Of course you can also write negative reviews for the businesses that have disappointed you. Often a bad experience is a strong motivator to write online feedback, but I encourage you to take a few minutes to help out the small local businesses that have served you well.

I encourage you to do this, not only for the food establishments and retailers, but also your service providers that you may only work with occasionally or on a one-time basis – your accountant, business attorney, insurance agent, graphic designer, realtor, electrician, web developer and marketing consultant…..to name a few.

Here are instructions for writing a Google Places Review as of 2/2/12. It’s not as complicated as it looks and I have provide visuals for your convenience.

How to Write a Google Review on Google Places:

1. Search for the business on Google.com or Google Maps.
2. Once you’ve located the business you’d like to review, click the more info link next to the business name in the left panel. The information window will expand with additional options.
3. Click the Write a Review link located above the address of the business.
4. Be as specific as you can about what you liked about working with the company or individual. The more details you can provide, the more compelling the review. And the more helpful it will be for potential customers.
5. Give your review a title and rating (click on the stars).
6. Click Save.

You need to be signed in to your Google Account to write a review. If you’re not signed in, you’ll be prompted to either sign in or create a Google Account. (see the visual instructions below)

NOTE: Your Google Account nickname will appear next to all of the reviews that you write. To change your nickname, go to your Google account settings and click Edit profile.

If you don’t have a Google Account or are not signed in you will land on this page:

Next you will see this Page:
Enter your info and click “I accept Create my account” at the bottom.

You should then be returned automatically to the Google Places Page where you were but if not you can just do a Google search for name of the business and city and state – for example: “Radiant Electric Raymond NH”

Once you are back on the page. Click the “Write a Review” button again.
Be sure to give your Review a TITLE and a RATING (click the stars).
Then click “SAVE.”

Your REVIEW is very valuable to the company for which it was written. It is a great expression of appreciation for a “job well done.”

Your Review helps the business in the following ways:
• getting the business known online
• improving Search Engine Optimization and Google ranking
• publicizing the services and quality customer service the company provides
• displaying feedback from customers which is one of the most effective ways to get new customers

So….“don’t forget your servers”  and help them out by writing a Google Review.  And don’t be shy – write a Yelp review and a review on any other business directory sites you can find.

Has your Twitter page transformed into the new format yet? If not it will very soon (like probably today!)

There are many interesting changes and plenty of places to learn what you need to know, so I won’t go into those details here.

There is, however, a small but not-so-minor change that will be of interest to businesses using Twitter as one of their marketing tools. Twitter’s new format emphasizes the “name” associated with the account rather than the @username, that was previously the highlighted identifier.

The name might be a person’s actual name, but can be whatever the account holder has chosen. In some cases it’s the name of a company or some combination of a name, company, word, etc.

This change has significant implications for branding yourself or your company.

For example, I have two Twitter accounts – one for myself as associated with my company Christine Green Consulting, and one that is associated with my mobile marketing and text messaging service.

My first account has the username of @ChristineGreen_ and the name associated with it is Christine Green. No surprise.

My second Twitter account has the username of @MobileMrketing but also has the name Christine Green associated with it.

When I first launched that account the name associated with it was “Bost MobileMrketing.” I choose to do this temporarily for branding while I was building the website.

I was also curious to see how followers would interact with an account that had no web link and no identified person behind it. I did attract followers slowly but surely. I still have a rather small following and am not very active on the account yet, but once the Boston North Mobile Marketing site was launched, I added that link and changed the name to my own.

In the old Twitter format I was being branded primarily as @MobileMrketing because that username was most prominent. It was shown first and was larger and bolder than my name.

In the new format the opposite is true. The person’s name is now first (or at the top), large and bold.

This changes the way you are identified and perhaps even how you are perceived. Have you been branding yourself by your username or as your name? For some of you they are the same, but for many, your @username has become well known and even its own brand.

The example that comes to mind immediately is @Pistachio who is Laura Fitton. She is well know in the Twittersphere and co-author of Twitter for Dummies. To be honest I followed her for almost a year before I knew her name!

