Using Share Code for Twitter

Work's been keeping me busy and I've been writing a lot of social-related stuff over on the JustSearch blog, so here's a super simple (and underused) Twitter thing to keep stuff ticking over.

This is the code needed to make a share button. Really, rocket science this ain't:

https://twitter.com/?status=Whatever You Want Folks to Tweet

Click Here to see what it does, and to give this post some props.

Oh, and be warned hastags (#) are best avoided in your status as they can mess things up and truncate the message. NB: see a solution for this in comments below, if needed.

Now this may not be Wernher von Braun territory, but this has more cool uses than you'd think. It's not the code, it's what you do with it that counts:

• Say, for example, you just gave your visitors a freebie pdf report on something of value to them, this is a perfect spontaneous way to look like thought leaders and to encourage them to say thanks and spread the word.
• Say, for example, you have a campaign and are trying to get signatures on a petition on another channel, you could even use this to encourage people to send a specific message to a policy maker if you put the MP's Twitter handle at the beginning of the message.
• Say, for example, you want to give your business, cause, or individual Klout score a nudge. Try testing the long-tail in include your firms twitter handle in the code and give people some content worth sharing.
• Say, for example, you are trying to raise awareness of a specific cause or issue from your website. With the right messaging this is a quick win for people to show their support and to get a specific message out.

The limitation is in how creative your prepared to get, not the code. Sure, it's simple, but sometimes simple things can work best if you have the right (and creative) strategic fit for them.

Let me know if you find a cool use for it, and have a great weekend.

Finding Folks Who Need You on Twitter

I've not posted anything for a while, I've been busy with things over at Just Search, so I thought I'd share a quick tip for using Twitter. I'm often asked about conducting Twitter outreach, and here's something you can do that doesn't involve a lot of expensive custom tools.

I use this trick with Hootsuite, having the searches running all the time to look for engagement points for clients and making a point to reach out using these every day. It's really simple, and it's a conversation starter that genuinely leads to interaction, connections, and ultimately sales or donations. Twitter is a weapons-grade listening device, it just takes a few simple tricks to make it easy to use.

Weapons Grade Listening Device

Go to the Twitter search box and try this. Run a search with "-filter:links" in it, that'll search for things with the keywords you use but without links. This is kinda important for what we're going to add next as we're not interesting in people 'providing links', we're looking for people who want help, support, and info.

Next try typing a few phrases (and add your keywords) like this, and don't forget the -filter:links in your search (I believe using '-http' also works). This'll show the people who are looking for folks who need help or are asking questions about your Twitter accounts subject matter:

• where can I get 'keyword' -filter:links
• how to 'keyword' -filter:links
• anyone know 'keyword' -filter:links
• what's the best 'keyword' -filter:links
• how do I 'keyword' -filter:links
• need help 'keyword' -filter:links

Give it a go. Different phrases will work better for different topics, try your own. Try adding some regional words for better targeting. For me, this was a proper hallelujah moment. Oh, and if you ever need to, 'filter:links' will pull back tweets ONLY containing links. Let me know if you find this useful, and I'll post more stuff like this if you do.

Have a great weekend.

I am the 4%. A Chaps View of Pinterest.

I’d hate to feel this is jumping on the ‘lets write an article on Pinterest' band-wagon, but I’ve got something I wanted to say - and that’s that ‘I like it’

I’m a 45 year old married Englishman. I’m not a scrap-booker, not genetically disposed to care about soft furnishings, and I’m not planning a wedding. I am, however, quietly addicted to Pinterest. Admittedly I’m quite rare. Out of the 12 million monthly unique users only 4% of are male, and it’s a platform populated with aspirational graphical content offering little stimulus to most chaps. These stats are based on US users, however, so there may be some cultural deviation here


Don’t get me wrong, I’m not being dismissive of the content or the audience – far from it – but the bulk of content in general streams isn’t stuff I’m interested in and that’s just how it is. I’m fully aware - as a strategist of all things social – that this platform is a pure fried gold if I want to target the lifestyle market, people with families (50% of users have children) or women in general.

