Google+ Is Your Best SEO Strategy

Last year, Google introduced Google+, it’s own social network.  While it generated a lot of buzz initially, interest fell off as comparisons to Facebook fell short.  However, Google+ is really only part of a much larger strategy to bring social signals to SEO.

Since search engines came on the scene, there has been a constant back and forth battle between the engines, like Google, and the site operators who want their site to place higher in rankings.  Recently, you could increase your site rank by placing links to it with strategic anchor text around the web – something JC Penney got in hot water for last year, and for which ended up getting the unkindest cut from Google – getting penalized in search on major keywords, and ultimately losing tons of traffic and revenue.  Attempts to “game” the system are understandably frowned upon by Google.  It’s bad for Google, bad for searchers, and bad for customers.

Google has a long history of refining its search engine algorithms to find the perfect set of results for any given query.  However, recently Google began using social signals to determine where sites should rank in search results for you.  And a good portion of this is being powered by Google+.

Today, I made a search for Google+ Hangouts, a popular new group video conferencing feature in Google+.  As you can see, the very first result is there because one of my Google+ friends recommended it.  Also, across the top, you can see that I have 80 other recommendations that fit this search from friends.

What does this mean for brands?  Soon, all of the keywords, meta-tags, and strategically placed anchor text isn’t going to be as important as one major factor – do people like your content?  Do they like it enough to share it online?  I’ve always been a proponent that SEO didn’t matter if you just put cool stuff up online that people wanted to see.  Google has long favored good content to strategic content.  However, with Google+, it’s that much more important to put content out that people actually like and want to share.  Also, it’s very important to put a Google+ button on your site so people can share there easily.

SEO still matters but the traditional tactics of manipulating the system to gain top placement are becoming less useful.  People will find you and your content because their network of connections likes your site.  Not because of SEO Voodoo.  The era of social search is upon us.  To be relevant in search – you have to be engaged socially.

STP Multipurpose Motor Treatment FTW #CBias #Engineluv

Recently, my newish Nissan Pathfinder has been getting less than it's previously stellar 24 mpg.  When I was asked to participate in a shopper study with STP, I literally jumped at the chance to find out if this stuff works.  I know people who use it reguarly, and swear by it.  But I've always been hesitant to buy some and stick it in my tank.

First of all, I'm not a car guy.  Key, ignition, oil change every 3,000 miles.  That sentence sums up the majority of my vehicular knowledge.



I mostly use premium gas, and I've never really understood when and where I would know it's time to use an engine treatment.  Is there a sound?  Will a light come on and say, "I need a little something extra today?"  It never happened.  But as I've watched my mpg dwindle recently, I've been thinking about what my engine might need BESIDES that oil change, that I haven't been giving it.
But logic prevailed.  My logic... which stated that I have no idea what most of these things do . . . and unless directed otherwise, I should probably get something that will treat and help multiple parts of my engine, instead of just the fuel injectors.I went to Walmart seeking out STP Treatment.  I figured there was just one.  Wow.  There were tons!  Different little bottles for cleaning all kinds of different things!  I was drawn to the fancier bottle designs, and almost ran away with the one below.

 



The STP Multipurpose Motor Treatment seemed to do everything I could want:

• Cleans Fuel Injectors


• Cleans intake valves


• stabilize fuel and oil (no idea what that means)


• Remove Moisture


• Lubricate


• other things that I don't understand

The product is easy to use, but I wavered awhile on exactly how much to put in the tank.   I have a 16 gallon tank, which was half full.  Do I put in enough for a full tank, or enough for the current amount of gasoline?  I just started pouring, and stopped with about half of the bottle empty.  I stared at my car and kept thinking there should be something else for me to do.  But nope - that's all I needed!

I have another older Sunfire, so I put the rest in there.  I had to pick up some Transmission Fluid for that car as well, since it's been leaking some.  Hopefully between the two new products, I can get a little more life out of it!



Tomorrow, I head out on a 5 hr road trip.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how STP impacts my engine's performance.  I'll update this post with my thoughts afterward!

 

You can check out more photos and thoughts from this experience on my Google+ Photo Gallery.

 

Also, if you're interested, STP is offering a coupon if you like their Facebook Page!  You should definitely check it out!

 

UPDATE:  After a total of nearly 12 hours on the road in the last 2 days, my MPG has gone from 18.7 back up to its previous average of 23.4!  I'll definitely be picking up STP again!

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias  Opinions are my own.

ROI in Social Media: It Really Does Exist

I recently came across an article at CopyBlogger (a well respected site) entitled "There is No ROI In Social Media Marketing."  The article was written in the form of an extended conversation, but boils down to the following points:

• There is no ROI in Social Media


• There is no ROI in any marketing


• Asking for an ROI is like asking for ROI on email - you can't quantify it, but it clearly adds lots of value to the company, and would be a detriment if it was absent.

Your Facebook Fans Don't Mean Anything

Relatively speaking, of course.

