another simple reason to give referrals is the status it creates for you. People expect you to know your industry and other services in your industry. If you don’t know where they can get something that they expected you to provide, you don’t appear professional. But if you know exactly where they can get what they need, you look like a true expert.

Creating a referral network has one especially enticing end result: the best leads you’ll ever get. You’ll end up getting referred customers. And referred customers are even easier to sell to than repeat customers (yeah, I was a bit surprised as well, but apparently if someone you trust recommends a company, you’re more likely to buy from them than if you’ve bought from them before). You’ll get “reciprocal” referrals even if you don’t create a referral network, but the network will increase that number significantly.

If you’re a blogger, than you’re probably interested in getting links to your blog. Well, creating a referral network might be the best way to do that. And I wouldn’t worry about the claimed SEO disadvantages, as long as you follow the “rules” (the three requirements for referrals).

There are more benefits to giving referrals than these three. But this post is about the referral network you’ll build around you.

The 3 requirements for referrals

Every referral you ever give needs to meet these three requirements. If any of these doesn’t apply, don’t give the recommendation.

1. Relevance. Every referral you’ll ever give needs to be relevant for the customer, in that situation.
2.  Quality. If you refer something that doesn’t live up to high expectations, your credibility is gone.
3.  Authenticity. Don’t give referrals just for the sake of doing it. And don’t overvalue the businesses in your referral network; if there’s a better option for your customer, refer that business.

The 3 circles of a referral network

When you create your referral network, you can divide everyone in it in three circles. The first circle is the most important and has the greatest potential rewards. But it’s also something you’re likely to already have. The second circle often adds the most value to you, but businesses in the third circle can also be very valuable to your customers.

So, what are the 3 referral circles?

1. The ones your customers can’t live without

The first circle is the closest to you. You must know these. If you don’t, you’ll be seen as an amateur, and not trustworthy. For example a fabric store needs tailors/seamstresses and upholsterers.

These are businesses/products/services/people your customers will most likely need whenever they buy your products and vice versa. There’s no way to justify not knowing the best options for your customers. And there’s no reason why you couldn’t get them into your referral network.

Even if you already have referred certain businesses and received reciprocal referrals from them, you should talk with them about referrals. You can deepen your relationship and make it even more valuable. More about that later in this post…

2. Others in your industry and closely related to your business

The second circle is much larger than the first one. It consists of businesses/products that are related to you either because they’re in the same industry as you are or you have similar buyer personas. For example a hairdresser needs to know a good nail salon. But a stylist and a cosmetologist would also be highly relevant to their customers.

The second circle is usually the first you need to create from scratch (since you probably already have the first circle started). You might have some ideas about who to network with immediately, and maybe you’ve already sent customers their way. But have you contacted the companies? It’s difficult to have a relationship without personal contact.

3. Unrelated to you, but important to your customers

These are services everybody sometimes needs or wants to see. Referring restaurants, hotels, cafés, museums, galleries, etc. is more about creating a relationship with your customers than anything else.

You may wonder why these businesses would be relevant to have in your referral network. Most of their customers are unlikely to need your services and even less likely to ask for their referrals. It’s true, unless they’re in your network, you’ll never get any referrals from them.

But if you do create a referral network, there are ways they can refer you. Maybe they can offer your discount coupons for their customers. There are other ways, but none of them works every time (and it’s possible that the coupons won’t work for you). How you approach these businesses is more important than in the first two circles because they’re unlikely to understand why they would refer you.

Bonus: Irrelevant but fun or useful referrals

Sometimes you can just help your customers by giving a referral that has nothing to do with your business. For example a customer might say something about annoying allergies, and you could help by recommending a great allergy medicine. Or maybe there’s a wonderful ice cream shop right next to your store that you could recommend to families that come into your store. Or if you’re a blogger the occasional link to a funny video won’t hurt.

There’s probably no reason for including these types of businesses into your referral network, but you can still recommend them to your customers just to make their day a little happier.

Who to network with

The three circles only tell you the types of businesses you should network with, not who exactly should be in your network. There’s a pretty straightforward method of deciding whom to network with.

Answer these questions. Make a list of answers, and always start with the best answer.

1. What kind of services your customers would benefit from the most? Divide the answers into the three circles.
2. Who are the very best providers of those services? Preferably you’ll have more than one option for each service.
3. Who are the best local ones? There’s no reason for you to refer someone on the other side of the planet, unless you still share customers (online businesses).
4. What can you offer for their customers? If you can’t think of anything, find more answers to the previous questions.

Now you know the ideal businesses to have in your network and what you can offer for their customers. Start with the best option, even if it seems unlikely to work out (they’re a huge business and you’re a starting entrepreneur).