So, what do I find so good about it? Here are 6 things:

• It’s easy to sign up. Do I want to sign in using my Facebook details and be able to find my friends? Why yes, don’t mind if I do. Over 9 million monthly Facebook-connected users so far, and rising.
• It’s visual. It appeals to the graphic designer in me. As developers we should be optimizing our web images for Pinterest starting immediately – especially if you or your clients are in ecommerce.
• It’s always there. Pinterest uses a browser-based snipping tool I just click on, pick a category, and it’s saved and shared. Very clean and simple.
• It really is social. My friends are my friends because, on the whole, we share at least some similar tastes. It’s adding to my life and helping me find things that I care about right now. It seems to be genuinely providing me a service. Honestly, how often does that happen?
• Repinning, liking, commenting – just the right balance of information to make it friendly, but without loosing track of what my content is about due to other peoples irrelevant activity in my stream.
• I rather like the iPhone app. It’s good for a browse on the train after Flipboard’s given me my aggregated daily ‘need-to-know’. As with all platforms built to promote use, it’s easy to access and fills a gap in my casual browsing. If it ever pulls into Flipboard with image import (and sharing out to Pinterest) I’d be a happy man.

The problem of being outside of ones demographic is self-replicating. I sometimes find myself in social media channels talking to other social media people about social media if there’s nothing else to do. However, that’s not happening and I put some of this down to the way I’ve deliberately made my boards and what I opt into. I am a bit of an RSS and feeds-geek, admittedly. I follow a lot of actual boards (which are far more targeted) than ‘individual people’. Pulling in their niche interests that correspond with mine as opposed to the total stream.

As a guy it’s initially hard to find content in the general content, and when you do it tends to be culinary related, clothing, or the more aesthetic side of gadgettery. Where are the fast cars, and gentlemen’s grooming accessories? A new service still in beta might be the answer. Gentlemint pitches it’s self as a ‘mint of manly things’ and has promise. I started playing with it last week. It has a good stream of moustache products, classical and impractical automobiles, cocktail making and real ale tips, and other visual treats that appeal to my content tastes. While it currently lacks the well balance features set of Pinterest this appears to be only because of it’s age and I’ll be keeping a friendly eye on it as it develops. Also worth a look, professionally, is Fancy - less popular but with a head-start at moneterization through a built-in deals platform with notable ecomms already signed up.

For business Pinterest has great promise. There seems to be some ambiguity on ownership of content that still warrants investigation for clients, but if you have a lifestyle brand or service appropriate to the audience there’s real social potential (and an SEO boost as a possible hidden extra). Pinterst could offer a nice client service as well as being a place to share your wares with a growing audience.

Trousers Now Required

So, I've taken a permanent job with actual holidays and salary and sick days and self respect and stuff.

A real job - not that 3 years with Conversify etc. wasn't - but this one requires trousers, the use of public transport, and a serious moderation of my usual colourful language. To be honest it was all pretty quick. I took out a LinkedIn Pro account and got the job within 8 days. No messing about.

I'm now Head of Social for Just Search, a digital agency in Cheshire.

More news soon, it's all bit busy right now and I'm up at 5:15am to get there, but I'm recruiting a team of social media pros to take this forward so keep an eye on this space. If you're near Manchester, know social, and your looking to be part of something cool/interesting give the guys in the HR dept. a call via the link above.

I promise not to call you 'minion', in public.

A Month of Standing

So, the first week my knees and back hurt like b'jesus. I mean seriously, b'jesus. I thought I'd made a serious mistake. Then it got better.

There's a bit of a trick to standing for 2-3 hours at a time, and that's to not really stand. I think I was taking it too seriously. Lean, stand on one leg, dance a little, or a lot, stretch, loosen up and be less formal about it all. Cutting in an hour a day seated laptop work in the lounge also helps. It's not supposed to be a trial of Hercules.

Now, I'm loving it. Stage 2 is definitely go once finances permit. 12 miles around Mam Tor at the weekend (in the rain, may I add) proved I can still put one foot in front of the other for a few hours on the trot. Lets see where this goes.