At a previous employer, I had the onerous goal of reaching a set number of Facebook fans each year.  Each year was more aggressive than the last.  One had to ask oneself - how many gas stations customers actually want to be friends with a gas station on Facebook?
I didn't . . . unless there was free gas involved.
And there was.

Each month I struggled to move the needle - spending money, resources, and vendor money on increasingly grand Facebook apps giving away products, gasoline, and anything else we could move legally online (it's a gas station - there's a lot of stuff you CAN'T advertise online).  And we got a lot of fans.  BUT - did we get a lot of value?  Was the value of the 100,000th fan the same as the value of the 1,000th fan?  My gut tells me no.  Should we have had 100,000 fans?  Probably not, but we did.  And much of the value of the "tribe" was diluted with those only concerned about the freebies.
These ravenous deal-hunting fans went negative quickly, on almost every post.  Giving away a fountain drink - why not 20 oz drinks?  It's a 2-for-1 deal?  That sucks - "We're here for free stuff!" they would chant, by the dozens of comments.  But our audience grew and grew.
There is some really insightful research from Syncapse on the value of a Facebook Fan.  I encourage you to check it out.  While that value is different for every company, there is one universal truth that we should all accept - a customer who friends you on Facebook, and lets you in to their intimate space reserved for friends and socializing is significantly more valuable, over their lifetime, than a typical customer who does not connect with you through any digital channels.  However, there is another universal truth we should realize - not all Facebook Fans are created equally.  Some not only dilute the value of your Facebook community, but drag down the value of others they touch, making them less engaged.

So what does matter about Facebook?  Here's a hint - it's the same thing that matters about everything else you do: Return on Investment.

Don't get me wrong: numbers matter.  Blasting a message to 100,000 people is more likely to generate X number of sales than blasting a message to 10 people.  But artificially inflated Facebook Likes can actually have a NEGATIVE impact on ROI.  Ted Rubin asks us all to embrace the term "Return on Relationship."  Consider this:

You have 100,000 Facebook fans.  90,000 of those fans have little or no interest in your company, and no brand loyalty.  Your average number of likes or comments per post is 10.  So 0.01% of your fanbase actually pays attention to anything you do, at any given time.  That number is low.  Lower than TV Advertising low.  Lower than radio low.

You release a coupon - a loss leader to incentivize social sharing, and to show that Facebook Fans do actually come to the store.  10,000 coupons are redeemed, or 10% of your fan base.  Your cost per coupon is $1.

You spent:

• $3,000 on a custom facebook app to deliver the coupons securely (that's low)


• $10,000 on coupon redemptions


• $4,500 on Facebook and Google contextually targeted ads


• $3,000 on outreach to influencers and twitter users to promote the coupon app.


• $20,500 Total

You gain 5,000 Facebook Fans during the promotion
Only 15% of coupon redeemers bought something else at your store.

Was this promotion a success?  You lost money.  Your same-store sales saw little appreciable lift.  And while you can make the argument that Facebook Fans is an investment in a relationship that has value long-term, this promotion failed miserably at its most important task: making money.

Imagine a different scenario: only 10,000 Facebook Fans who are there because they are truly fans of your company.  Instead of buying fans with freebies, your content strategy gives your most loyal customer more of what they want: you.  Money saving tips, product advice, recipes.  Who cares?  They're discovering more ways to use you, and bringing their friends along in the process.  A modest coupon (one that allows you to make some money, or break even) released to this group will be shared among friends, and taken as an opportunity to visit your store one more time, and indulge themselves once more in their relationship with you.

True brand loyalty is difficult to come by... but it should be nurtured.

Making money off of fewer fans, who are there because of their true brand loyalty, I propose, is preferable to losing money on 100,000 fans that only came around for opportunistic freebies.

Excellent content that speaks to your customer brings them in, and gets them connected with you in ways that deepen their relationship with you.  Easy content produces number, and lower fan value.  Shepherd your brand advocates, and they will produce more advocates.  Sheep beget sheep (John 15:16) - and they'll bring more of their own kind to you, with little more invested than your time to listen and care.

Location and You- Checking In to Profitability

The thing with Location Based Service like Foursquare and Whrrl, is the thing with all social media marketing initiatives.  Most people don't consider how their customers are going to use it, how it will integrate with their business model, and how it will do the one thing we're all in business to do: MAKE MONEY.  That's why I was so excited to participate in a panel with John Kim, of Whrrl, to discuss how we did just that.

In a day filled with frustrating people who. while running LBS companies, could not articulate the ROI of marketing in the space, I was really happy to be in a panel that was doing just that.  Check out our presentation for the run-down on what Whrrl and Murphy USA have seen in terms of measurable ROI on location based networks.

What's in a name?

Whether you are SassyChick76 or something more professional, the names we choose to represent us online say alot about us.  For isntance, if managed to score your first name as a twitter handle, it says alot about you, as a status symbol, on the social network.

