There is no doubt about it…Google Plus is where businesses need to be online.  The challenge business owners have with setting up shop on Google+ is dealing with the change they need to make in their thinking towards marketing.  They will need to steer away from their current attempts of shouting to the consumer to instead start talking with the consumer.   To be successful in the social spaces businesses have to get social for which Google+ offers so many ways for businesses of all sizes to meet this challenge.

Understand Rule Changes

The questions businesses have about Google+ have to do with understanding how Google+ has changed the rules for marketing online.  Google had obviously seen the mistakes other social spaces made by allowed businesses to shout their promotions to the presumably millions of people they say they have on their roster.   This method of billboard marketing is not working and is now making the current social networking places most consumers would avoid.

Along came Google+ with a clean interface to a solid base of Real People and the game changed from social media to social search.  No longer did a business need to blast their promotions to trillions of people.  All they need on Google+ is accumulate a solid community of real people and start having conversations.  The people in the Google+ community would then be part of helping the business be found by the consumers who need their products or services.

How do businesses get the conversation started on Google+?

The problem now is getting businesses to understand they can’t just post something on Google+ and expect something to happen.  They have to have a conversation with people on Google+.  This is the biggest problem business have since that requires resources they do not want to use.

The fact of the matter is, Google+ is where the consumers are going to be.  Sure there will be people left on the other social spaces but they will not be consumers.  The lack of responsiveness to purchasing anything from the few people left in those social networks will quickly result in those social networks shutting down due to them not reaching their financial goals.  This will force businesses to realize they need to change if they are going to get the consumer’s attention..and money.

Easy to Learn

Businesses have to learn how to have conversations in the social space.  This means they will need a person, or people, in the Google+ space responding to people who join their community or who ask a question.  Businesses HAVE TO show consumers they know how to be social or the consumers are going to go elsewhere.

The biggest thing businesses have to do online to be successful is build trust with the consumers who are now flooding onto Google+.

Businesses have to get over their impression that there are not many people on Google+.  They need to realize most people on G+ communicate in private or in communities that do not show up in the mainstream.  However, the consumer’s conversation shows up in the Google Search Engine which is now where consumers go to find the products they need or want.

Businesses will need to go where Real People…the consumers… are and become part of the communities they are part of if they are going to keep a presence in their markets.  It will take dedication to monitoring their communities in order to build the trust consumers expect.  Businesses will also need to tell consumers they are on Google+ to stay.

Businesses need to just set up shop on Google+ and get after it. The old adage is still true..if you build it they will come.  NowLet me know how I can help.

One of the unique things about Google+ can also be the most annoying part of Google+.  The Notifications can be overwhelming if not managed.  Here is how to manage Google+ Notifications.

Too many notifications

If you are swamped with too many notifications from Google+ for new posts, you can reduce them to only see the notifications you want.  Notifications for non-community and community posts are handled slightly differently, as follows:

Circle notifications are controlled in the settings for each circle. Select the button at the top of your Home stream for the circle you want and click the bell icon in the upper right hand corner of the In this circlecard if it does not already show as Off. You must repeat this for each circle you do not want notifications.

Community notifications are controlled in the settings for each community. Click the bell icon between the community name and its avatar.   Select Notifications off.   You will need to repeat this for each community you want to turn notifications off.

Email Notifications

The emails associated with notifications are handled differently for circles and community notifications:

Circle notification emails are controlled in Google+ Settings. Select Settings at the bottom of the drop-down dashboard on the left under your G+.  Scroll down to Email.  In the Notification delivery section to set the email account you want notifications sent to, then add or remove checks under Email in the Receive notifications to select the types of notifications you want emailed.

Community notification emails are automatic if you receive notifications. Your choices are to disable notifications altogether or receive both notifications and the notification email. You can, however, create Gmail filters to automatically mark the community notification emails as Trash so they will not appear in your Inbox.

If you would like to have more option to receive the notifications without the emails, use “Send feedback” (at the bottom of the drop-down main menu) to submit a request for more option directly to the Google+ team.

Let me know how I can help.

New ideas always result in gaining ground on an old idea.  Here are some new old ideas.