Social Media Predictions Beyond 2012 [pt. 2]

"I figure lots of predictions is best. People will forget the ones I get wrong and marvel over the rest." ~ Alan Cox

With a few basic top-level predictions earlier this week - namely brands beginning to better understand social ROI, integration of shopping functionality into social channels, and web 3.0 and the semantic web doing our discovery and finding our markets for us - let's take a look at a few more for the coming year (and for the future of social media and the Internet in general). It's fairly safe to make predictions this year, as apparently the world is going to end before I'm proven wrong. Here goes:

Pitiful excuse to use a picture of extreem awesomeness.

Social Gaming, and Gamification

With games like Farmville attracting millions of users and creating billions of dollars in revenue, it's not surprise that the social gaming industry is huge. Around 60 million players strong in the US alone, and growing daily. One in five Americans from the ages of six and upwards currently take part in some sort of online social gaming platform. Revenue possibilities don't only look good, they are the sort of 20ft barrel throwing gorilla we just can't ignore. In 2009 social gamers spent $2.2 billion on virtual goods. In 2013 it's expected to hit over $6 billion.

Looking at this another way, being on a diet is now a social game. We are encouraged by our peers and through input by friends and relatives. ”I ran 5 miles and burnt a bazillion calories” is now a common thing to see from a friend in our streams, and we give them a quick casual click to say well done, point, "go you". Facebook is encouraging this still further with it's new integrated apps and imminent 'Timeline' (legal problems pending) and Google+'s inherent games platform.

A lot of iPhone and Andriod apps seamlessly connect to our social profiles, almost by default, and let us keep track of our progress as well as share the data with our friends. We want to share our achievements, and there's a certain 'gamification' that bridges social and real world together almost seamlessly now.

Social gaming is definitely growing, but more brands are going to cotton onto it. Already we're seeing growing game sponsorship, especially by the entertainment industry, and free sharing applications based on achievement (all sponsored by brands).

Even Klout is a form of social gaming, gaming the channels themselves, and it's possible we'll see a call for regulation in 2012 and for an 'independent social standard' in this area to fight current skepticism of such metrics.

Mobile is MASSIVE & GROWING

All serious social channels have a mobile component. Smartphone access to our channels is in our pockets 24/7. There's 160 million Apple iDevice users and 152 million Android users. I've personally posted photographs to Facebook (and Twitter) from just about everywhere, and logged into 4SQ from the top of the highest peak in the UK. I love Instagram (and it's coming to Android any day). Network coverage is growing, functionality is growing, apps are getting more affordable and the internationally accessible skill base for developers is growing. We share our lives, immediately as they happen, via mobile. We share our experiences of products and places, immediately as they happen. If we want an app it's within our reach to build our own, and we can already see a massive shift in the time spent on social networks on mobile devices. This is going to continue to rise. Soon, word-wide, the majority of people will experience the World Wide Web in their hand, and not their desktop or in their lap.

Imagine combining our geographical location and with added Web 3.0 targeting. Imaging that Mall scene out of Minority Report where Tom Cruise walks into the mall and the advertising knows who he is, but instead your phone is receiving push notifications when you're in a certain geographical area with products, deals and services that are targeted just to you. Imagine quickly sharing that with your networks. Delivering advertising based on your geo-location AND your interests could be gold, both together. Ok, maybe not so much in 2012 but we're getting closer (Japan is way ahead of the game) and it's only just around the corner.

Starbucks and others are already using smartphone technology to allow you to make payments. We should keep an eye on this for sure. The Google+ app for Android has a mobile payment system, which could open a wealth of possibilities for shopping and payment.

The age of the all purpose Star-Trek Tricorder is with us NOW, and it's growing. Just wait 'till India catches up, which brings us on to...

Access

Right now there are 860 million social network users, and growing. Anyone can set up a social channel. It's part of our every-day and integrated into our routines. Look at the London riots – from coordinating clean-up to coordinating unrest – it's part of life now...

India and other countries and catching up. Wi-fi and 3G, soon 4G, are everywhere. More an more people will get access, and the world is multi-linqual. The point of social is it gets people talking, from the scientific community to hobbyists, and this will continue to grow and people will find new ways to use social media that we just don't expect. It's social. It's the best and worst of us (well, those of us who have access) as a species, and the number of people getting access to connection and technology is growing by the hour.

Changing Channels

Sort of obvious really. Things will become more popular, and less popular, and things will stay the same. I know, I know, but it's true.