But check out how she shows up in the new profile:

In both of these screenshots you can barely see, much less notice her @Pistachio username.

So what does this reformatting mean for businesses using Twitter for marketing?

Mostly, you need to be aware of this change. You or your social media marketing consultant or staff can decide if you need to take any action. The good news is that you can change your username or your name. I wouldn’t advise changing your username since it has been your brand to many of your followers. (I am not sure what happens if you change your username but I assume you would keep your followers).

You may however, want to change the name associated with the account. If it’s your own name, I’d recommend keeping it, but if it is a made-up word or combination “name” you will want to assess the impact of it now being front-and-center. Now’s the time to make a change if you believe another name will improve your branding.

A final consideration related to your Twitter identity, is the photo or image that you use with your account. Now, more than ever, the image that represents your account is critical. If you aren’t crazy about it, change it now to assist with your branding.

The new format is an exciting change for this micro-blog. Hopefully it will stay the same long enough to allow businesses to optimize it for marketing…unlike another social media venue, (which will go unnamed) that changes almost daily! #FB 

P.S. As you can see, my Twitter accounts aren’t exactly brimming with followers, but you can change that! Let’s connect!

Twitter launched its own link shortening service in August of this year. At first only links that were too long to fit into the 140 character space were shortened. But as of October 2011, all links are shortened.

There are many link shortening services, so what’s the big deal?

The big deal is this – the service offers the following:

• It protects users by checking against a list of potentially dangerous sites that spread malware, engage in phishing attacks, and other harmful activity, and warns them before they continue.
• The service also measures information like how many times a link has been clicked.
• A promise by Twitter that the information measured “will eventually become an important quality signal for our resonance algorithm, which determines how relevant and interesting each Tweet is when compared to similar Tweets.”

What you need to know:

• All links published through Twitter are safe to click, including those in Direct Messages.
• You can still use other link shortening services, so you don’t have to stop tracking your metrics with another service like bit.ly.
• The Twitter t.co service only works for links published on Twitter and cannot be used independently for general link shortening.
• Twitter’s shortened links will now show up separately in your analytics as a referral source.
• You can not only track the effectiveness of your Twitter activity, but now your individual Tweets!

The tracking feature alone will boost Twitter as an engagement marketing tool for brands. And we will hear a sigh of relief from Tweeters everywhere when they learn about the safe browsing.

Follow Me and send me one of your shortened links!

Of course, if you don’t yet have any, you’ll need to attract Followers to your business on LinkedIn, otherwise no one will see your company’s status updates. It does not get published to your personal updates feed.

As a small business it’s a good idea to create a Company Page with at least the basic information and a logo image, but it might not be the best use of your marketing time and energy to focus on your LinkedIn presence.

Company Pages are probably most effective for medium to large companies that have a lot of employees and are known already on LinkedIn and currently have their employees connected to the company page. Another important feature is that, like Facebook Business Pages, Company Pages on LinkedIn can have more than one Administrator who can publish status updates.

With so many online profiles, pages and venues, it’s essential to make an informed decision about where and how you spend your marketing time.

A carefully crafted marketing strategy, based on an in-depth assessment of your company, will help you determine if and how your LinkedIn Company Page fits into your marketing plan and time allotment.

Learn more here about LinkedIn Company Pages

No matter how limited your budget, a piecemeal marketing approach of jumping onto the latest bandwagon, is usually not wise or cost-effective.

Putting up a Facebook Business Page or adding a QR Code to print collateral will be effective only if your strategic plan calls for those initiatives and they are properly implemented and managed. Don’t get me wrong, both can be extremely effective, but not simply because you use them.

See my post What Businesses Are Doing Wrong with QR Codes.

Neither Facebook or QR Codes are a business promotion quick fix. In fact, they can both be a waste of money if they are not the best use of your marketing dollars.

How do you know which initiatives will best utilize your marketing budget?