As I mentioned in the list, it’s possible to network with online businesses (if you run an offline business). Maybe they have customers from your region and they’ll be happy to be able to recommend you. If you have an online business, I’m sure you can think of some offline businesses to include in your network. But generally offline businesses will find most value in other offline businesses, and online businesses in other online businesses. Just don’t forget to think of every possibility.

How to approach potential members

When you’ve identified a business (or an expert or a blog) you’d like to include into your referral network, first assess who you are to them. In other words, what do they think of you. Do you represent a great opportunity, or do they think you’re trying to take advantage of them?

You need to offer value. There’s no way around it. Unless you’re valuable for them, they have no reason to be in your network. The least you can offer, are your referrals. If you can drive customers to them (and they believe that), you’re valuable and they have no reason not to join your network.

The other problem you’ll face is uncertainty. Generally people aren’t familiar with the idea of a referral network. They might’ve never even heard of it before. And even if they have, there’s a chance it has a different meaning for them. So, before you approach anyone, you need to make it clear for yourself what you envision the network to be like. And then you’ll need to sell that idea to others.

How to use the network

Congratulations for creating a referral network.

“But what am I supposed to do with it?!”

There’s no definitive answer to that, but only because there are so many opportunities. The smallest thing you can do is to refer the other businesses when your customers ask for it. At the other extreme you have joint marketing, where you create marketing campaigns together.

Ultimately you’ll have to come up with your own answers to how to use the network. There’s only one basic principal you’ll always have to follow: whatever you do, it has to be mutually beneficial to everyone involved (including customers).

But to give you some ideas, here are a few things you can do with your referral network.

1. Give discount coupons to other businesses in your network. Your customer will be glad to get a discount for something, which makes you more valuable for them. And the other business will get more leads.
2. Use products from the other businesses. This works best within an industry. A record store would get a CD-player from a hi-fi store. And the hi-fi store would get albums for demo use. Something (a sticker, small advertisements, etc.) would make it clear to your customers where you got the CD-player (or the albums).
3. Shared marketing materials (a form of joint marketing). If your buyer personas are similar you can create brochures together. It makes the brochure more valuable to your customers, and gives you more reach when everyone involved shares it with their customers.

I hope you’re waiting to get started with your very own referral network. There’s a lot more things to think about in the process, so if you have any questions, just leave a comment.

Peter Sandeen writes about Company Culture and Referral Marketing at Affect Selling. Check out his FREE practical Guide to Premeditated Marketing, which explains how to create the most effective marketing stories. And DO NOT click this link.

With all of the excitement about Facebook, Twitter and now, Google Plus, you might get so distracted that you forget about your blog.

Big mistake!

Your company blog is the best asset that your company has and should be the hub of all of your online marketing activities.

Here’s why your Company Blog is your online marketing hub:

1) You Own It!

Your accounts on the social media platforms are not yours. They can be turned off at any moment if it’s considered that you’ve violated their terms of service.

2) It’s Tuesday, Facebook must have changed again

The social media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus are constantly changing the rules. They change how you post content, how to connect with people, the rules around privacy, how you can communicate with your connections, the look and feel of the site and what third party applications you can use (or not use) with your page on their system. Your blog serves as a point of stability online.

3) Your Blog is the fuel for your Social Media Engagement!

What happens if you participate in social media and have nothing to share? Well, if you don’t produce any content of your own, you’re basically passing around other people’s content and not driving anyone back to your own site. Produce great content, share via social media, and get qualified traffic back to your site!

4) You Control the Design

Your presence on social media platforms is very constrained. You can only design your page based on the constraints of the social media platform. Your blog and website allow you much greater design flexibility where you can really express your unique branding.

5) You’re Free To Sell On Your Blog

There are policies and technical limitations to marketing or processing transactions on social media sites. In some cases marketing is limited and you can rarely (or never) actually process a transaction on a social media site. Bring them back to your blog and website as a key part of your marketing and to finalize any transactions.

6) Search Traffic to can be a free, ongoing Lead Generation Source

The narrower you target your efforts, the easier it is to rank in the search engines. For example, rather than targeting “home architect” (and competing with ALL home architects), why don’t you focus on “Palo Alto Home Architect”? Getting your blog to rank for your key terms can lead to qualified and ongoing traffic to your site.

Learn more about how to make your blog work for you by joining this free webinar: Better Business Blogging

If you have a blog, then I’m sure you realize that you need to be creative in order to stand out. Sometimes the ideas just don’t flow – we all need a creative kick in the pants every once in a while!