I just changed my twitter handle.  I signed up for the service in early 2008...not exactly the earliest of adopters (although I recall when Leo Laporte was the twitterer), but certainly not a late-comer.  I used the same email username I have used for years - caseyp80.  BORING.  But I wasn't very sure of Twitter as a service, or of my intention to stick with it.  I couldn't certainly gotten a better name back in 08 than I could today.  But nevertheless, I felt like it was time to ditch the name+number signature, and go with something slightly more descriptive.

Unfortunately, I settled on @thatgeekcasey.  It was late.  And I had typed in at least 40 different usernames that I preferred...and it at least seemed easy to remember, unlike 2nd Place Contestant: @Ctl_Alt_Casey.

Like I said . . . it was late.

Now with that out of the way, I've begun reconsidering all of the names that I use for services.  Some are insignificant - but of particular interest is my email username.  I may have stuck with CaseyP80 for years, but I can't help but think there's probably a better way to represent myself online.

I can't tell you how many resumes I've received in the past with contact information containing email addresses like, "seniorsassypants@hotmail.com."  The names we use to present ourselves to people affect their perceptions of us.  More online than anywhere else.  As I've just discovered - this can be a serious problem if you're attempted to create a name somewhere like Twitter or Gmail TODAY, and not years ago.  Anything resembling a professional looking name is probably taken.

With email, we can change or create our own domain.  But what of services like Twitter - once they reach critical mass, it's nearly impossible to get any name you would hope to get.  Clearly, there needs to be a better solution - but what would that look like?  It's an interesting question.  A question whose answer will hopefully shape the usage of social networks in the future, and play into future updates of services we already use.

Jesus Needs New Marketing

This post began as a disjointed and rambling series of thoughts on the modern evangelical church, and the state of evangelism in it.  It hasn't changed much, so please excuse me if my thoughts trail off.

I actually began teaching on this subject some in my church, when asked to fill in for people.  I think I might provide a "different" perspective on what evangelism and witnessing is and should be.  In my Marketing 101 class in college, a definition of "marketing" was given that has stuck with me for several years:  the study and act of connecting people with needs, wants, and desires with the goods, products, and services that will meet those needs, wants, and desires.   Or at least it was something to that effect.  I think we, as Christians, can learn a lot from marketing concepts, when it comes to how we connect with people around the Gospel.

The methods by which the Gospel has been shared have changed very little over the last several hundred years.  In that time, the culture itself has changed so dramatically, so many times, that what was relevant to the average person in the 1600's is totally foreign to the same average person today.  I'm not talking about the Biblical methodology of salvation, found in Romans 10:9,10, and 13.  I'm talking about the way we connect with other people, and share the message of Jesus, personally.  I'm sure we can name tons of programs, gimmicks, and special events that churches have used for centuries to get people to come into the church, and hear the Gospel, and accept Jesus.  Some have seen amazing successes in their day, but in an era when the most successful messages are preached around seeker-sensitive talking points, and sin is never mentioned, it's difficult to find a modern counterpart to any of those that actually works.

I think we can learn a lot from how the business world approaches these same changes, and an incredibly important lesson is that during times of true cultural changes, the business world is not afraid to throw out the old and irrelevant methods of reaching people, and adopt new methods.  Since the industrial revolution, we've seen amazing changes in the way businesses sell and market their products.  Once upon a time, what mattered was that you built the best of something, and people would "beat a path to your door."  We've been through times when sales were push-centered, and ads focused mostly on "selling" a product on features and benefits.  We came through the pull-centered era when marketing worked to built interest and desire, and encourage people to come looking for your product.  And now ... well who knows what works.  The internet is in the process of revolutionizing the ways we connect and  communicate socially, and businesses want to be involved in the change.  The problem is, no one really knows quite what it will look like once it really comes into maturity.

During those same times, the message of the Gospel has largely stayed the same.  We're still attempting to reach people using methods and practices that may have worked 200 years ago, but haven't changed in respect to the cultural shifts, and changes in societal attitudes towards Christianity.  We have a relatively secularized society today, where few people "judge' you for indulging in any kind of sin, however not that long ago, you could very easily be a social pariah in some areas for being a pregnant teen, or a light drinker.  As society and cultures change,what is "relevant" to people hearing the Gospel changes as well.  Jesus was a master at making the Gospel relevant for his listeners, by telling parables that related to them and their daily lives.  But we're still trying to reach hi-tech, text-messaging, and connected young people with a message intended for pre-industrialized agrarian peoples.

We have a very real problem . . . and these ridiculous Christian Rock Bands, and skateboard ministries are far from a relevant Gospel - they are hokey imposters.  The problem is this:  in order to remain relevant, the Church has been trying to become more like the world, hoping to attract more people, but has made itself impotent and ineffectual in the process.

I'm hoping that we can begin to rethink how the Gospel is shared, while maintaining the integrity of the teachings of Holiness that can show us how to be sold-out, on-fire Christians who live a life of service to God, and not ourselves.