Well, you’ll first need to take an in-depth look at what you are doing and why….and more importantly, what you are not doing.

What you need is a Marketing Strategy – one that’s been developed by the appropriate professional. And I’m not talking about your web designer who thinks s/he has marketing expertise because they add social media links and email capture forms to your website. That’s popularity-based piecemeal marketing and will likely give you inconsistent piecemeal results.

You might think you can’t go wrong with social media links, but actually you can. If your prospects and customers go to your Twitter account or your Facebook Business Page and you are not versed in the social media protocol that will give them what they want and keep them engaged, you can lose them with a click of a button. And in most cases you will never see them again.

Don’t fall into the trap of the marketing bandwagon. Business owners, like everyone else, are strongly influenced by trends. Trends are important to pay attention to, but don’t forget to think for yourself rather than following blindly. Get the advice of a marketing expert, not your friends or business associates. Even if a business colleague has gotten great results with specific marketing tactics, those same activities may not translate to success for your business. And even if they do, you might have loose ends about how a particular initiative fits into your overall strategy, how it interfaces with other initiatives and the essential details of its implementation.

And what you may never know is what opportunities you missed, including the additional customers you could have attracted and converted, had you followed a skillfully crafted strategic plan.

Individual initiatives that are not part of a strategic plan are merely marketing “activities” and likely won’t lead to a fully successful campaign that helps you meet your business development goals.

The launch of any initiative requires a comprehensive understanding of today’s digital and social media protocol, as well as considerations of the complexities of context, scope, timing, management, tracking, and analysis.

While your current activities may not necessarily be off the mark, you are likely only accessing the tip of the iceberg in terms of your marketing potential.

I’m not talking about high-budget campaigns that you can’t afford. I’m talking about things you don’t know about, innovative approaches you will never think of, and creative strategies. I’m talking about the smart use of your business development dollars. If you are serious about your business and want to build your customer base and increase your market share, don’t do your own marketing.

Outsource it, just as you do for legal matters, bookkeeping, and taxes. You can be closely involved and there are certainly marketing tasks you can perform, but you’ll have guidance and will feel confident that your activities are on track and making a difference for your business.

Your marketing budget will be best spent on an in-depth assessment and and a marketing plan based on those findings. Hire a marketing consultant with expertise and creative skills, who can design an effective strategy.

I just might know someone.

As a marketer I began to drool the minute I saw this unveiled. Most people will upload an interesting or funny photograph, but it presents a fabulous opportunity for business marketing and personal branding.

I immediately got to work on creating my Cover image. Here’s a screenshot of my new personal profile page:

While this is currently published on my Facebook profile, it is only visible to those who have application developer status, so only a few of my Facebook friends can see it at this time. On September 29, 2011, Facebook will begin to shift profiles over to this new format and it will then be visible to everyone.

As you can see I created a custom graphic image that displays my company name and website URLs. The URLs are not live links but I did manage to make the banner interactive with a QR Code that is scannable and takes you to a mobile version of my website. If you are unfamiliar with QR Codes, it is the bar code in the lower left corner of the banner. You need a QR Code app on your smartphone in order to scan it.

Let me take a moment to clarify that the Facebook Terms of Service states that your personal profile has to be a real person and should not be used for financial gain. This is a bit loosely defined and not fully enforced, but I highly recommend that you do your direct business promotions on a Facebook Business Page, rather than your personal profile.

What I am recommending in this article is within the Terms of Service. I do sometimes talk about what I do in my business on my personal profile, but I never directly pitch my services. That would be a quick way to get “unfriended” and is, in my opinion, unprofessional. If you want a presence for your business on Facebook, create a Facebook Page that people “Like” rather than “Friend.”

Now….back to your profile Cover. If you want to get started now and set up your new profile, you can find instructions on Tech Crunch.

As you can see, this is fairly straightforward. As of next Thursday you will have a new “canvas” on your Facebook profile on which you can feature whatever you want. It’s one of the best of the recent changes on Facebook and is ideal for getting the word out about your professional identity.