DFW SEO Specialist, NetOffer, Offers Web-Based Marketing Ideas For Your Business.

Creating an online community for your company requires planning and consideration. It certainly requires more effort than simply building it and hoping they will come.

The process of building a community requires effort, but the rewards are substantial:

1. Top of mind awareness made possible amongst your community members
2. Increased website visitation
3. Creation of website content by community members
4. Increase in sales
5. Greater  client loyalty
6. Reduced market pressure for your goods or services to be sold at a discount

You must first think about what variables are important to building your online community.  An active community requires the following:

• Usability
• Unique content
• Helpful content
• Member generated content
• Members easily able to connect with other members

If you make the determination to proceed, then you will want to start the process of creating the community website and generating activity. Follow these steps:

• Select which community platform to use
• Determine content areas
• Insert initial content
• Send an invitation to core members
• Encourage and generate activity

Following the above steps aggressively should greatly increase your chances for the community to succeed.

NetOffer is happy to assist you during this process. It is our purpose:  Help Build Communities.

DFW SEO Specialist, NetOffer.com, is an online internet & social media marketing company. If you have questions about how you can build a community online with NetOffer, please call 214-772-6854.

The questions keep being asked about Google Plus.  Several of us are getting together as a panel to see if we can explain why Google+ is the place to be.

I’ll on the panel June 27, 2013 at the Dallas Social Media Breakfast in Dallas.  The discussion will be on Google+.  If you are up at 7:15AM stop by to see what the panel has to say. Sign Up  Should be very interesting since these meetings generally are very thought provoking.

Dallas Social Media Breakfast

June 27, 2013

Mastering “Google+ Business” to Boost Your Social Media Presence

Panelists Include:

Grant Wickes, Wasp Barcode Technologies

As a strategic marketer and small business advocate, Grant Wickes helps companies define market opportunities, deliver products, and craft marketing programs that drive business value and profitable growth.

Mr. Wickes’ career includes more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience. Currently, he serves as Vice President of Business Development for Wasp Barcode Technologies, a leading provider of small business productivity solutions. When he’s not helping Wasp reach its full market potential, the self-proclaimed gadget lover is behind the lens, fulfilling his passion for photography.

Scot Duke, KEYimage Media Solutions

Former operations manager with SBC Yellow Pages, currently known as AT&T, with 32 years of business operations and crisis management experience.  Developed an extensive presence online as a first adaptor to social media.  Granted G+ verification in 2012 as a result of an eight year digital footprint.  Is currently consulting and training in Google+.

Moderator – Jackie Bese, Atomic Design and Consulting

Jackie has over a decade’s experience owning, running, and growing successful internet development companies. His experience spans the publishing, non-profit, corporate, business-to-business, and business-to-consumer industries.

More on this event as details develop.

There is no debate on Google+ quickly taking hold of the social spaces.  It is becoming the go-to site for so many people of all ages.  However, Google seems to not be listening to everything the majority of the Google+ users who are on the platform for both social and professional reasons.

Animated .gifs Running People Off

The features annoying most people I introduce Google+ is the animated .gif files Google allows to be posted in the public stream.  The term annoying is the kindest word I was provided from the hundreds of Plussers who immediately responded to my question on their interest in seeing animated .gifs in their stream.

Nearly everyone is asking me how to Mute them or report them or keep from getting them posted to their stream.  This kind of response to my question that concerns me if Google is even aware of the damage these non-stop animated posts are making to their social platform. Many of my supporters have reported deleting their Google account because of the high volume of .gif files.  A large number who took my advice in closely managing their circles to uncircle people who only post .gifs report that the time to uncircle these people is not productive.

I have asked all my followers to click on the Google+ feedback tab to provide Google their feelings on the subject, which all of them said they have done a number of times.

Why Is Google Not Listening

With this many people, and all of their contacts they have talked to, all reporting to Google their dissatisfaction with having to wade through a seemingly endless stream of .gif files in their Google+ Public stream it would seem Google would make some explanation on why they are allowing them..or would implement some of the very sound solutions to allowing them to be controlled.  There is no doubt that animated files get attention and generate traffic and interaction, but is Muting and account deleting the action Google is wanting for allowing these annoyances? Can’t see it in Google’s interest to let these animated .gif files kill Google+.