Sure we can make some broad sweeping statements. Google+ will get integrated into EVERYTHING Google does in a very obvious way, but will grow slowly. Facebook will still rule the playground, but be prepared for supersaturation and further security related back-lashes. Tumblr will grow in popularity. Traditional blogging will get less prevalent, but increase in quality and retain it's SEO value.

On the whole we'll still have to monitor audiences closely, but be sure they will change and the channels will keep moving the goal posts. The only thing we can do is be vigilant, maintain strong standards, and be true to our friends, fans, and followers by listening.

So there we have it, combined with the post earlier this week that's my top-level guesses for 2012 and beyond.

Oh, also, just to put your mind at ease, I very much doubt the world will end and I'm prepared to go on record saying that. If I'm wrong, who'll be around to hassle me on Twitter about it?

I'd love to know what you think, and if you see any top-level patterns forming you'd like to add?

Social Media Predictions Beyond 2012 [pt. 1]

"The groundhog is like most other prophets; it delivers its prediction and then disappears." ~ Bill Vaughan

It's that time of year again when we have to dig out our crystal balls and do the obligatory blogging of predictions for next year. As a futurist, here's a few top-level guesses based on the technology, trends, and the direction we're naturally drifting, for 2012 and for the future of the social web:

When this baby hits 88 miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious shit.

Brands 'Get' Social ROI

Companies are going to start understanding one of the core elements of social media. Sure, they do 'a little' already, but be prepared for every niche commodity and his dog to see the light of day. They have to or they'll fail, and watching those of us out here making the headway is going to educate them. If they don't get it in 2012 they'll miss the boat.

Social media ROI is not about numbers of followers, it's about engagement, evangelism, and good will. Businesses is going to genuinely start to see the real opportunities of letting B2B and B2C customers behind the curtain and the advantages in sharing what they do.

In the very near future just about everyone will be able to see a place for themselves in the social space. They'll realize that ROI depends upon what you are trying to accomplish with your social media campaign, and that channels are a tool toward accomplishing that. Social CRM will go 'prime-time', and I'm glad we're already here.

Online Shopping

All the digital heavyweights are making a play for your living room. Apple, Netflix (especially in the UK), Hulu, Amazon, Google...

It started with Warner Bros. offering The Dark Knight through its official Facebook page, and now brands are really starting to see the real results driven value in having a custom eStore in their social channel.

Look at Starbucks. They have a captive audience of nearly 27 million people in Facebook. They add one tab, that's a lot of coverage. Who needs to direct people anywhere else? There's less and less need for a destination site when there's the potential for people to click away by clicking on yet another page. Why not do it directly in the social channel? We've built store fronts for clients selling everything from souvenirs, to wine, to concert tickets and it's always boosted sales massively.

In the next year your favorite social sites are going to become some of the major channels of future online shopping, maybe (eventually) even giving Amazon a run for their money. Even better if we can gather recommendations from our friends and get trusted input in our purchases. As reported by Internet Retailer, an online study showed that a massive 68% of consumers with Facebook accounts say a positive referral from a Facebook friend would make them more likely to buy from or visit a retailer. The future of social-shopping is very bright indeed.

Social is an integral part of the marketing mix, and the big companies will be leaning on it more and more to keep their customers in-the-loop. Best Buy, Macy's, Target, and Wal-Mart publicized their Black Friday deals early to their Facebook fans. Amazon and Toys R Us ran contests, giveaways and flash sales to coax consumers into "liking" their Pages. Best Buy created an event page for Black Friday and got nearly 28,000 people to RSVP as "attending." The future is shopping.

Web 3.0

The back-bone of the web is changing all the time. Flash is on it's way out. @​font-face is on it's way in. HTML5 is going to get more widespread and designers will find ways to make it rock our world (for better or worse). User experience will continue to grow as a paramount concern. These are technical certainties, but it all goes far beyond the code we see on the surface.

Web 3.0 will be, for want of better description, a self-aware web. Already, if we 'opt-in', we have an integrated social media experience. We tag pictures, register our thumbs up with e-commerce sites and publish them to Facebook, we have our Twitter feeds publishing on our Linked-In and Facebook profiles , we give a casual +1 to a button on a niche site about the new Avenger Movie and Google might soon be generating us a Spark for Marvel Comics.

Companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon are collecting this (and other) information about each any every one of us: Our likes and dislikes, our interests and preferences. A massive, and some might say scary, amount of data attached to each and every one of us. This, as defined by the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium, Tim Berners-Lee (who coined the phrase), will be called The Semantic Web. This is Web 3.0, where machines will become capable of analyzing all the data on the Web – the content, links, and transactions between people and computers.

Soon, we'll not need to search for information in the way we do now. Instead, data is going to find us based on the collected pool of information about us. 2012 will see the web, no doubt driven by search giant Google, moving more and more in this direction. It's all about the data, and if we embrace it without a skeptical back-lash the right information will be served to the right people at the right time, saving us all a lot of effort and energy. Imagine the applications for this within, and because of, social channels. The semantic nature of social networks is going to allow us almost unimaginable targeting to whatever we see as our perfect demographic.

We are going to have amazing targeting power in the future, and 2012 will move us closer. Just look at Facebook Social ads, and that's only the beginning.

Anyway, that's a few to begin with, more in Part 2. As per the groundhog, I shall now disappear.

I'd love to know what you think, and if you see any patterns forming you'd like to add?

Bit of DIY

So this weekend I made the big push to get the first part of the standing desk sorted. I took a good look at what I had and worked with it. No point spending a fortune or rearranging my whole work environment if it's going to cripple my back or not be practical.

A good place to start seemed to be with the existing shelves in my office. I don't have a lot of room, but I can squeeze a running machine in if I want to.

I found a couple of chunks of good solid mahogany in my dads shed (I was going to go down the route of welding extra bits to brackets but it turned into a faf so I ditched that idea and dad suggested wood) and spend a tenner on bolts, a bit of shelving board, some cheap beading, and some screws.

After I attached the beading (with wood glue) I resined the whole thing (plug for my dad's website at UK Epoxy Resins, cheers dad) to seal it (in the certain knowledge that keyboards and desks gather more dead skin than a George A. Romero film). A bit of drilling and it all went together fairly painlessly. I'm not that practical when it comes to DIY, but measure-twice-cut-once served me well as a manta and it wasn't rocket science.

The biggest problem was space. I've lost one long shelf (that was 90% marketing books and Doctor Who stuff) plus desk access etc. My office isn't exacly cavernous and there's the 'European action figure and plastic tat mountain' in there. A lot of juggling and shuffling went on for another day just to find a space for everything, which I eventually did. The cat's not chuffed - but it's not exactly a rent payer - as it's now relegated to the window ledge. I did gain the space under the desk and a few other cubbly holes, which I made the most of with some serious Tetris skills. It's all still a bit jumbled, but it'll do for now so I can crack-on with work.

Anyway, it's done and tomorrow's my first day standing. Will report back on how that goes.

Crazy Idea

I'm turning into a fat bugger. Since I worked at the Daily Mail I've put on 3 stone (in 3 years). I've got hardly any walking in this year - not even the usual Tryfan or pottering around The Peaks. Let's face it, my day rarely requires trousers and I only leave the house when I've run out of bacon. Something must be done.

My good friend Shelli Martineau, of Epic Weight Loss Journey fame, pointed me in the direction of Nerd Fitness. That, combined with spotting Trek Desk (nice, all be it REALLY overpriced) and spending 8 weeks in the US so far this year, gave me an idea so crazy it's worth of Lib/Con policy.

While working at my desk next year, I shall walk across America.


View Walking Across the United States in a larger map

Step 1 will be to construct my own Trek Desk (of sorts) in my tiny office at home (and on a budget of under £100, all in). I'll begin with a standing desk, to see how I get on, then invest in a 2nd hand running machine to go underneath it. If all goes to plan - and the standing part doesn't cripple my back and knees on it's own - I'll map the miles from this onto Google Earth (will figure out the logistics later) as I plod my way from New York to San Fran (some 2,975 miles) via Canada, Wyoming, Nevada etc..

First job, a bit of DIY.