At Christine Green Consulting, we will certainly now include the optimization of the Facebook profile banner in our client’s strategic marketing plans.

I look forward to seeing the creative ways these banners will be used!

What is your relationship to the seemingly impossible? What amazing feat might you accomplish if you were able to hold your intention with unwavering commitment?

The World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York City had an interesting history with two incredible feats of the impossible. One took place at its birth and the other at its death.

Both of these feats were incomprehensible – the first in the positive sense and the second in a tragically negative sense. There was a time when even the feat of building the towers themselves, buildings of that height, was impossible.

The first impossible feat that birthed the WTC was the high-wire act across the two towers by the young Frenchmen, Philippe Petit (see the film Man on Wire if you haven’t yet.)

The second and final impossible feat involving the twin towers was of course, the terrorist attacks where two jet planes flew directly into and brought down the towers on September 11, 2001.

Both of these feats required lengthy and complex planning, with little margin for error. All things had to be impeccably aligned to pull it off. To reflect on the theory of either one of these feats in detail, would surely have any one declaring it impossible.

The interesting aspect is that both involved significant breaches in security. Philippe Petit should have never gotten past security guards to haul all of his equipment and crew to the top of the towers, not to mention rigging and securing the wire between the two towers and then performing his high-wire act for 45 minutes.

Middle-Eastern men with no luggage, using cash to purchase one-way tickets on flights from the east coast, should not have easily gotten past the security check. (please don’t call me racist – I am merely referring to a combination of factors that would likely raise the suspicion of security personnel)

For good, for bad, for entertainment, for evil. For whatever….how were these feats accomplished?

Somehow everything….and I mean everything went right. Everything was perfect. The weather conditions for each feat had to be perfect – and it was. No part of the plan could go wrong – and it didn’t. There were certainly a few minor glitches – but no obstacle big enough to stand in the way.

So how are astounding feats like these accomplished?

Were the stars aligned? Obviously yes…for whatever that’s worth.

Was it brilliant planning and execution? Yes, again…but is there more?

I believe the most important aspect of how these seemingly impossible feats were accomplished was a profound unwavering, intention and desire. An absolute dedication and commitment unlike the kind most of us ever experience.

There was not one micro-ounce of ambivalence; not one moment of doubt; not one nano-second of hesitation. In each of these feats the impossible was made possible by the single-minded intention and full-out commitment of those who carried them out.

Let’s leave the discussion of good and evil intention for another time and place.

The point I am making is that it is the power of intention and an iron-clad commitment that creates amazing results.

You won’t likely be trying to accomplish such extreme feats, but each of our challenges can feel impossible at times. For the start-up business owner, the challenge of building and sustaining a successful business can feel impossible. For the independent consultant, each project can have impossible aspects that we have to overcome. And for those who work for someone else, there are times when your boss expects the impossible. Right?

How high do you set your sights for what you can accomplish? What’s your level of commitment? Do you struggle with ambivalence? Do you second-guess yourself and your direction or decisions?

Think about the expectations you have for yourself. Get honest about your level of commitment. Don’t kid yourself if you feel ambivalent. Understand that accomplishing impossible feats requires precision and attention to detail. But know that perfectionism to the degree of obsession and hesitation will hinder rather than help your success.

Paying attention and regularly evaluating these aspects of your approach can be the most valuable business skill.

Work toward overcoming your personal obstacles and train your mind to support you rather than work against you.

The combination of your belief in your ability to accomplish and your desire to make it happen is the recipe for success.

What impossible feat will you focus on this year?

Make it a positive, life-sustaining goal. Commit. Have fun. Break a few rules…and make it happen.

This is the first article in a series about why you should create a profile and participate on Google+ (“Google Plus”). This series may consist of one post (that doesn’t make it a series then, does it?) or more, depending on how many reasons I can muster.