Take a look at these ideas below to get some inspiration and while you’re at it, join our free Creative Blogging eCourse!

1) Creative writing of a blog post:

(warning: may trigger some deep emotions)

http://www.copyblogger.com/fight-for-your-ideas/

2) Creative uses of photography:

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/a-father-who-creatively

http://www.graphicdesignblog.org/conceptual-photography-examples/

3) Creative topic and infographic:

http://blog.stanwells.com/2012/01/history-of-the-high-heel-infographic/

4) Creative use of popular media in a blog post:

http://www.copyblogger.com/mad-men/

5) Creative use of household objects:

6) Creative use of various media in a blog post:

(including pictures I took myself)

http://www.rightmixmarketing.com/right-mix-blog/19-lessons-from-peter-shankman-blog-world-la-keynote/

7) Creative use of Twitter:

Wow, 194,000+ followers!

https://twitter.com/#!/RealTimeWWII

There are plenty of creative ideas out there. Post links to your favorites in the comments!

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If you want to get more creative, sign up for our free course on Creative Blogging using the form below!

…and when will that change ?

 
There’s a strange thing happening on Google. Despite the huge press for Google Plus and its incredible, unprecedented growth, marketers and businesses don’t seem to care about it. Yes, there are some great Google Plus business pages being created but the collective market just isn’t interested (at least not yet). Why do I say that?

No one searches for it!

 
There’s a noticeable lack searches for “Marketing on Google Plus” and “Google Plus For Business” as compared to similar searches for other social media platforms and internet marketing terms. This implies that most people are not yet interested in learning the best ways to market on Google Plus or to use Google Plus for business (and yes, I tried googleplus and google+).

Take this example below. Marketing on Facebook has 110,000 searches a month versus a measly 720 per month for Marketing on Google Plus!

No one advertises for these terms except Google itself!

 
In addition, no one seems to be advertising for these terms. Google itself seems to be the sole advertiser for both “Marketing on Google Plus” and “Google Plus for Business”. This implies that marketers don’t have much to sell related to these terms or to consider these terms very valuable as of yet. Notice on the “Facebook for business” search results page below these that the ads are not necessarily all for Facebook. Some are for social media marketing in general.

* Low traffic now but we’re happy that our last Google Plus for Business post is on page 1!

As compared to “Facebook For Business”

 
Facebook for business has plenty of action from advertisers. This is a thriving marketplace.

So when will Google Plus take off for business?

 
I took a look at the search and news metion trends for Google Plus, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for both the “marketing on” phrase and the “for busines” phrase. I also did some research to get some rough users numbers to plot against those trends.

Some conclusions:

• “Facebook marketing” and “Facebook for business” searches dominate as compared to YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus.
• Searches and news about “marketing” on platforms typically precedes the “for business” searches and news. In the case of Google Plus this seems to be the case, but the marketing searches seem to have petered out while the “for business” searches have been much more pronounced.
• Significant press coverage seems to lag large volumes of searches by quite a few months or years.
• Twitter got a lot of searches and press coverage for both areas when it was in the 10-20 million users stage (2009).
• Facebook had it’s big bump  in “marketing” searches in late 2007 when it had about 50 million users and “for business” in early 2009 after it passed 100 million users.
• “YouTube marketing” searches started in 2007 as it dominated all of the other video sharing platforms. “YouTube for business” searches get big much later – in 2009.
• “LinkedIn Marketing” searches started growing significantly in 2009 as it approached 50 million users. “Linkedin for Business” searches didn’t get big until 2011 (but maybe because people know it’s “for business” already)

Google Plus is growing amazingly fast

 
Google has so many ways to cross-promote the platform, some people are looking for an alternative to Facebook and there has been a lot of buzz about the platform. All this has driven people to Google plus at unprecedented rates (see graph below).

It took just 88 days for Google Plus to get to 50 million users!

It took Myspace 1046 days, Twitter 1096 days, Facebook 1325 days and LinkedIn 2354 days.

(Sources: read more from Leon Haland and Paul Allen here)

When will people start to care about Google Plus for marketing & business?

 
So when will the tipping point for Google Plus for business and marketing happen? Is it when the system gets more user-friendly? Is it when Google Plus adds more functionality that businesses can use for promotion? Is it based on a certain critical mass of users? Is it when Google puts robust advertising options into Google Plus? Is it when third party tools can start to deliver Google Plus management and automation options?

What do you think? Why don’t businesses and marketers care about Google Plus and when will this change?

Click here for an interesting article and discussion on Why Google+ is an Inevitable Part of Your Content Marketing Strategy on Copyblogger.
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