Social Authority and SEO

15 years ago when I first worked in search engine ‘submission’ (it wasn’t called ‘optimization’ back then) everyone wanted to be on Yahoo, Lycos was our faithful search hound, Jeves served up 'natural language' search, and getting a client listed on Dmoz was like getting a hole-in-one. That all changed with the advent of Google, and it became about bots, spiders, algorithms, and we never looked back. That was then, this is now. Things have changed, but the priorities are still the same.

I get asked a lot about SEO and social media, especially by my old industry colleagues, and the dependencies involved in taking advantage of social for SEO. There’s a relatively new (and underrated) concept called ‘author authority’ (or ‘social authority’ if you’re Bing) that acts as SEO for the social space, and it’s well worth paying attention to.

So how does it work? It’s a fairly simple metric (as to be honest is all SEO, if you know the equation). We can learn a lot from traditional SEO methodology and tactics, and social can have a real impact on SEO in return.

The core of ‘author authority’ relies on a link from a social media profile being initially rated depending on the account (or profile/person/business) that’s posting it, and how ‘authoritative’ that account’s deemed to be. This is just like ‘PageRank’ (in SEO terms) and ‘domain authority’ used by Google to determine the quality and reach of one website linking to another. ‘Authoritative’ seems something of an abstract concert, but here’s how it could be defined in the social space based on my/our SEO and social experience:

Within Twitter you can easily see the number of followers a profile has, and the number of followers the accounts that follow the account have (plus the ratio of followers to people the account is following). Add to this simple metrics like the age of the account, how many times a day it posts, the number of lists people have added the account to, and the reach of the account (perhaps how many times it’s retweeted and the reach (total follower numbers) of those retweeting it). Then look at the network of the other accounts around you, notably the ones who follow you and their calculated ‘social authority’. All this plays a part.

Are we talking Klout score here? Well, maybe something similar, and fostering relationships with your industry leaders has obvious benefits in the distribution of content as well as boosting link ranking, but there are other factors to consider if you want social to benefit your SEO and SEO to benefit your social.

If these factors are important in ranking the ‘authority’, then this is an easy comparison to how the big search engines rank SEO values, and therefore how they value what we share in social channels. We can, tentatively, take this analogy a bit further and examine potential common elements between SEO and social media:

• Popularity - It’s conceivable this could also be the actual popularity of the link itself. Not only by occurrence and distribution, but also by it’s relation to the stored PageRank and popularity of it’s destination and potentially by ‘likes’, 1+’s, click-through rates, retweets, ‘shares’, and other peer distribution systems. If it’s tweeted to 10000 people, 500 of whom pass it on, this is going to be a flag that (based on a 5% referral rate) the link is popular. The same can be said for ‘other methods of sharing in other channels. Different social channels affect different search engines – Bing likes Facebook, for example.


• Relevance - In SEO there’s greater credence given to an inbound link from a relevant website (i.e., it being from a site that’s on the same or a related topic) than one from a non-relevant website. It’s likely this also applies to links in social media. For example, if you are a vineyard looking to foster social media links to positive reviews etc., then links from profiles mentioning wine (with associated domains related to viniculture and from people who regularly post wine reviews or talk about the industry) are likely be considered of more valuable than links from general profiles (who usually have no relevance to wines and spirits).


• Text (and possibly text weight) – this is classic old-school SEO. I shouldn't really use the word 'keyword', which are technically a field or tag in a pages code, but I will to demonstrate the concept. We use this tactic for clients all the time when writing blog posts, and weight titles and linked text accordingly. There isn’t usually a lot of text surrounding a link in social media, especially in the likes of Twitter, so we need to make the most of it. There’s a little more for us to play with in Google+, linkedIn, and Facebook. It’s fairly safe to assume keywords play an important part, even in this reduced textual real estate, and that search engines will use the links surrounding 'keywords' (and the overall subject matter usually addressed in the profile or other architecture) to further determine relevancy. In traditional SEO text weight also plays a part, essentially the number of times a keyword (and potentially, in social media, other associated on topic concepts) are mentioned. Thinking about keywords and their incorporation, not just when writing the likes of a blog post and especially in channel creation, is going to be critical for the long-term future of your social media efforts.