Since the social media venue is only about a week old, the community on Google+ is not yet humongous (though today it’s supposed to reach 10 million – Okay that’s pretty darn big, but a far cry from Facebook’s 400 billion!).

As a social media consultant it was important for me to get on G+ as soon as I could and begin assessing it for business use. You may think it’s not possible to have a business presence yet. Google has asked businesses to hold off on creating profiles for their companies, and I recently saw a post stating that they were already cracking down and removing profiles with a business name (unlike Facebook, where thousands, if not millions of businesses get away with violating the Terms of Service by creating a “Profile” that can “friend” others, rather than a business “Page” that is “Liked”)

So,  you may say “Why bother, if my only interest in social media is for boosting my business?” Well, I’ll tell you why you should bother.

Since the pool of participants is still relatively small and the connecting protocol is being made up as we (early adopters) go along, you may have an amazing opportunity as a business professional. At least if you are a marketer or social media specialist. Though I have a feeling what I am experiencing will hold true for other professions if/when they are participating.

As I search for specific people, by typing in the search form or browsing the connections of others, I add them to my circles. I have the choice of adding them to an existing default circle (which are titled “following,” “friends,” “family,” and “acquaintances”) or creating a new custom-named circle. My approach is to add the hot shot well-known marketers and social media gurus to my “following” circle….just as I do on Twitter. It’s likely I will later sift this down into sub-categories but that’s what I am doing for now.

Because this venue is so new and it is almost a combination of Facebook and Twitter, there may be behaviors happening now that will vanish later.

One of those behaviors is that some of these well-known folks have added me (yes me!) to one of their circles. Now that could mean that I’ve been added to a custom circle called “The losers who are following me” or “Think I’ll make her day by adding her to this circle that I will never view,” but I don’t think so. I’m sure I’m not in their “Essential Contacts” circle, but they probably take a gander now and then at the masses who follow them, especially while this is all still new.

I think the social media marketing rock stars are thinking that anyone who is already on G+ is worth adding just because we know enough to jump in as an early adopter. And they want to build their circles and are being generous.

Twitter has the similar quality of giving you the opportunity to connect with highly regarded people in any field. They may not follow you back or respond to the @famousperson messages you Tweet, but you do have the opportunity to “talk to” them publicly that way.

The deal with G+ is that once you add someone to one of your circles you get to see everything they publish – or at least what they publish to the public or to the circle you’re in. AND you get to comment on any of their posts that you see. So guess what? Even though that person may get 87 comments on any one of their public posts, one of them can be yours! And I’d be willing to bet that at least for the next few weeks, that person is going to read most of those comments.

So your name gets in front of them in several ways. First you added them and they get notified that you did. Secondly, if you comment on their posts you potentially get seen by them once again (not to mention being seen by all the others who commented). And if you have something halfway interesting to say, you may even get noticed or responded to in the comment area. And if you turn into a stalking commenter, you’ll at least be a familiar name!

Seriously, though you have the ability to get known. Whether it’s by someone highly regarded in your field or by potential clients or referral sources…..you still get known. And that’s what social media is all about. And that’s what doing business is all about.

G+ is a big conversation. And if you post thoughtful comments of substance and publish your own content of value, you’ll become known for that. But if you become a pest or just toot your own horn, you’ll become known for that. Your choice.

So jump in. Listen for a while to make sure you “get” what’s going on, so you don’t do more damage than good – then start participating.

Find the people you want to get in front of:

• valuable connections
• leaders in your industry
• mentors and colleagues
• potential clients
• potential collaborators
• referral sources
• interesting people

Add them to one of your circles.

Then Don’t be shy. Contribute to the conversation. But don’t have an agenda or try to force an outcome. Stay connected and stay open.

And most of all – relax and have some fun.
They call it “social” media for a reason!

Come find me on Google+

I promise I’ll put you in the perfect circle!

Many businesses have jumped on the Facebook band wagon. Many are using their Facebook Business Page as their primary “website” and/or for various promotions and opt-ins. This had made me nervous for some time and I would strongly advise against relying too heavily on Facebook.