Seeks strange to many with the recent launch of the New Google Plus design Google also launched the Autoawsome feature ,which allows a Plusser to link a series of photos to create an animated file. Google just seems to have just put more fuel on the fire that is burning down the interest in Google Plus by millions of Real People who need Google+ for their business efforts.

Catering to the Few Instead of the Many

In recent conversation I have had with people close to the Google development centers I was told many of the features offered by Google are developed from the self interest of developers in particular department of Google.  There is no market studies done to get the input from the general population of Google+ on if a feature is of interest.  Many of the features to Google+ are built to cater to small niche of people outside the front foor of Google who have very, very narrow interest in particular areas of tech and have a high level of influence to large numbers of people who drink their koolaide.

Seems appeasing the photo and animated photo market is the personal interest of many Google developers..so to keep their senior developers for these departments happy Google launches their pet projects in as features to Google+.

Stop The Bleeding

Whether what I have been told is true or not is still up for debate and probably could be validated if someone from Google would address the reasoning for seeming to ignore the damage these animated files are doing to Google+ image.  There is no doubt the animated files are cute and entertaining.  However, when they flood the Google+ stream to a point no other content can be seen in the stream it visually is not value to a Plusser’s stream. Muting the animated files makes the stream look like it has been carpet bombed.  This can’t be what Google wants people like me, who train hundreds of people on G+, to flash up on the screen for newbies to G+ all to see.

I would think Google might want to consider taking action by implementing some of the excellent alternatives suggested to control the animated .gif posts.  Some of which are to TAB the animated .gif and Autoawesome posts so those who want to see them can do so by clicking on the tab.  Or..to place a start stop button in the file like video posts offer.   If these are not options then the suggestion to offer Mute Buttons as part of the call-to-action selection be placed in the .gif animated post.

Hope Google does something soon..like before I get up in front of another group of people to show them what G+ is all about.  Let me know how I can help..please!

Google+ is turning two years old and if you are one of the two people on earth who is not on Google+ it might be time you face the fact.  Google+ is the real deal for social search.  Over these past two years I have had thousands of people ask me questions about Google+.

Why do they ask me?..I can take it from the people who tell me why they are asking me these questions it is due to me being open with sharing my success in using Google+.

I base my success on Google+ on a comparison of what I got out of the other social spaces before I came to Google+.

On the social side of the comparison I am getting more out of Google+ from the real people I have met who actually enjoy having light hearted or serious conversations.

On the professional side of comparing what I was getting from the other spaces verses what I am getting out of Google+…bottomline…my blog posts are getting comments, my phone is ringing and my inbox has at least one business inquiry a week verses the 7 years of hundreds of spam phone calls and emails I received from the other spaces.

Can My Success Be Achieved by others?

I can safely say since I have joined the KEYimage Media Solutions management staff a little over six months ago I have been able to use what I have been doing on Google+ to improve the company’s presence on the internet.  I have also been able to test the power of Google+ with a few of our clients which I successfully raised their presence on the Google Search results.  So, Yes, what I do and am doing on Google+ can be achieved by others.

The caveat is, success can only be achieved on Google+ by using Google+.  Google+ is not a game you play where you make an occasional appearance to post some promotional material in hopes it will get placed in the Google Search engine.  Using Google+ is defined as being in the Google+ community on a regular passes to be social, interact and to provide interesting and  compelling content.  Yes, it is as simple as that.

Use It or Loss It!

The problem is, many people do not want to take the time needed to establish a solid presence on Google+ and build a community organically.  Most people..and a few social butterflies..attempt to find ways to manipulate Google+ to be like Facebook or Twitter.  They want to play the number game by finding ways to quickly and constantly gather hordes of people to broadcast their unwanted content.

There just no way around it.  Google+ is here to stay and has changed the way social networking is done online.

Yes, you’re no longer in Kansas when you use Google+.  Let me know how I can help.