• Link-building - in SEO this is a widespread tactic. Basically, 10 links from 10 different sites is far better than 10 links from the same site. It shows ‘variety’. We can assume the same applies in the social space, and 10 profiles posting a link is better than one profile posting it 10 times. Social media is perfect for link-building, and I now consider it essential in any long-term SEO campaign. It’s easy to see the appeal of social media to those trying to bolster their traditional SEO efforts. Naturally the more relevant and higher profile the links, the better.

Achieving a high level of traction on social media platforms, particularly if that traction comes from profiles with a high ‘author authority’, can have a real long-term impact on your search engine rankings - not to mention your website traffic and core objectives. Just like traditional SEO the fostering of relationships and building of connections can’t be faked. If you’re looking for a quick SEO boost social media isn’t for you. It takes time, effort, and real communication. This is a long-term tactic (unless you’ve got access to lots of high authority and relevant social accounts), but for those invested in their consumers and social media, if done right, in my experience the SEO benefits can be very real indeed.

What Google+ Means for Direct Marketers

The tools may have changed, but the song remains the same.

The Web is now personal. VERY personal. Everyone is a content producer, whether they realize it or not.

Google realizes this. Google's deal with Twitter has run out so it no longer has Twitter content in its search, and Facebook is giving content to Bing, so Google needs its own source of social from which to draw content and, most importantly, in which to embed its advertising platform (AdWords).

Google knows personal recommendation is important, and so do we. It knows business has to have its place in any new channel in order to generate advertising revenue. Google, still the search king, knows it needs to sell advertising, and that Facebook social ads lead in the social space. Google, just like those of us in one-to-one marketing, realizes it's all about people. Because of this, Google has built its own social network: Google+ (which is now open to everyone, no invite required).

Everyone is posting links, sharing content, making recommendations, telling their friends about the good and bad in their daily lives, about the great coffee they just had, about the lousy service at the hotel they just stayed in, and about their love of a million long-tail niche hobbies and interests (perfect for generating ad revenue by displaying relevant opportunities along with the public message). The basic principals are there across every tool and channel.

Strategy should not be based on tools like Google+. Strategy should be based on business objectives. Tools like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are, as appropriate, a means to achieving business goals through communication, but are not strategies in themselves.

Content is king, even today, and the not-so-secret sauce is in the message and what you do with it. That's not going to change for direct marketers anytime soon. Research, engagement, listening, measurement, creating good content, fostering relationships, these remain the same. What is changing is the opportunity, and how you can use it.

When people choose to be a part of your community, it's important to give them something in return. They are letting you into their Google+, Twitter or Facebook streams, and it's critical to give something back. That may be as simple as offers, entertainment, a behind-the-scenes look at our brand, 'secret' knowledge, breaking news, etc. but should always be human and engaging. You still have to generate genuine opportunities to get your community talking and sharing. A community should feel that it is being heard and that, when opinion is sought, it is being acted upon. Being inclusive, and being personal, is being social. These are the fundamental principles of communication, and regardless of your goals or the delivery method they're key to good community. That's unlikely to ever change.

We can bet that soon Google+ will give us business profiles and then paid advertising. Just like Facebook, this is your opportunity to reach out to your audience and show them the value in becoming a part of your community and tuning in to your message. It's your chance to listen and gather opinion and deliver good, entertaining content value. How you do this should be based on clear strategy, and should be sympathetic to the community you gather. Here you can say "Join us. It'll be fun, rewarding, and advantageous."

One of the most valuable elements of one-to-one marketing in the social space is the ability to recognize those loyal customers who make repeat purchases, and to let them know they are appreciated and that they are important. Who is adding to the conversation? Who is taking your message forward? Who CAN take the message forward? These people are the ones to foster and reward above all others. Heck, you owe them that even if it's just though personal thanks and good messaging. A bottle of wine in the post or a voucher for a special event goes a long way to turn someone into a lifetime brand evangelist. The tools may change, but the principals remain the same. Social media lends itself perfectly to one-to-one marketing, and this is where powerful lifelong relationships can be forged.

Google+ is new. Anyone who claims to have a secret answer to making it work for business right now is selling snake oil. There are, however, those basic core principals of communication that will see you through. There're a million tricks and tips and tweaks for every tool and channel, but there's always a constant: social media is about people, and what's important is how you talk and listen - not where.

This article was first published on the Target Marketing Magazine website, Sept 21st 2011, and is republished with permission.

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