Right now Facebook seems like an unstoppable empire. But I personally don’t think they will last if they continue in the direction they are heading and maintain the same business attitude. Mark Zuckerberg is young with more than a touch of narcissism and thinks me knows best what FB users need and want. He has a narrow vision which has proven to be clueless time and time again, both for Personal Profiles and Business Pages.

I believe Facebook has too many fatal flaws that they will likely defend to the end. Their policy of making users “opt-out” rather than “opt-in” to annoying and invasive privacy settings is a sore spot for many people.

When they did away with the chronological order of posts on Business Pages they almost destroyed the effectiveness of the Pages for many companies.

Their almost daily changes with little regard for user preference is turning people off and confusing the rest of us.

And now…..finally there is a contender that may knock them off their feet. Something that might not be hard to do, especially when it comes from a well known company like Google.

I don’t even have a Google+ (pronounced “Google Plus”) account yet, but from viewing their intro videos I see that they are addressing the missing and failed elements of Facebook. It appears that they have actually designed the venue to what users want. It might be worth the switch for the “Circles” element alone.

“Circles” are groups based around common interests, values, philosophies or whatever, and provide the opportunity to post exclusively to the members of that group. To me this allows for more freedom of expression than I feel comfortable publishing to my entire “friend” list on FB. The reality is that we all have pods of different types of people and we communicate a little differently within each of those groups.

My prediction is that while it may take a while – perhaps even a year or two….Google+ will likely climb to the top of the heap as the number one social “friending” venue, with Facebook going the way of MySpace.

I have no idea what Google+ does or will feature for a business presence. But Google is a sophisticated business-savvy company and I have confidence that they won’t have any difficulty out-shining Facebook in that arena. Facebook has had no competitors and had no significant consequences to face for its many missteps. But the party’s over and there’s a new kid in town.

So if your business has a Facebook Business Page, ride the FB wave while you can. But do some forward thinking, take a look at Google+ (once you can) and think about where you want to keep your eggs.

Using LinkedIn to connect with professionals and companies can be a great strategy for certain professions. Requesting introductions to hard-to-reach individuals is one such strategy.

If you have the free version of LinkedIn, you may only request 5 introductions per month. The paid LinkedIn Plans are 15, 25 and 35 introductions per month respectively, as the price increases.

If you’d like to be introduced to a specific person, by a colleague on LinkedIn, follow these instructions:

• Login to LinkedIn
• Find the person to whom you want to be introduced – you can do a LinkedIn search or go to the Profile of one of your connections that you know is connected to this person, click on that person’s connections and scroll till you see the person you’re looking for.
• Click on the person’s Profile
• In the upper right corner you’ll see a link that says “Get introduced through a connection”
• Click that link
• That will take you to a page with a list of all the connections that you share with that person (the people you are both connected to)
• Click the button next to the person you will ask for the introduction
• Then click “Continue” at the bottom of the page
• That will take you to a page called “Request an Introduction”
• This is the message that will be sent to the person you are requesting the introduction from. There are several things to select and fill in on this page. You can include your email and phone number. You will want to choose from the Categories drop-down menu to indicate why you are seeking this introduction. There is also a text box for a message to the person you are requesting the introduction from and another text box where you can write a message to the person with whom you are seeking the connection.
• Compose your message carefully. Be succinct. Don’t make the recipient read a long pitch or description. If you take up too much of their time or give them a hard sell they will be less likely to accept a connection to you. Remember – write your intro in a way that describes what they might get out of it. Don’t try to sell them your services! You are merely connecting. This is the beginning of the relationship not the marriage proposal!
• Write your message. Go do something else for a few minutes or hours. Reread what you wrote and edit accordingly.
• When you are happy with it – click “Send”
• Rinse and Repeat (for each person you want to add to your connections)

The LinkedIn paid plans offer additional ways to contact people. The features change on a regular basis so check the LinkedIn site for details and pricing.