Let’s take Twitter for example, sure it’s easy to set up a profile.  You just have to enter your business’ name to create a Twitter handle, upload a profile photo or company logo, write a few words about the company and add a link to the website and voila, you have a Twitter!  Sounds simple enough, but there’s much  more to it.  Having a Twitter profile requires proactive engagement within the online community, interaction with your followers, and frequent “tweets” about your company, news within the industry and information that your followers would want to know more about all while using the Twitter language and following the social media trends.

Those who still think they can handle this alone may choose to install an online platform that automates tweets for them, such as Tweet Adder. These services were developed to make social profiles, such as Twitter more convenient and easier to use, but they shouldn’t act as a replacement for normal organic social media management.  And although there are positive aspects to platforms like these with it also comes the cons.

Cons to Twitter Automation:

• Not all automation is good.  Programs tend to devalue your online profile.  There is no “love” so to speak behind the posts or tweets.  It doesn’t look natural and you fall short of your social media purpose.
• Out-o-matic, Out-o-mind. When you install an automatic platform the program begins running your Twitter page for you.  Your personal involvement decreases because you probably have so many other day-to-day activities to tend to.  You begin to schedule tweets that may pose irrelevant at time of tweet and turn stale without interaction.
• Tweet overload.  Using an automated service gives you the opportunity to tweet every 10-15 minutes or as often as you want, but taking advantage of that can be harmful.  Tweeting too much won’t gain more followers and you may be annoying the community with your information overload.
• Bad for business.  An automated service tends to promote bad business practices. You may be using it to lighten your workload, but these services are often times used incorrectly, cause spammy content, and can get you kicked off Twitter.

In short, to Tweet or not to Tweet, that is the question.  Yes! Tweet, tweet to your hearts content of 140 characters or less, but we strongly recommend the addition of social media management within your internet marketing strategy and employ a social media management service. Hey we do that!!  SEO, Inc.’s Social Media Analysts and Strategists ensure that you have qualified social media experts (like me) to manage your social profiles.  This keeps your profile, i.e. Twitter, fresh and organic, builds your community, helps feed traffic to other pages, and shows you results, with graphs and charts.

So now that you understand the importance of Social Media Marketing and you’ve secured your social profiles, it’s time to hire management services and we can help. Let’s face it Humans Do it Better!

But Pinterest.com is far more than a “Virtual Pinboard.”

We’ve been keeping a close eye on Pinterest over the last year and can say with confidence that it’s something every brand and Internet marketing professional should master. In fact, the numbers alone should give you an idea of its impact since its March 2010 launch!

comScore reports that the visual bookmarking site saw an average of 72.1 minutes per worldwide user in October 2011. This is an astounding 512% increase since May 2011, when comScore first started tracking the site.

A month later, comScore reported that Pinterest was the 7^th leading social media site in the US based on the number of unique visitors in November 2011. With a rising estimated value of $200 million, the site had 4.9 million unique visitors spending an average of 88.3 minutes on the site.

So what can Pinterest do for your business?

Like the other top social networking sites—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.—there are a variety of benefits. Here are some of the more obvious ones that should get you excited about your brand’s potential on Pinterest:

• Brand Exposure – every “Pin,” “Repin,” & “Like” is shared across the category that it falls under, as well as the network of the user who “Pinned” the image

• Shopping Discovery – a shift from search to discovery of products and services; Pinterest allows users to find the products and services they never knew they wanted or needed (and instantly become an advocate)

• Brand Advocacy – as the images from your boards or website are shared throughout the Pinterest network, users are sharing their support for your product, service and brand with their personal network

• Link Building – every “Pin” and “Repin” creates a link back to the image source

• Brand Management in the SERPS – to boost your search engine optimization efforts, securing the URL www.pinterest.com/yourbrand will allow your Pinterest profile to show up for branded search results

How Pinterest Works

The first thing you need is an invite to join Pinterest. Yes, its invite-only similar to how Google+ was at launch. You can request an invite directly from the Pinterest.com, but you may end up waiting forever. Instead, comment on this post and we’ll send one over so you can join the ‘pinning’ craze in no time!

During the set-up process, you will be asked to specify a few things that you’re interested in and also to install the “Pin It” button to your browser’s toolbar. Based on the interests you select, Pinterest will choose a handful of the top users for you to follow—this will help you feel all cozy and at home as you learn the ins and outs of the site.

From Weddings & Events, DIY & Crafts, Food & Drink to Technology, Science & Nature, and Sports (just to name a few), Pinterest currently has 32 unique categories that each “Pin” can be found under. No matter your industry, there’s a place for you/your brand to share and interact on Pinterest.com. But like any content sharing network, there are some best practices you will need to follow. Here they are according to the ‘pinning’ site itself:

• Pin from the original source
• Pin from permalinks
• Give credit and include a thoughtful pin description

Additional tips for a strong Pinterest presence include:

• Pinning from various sources rather than one specific site; Pinterest flat-out states that they do not want any brands on Pinterest solely for self-promotion

• Repinning from within the site to engage with others – repinning is one of the most social activities on Pinterest and it’s how any user really builds their network of followers

• Creating at least a few boards that cover a broad range of interests, rather than maintaining a single board devoted to one topic

So what do you think about the Pinterest craze? Have you already incorporated the visual bookmarking site into your 2012 social media marketing strategy? Still skeptical? Need an invite? Share your thoughts in a comment below.

One idea we have been kicking around is putting a call to action in the meta description. We are in the process of implementing this on some test sites right now. But we wanted to get your opinion first, as we thought this new idea could spark some excellent debate.

Changing Meta Tags for More Google +1s

What do you think? Would you be more likely to +1 this search result listing.

www.example.com/my-favorite-url

Title: Welcome to My Favorite URL

Description: This page is here to talk about my favorite URL on the Internet. It is a amazing page. Learn more about this page.

Or this search result listing?

www.example.com/my-favorite-url

Title: Welcome to My Favorite URL

Description: This page is here to talk about my favorite URL on the Internet. It is a amazing page. +1 this amazing URL now!

Give us your answer below! Lets get some conversation going! What do you think? Will adding this call to action increase +1s?

First, let’s define the 3 different ways to engage with a Google +1 button.

1. +1 from Search Results
2. +1 from a Web Page Button
3. +1 from a Google + Profile or Business Page

You can also simply post a link to your Google + page or profile.

Now that we know what we are talking about lets look at each of these Google + functions a little more in depth and explore their SEO implications.

+1 from Search Results

When you +1 a URL from search results it does two things. First, the +1 acts similarly to a backlink, in that it adds credibility to the website and allows it rank higher in non-personalized Google search. Secondly, it also allows it to rank higher in personalized search. To be clear, your search results in Google are personalized in almost all cases. The only way to remove personalization is to log out of Google, clear all of your history, cookies, etc. But even then in most cases Google will still attribute a location to your search based on where they see your IP address.

So let’s get back to the question at hand, how do +1s from search results affect SEO.

Well, first that webpage will rank higher when you are not logged in to Google. But secondly, when you are logged into Google you will now see the items that you have +1ed higher in search results. For example, consider you did a search for social media marketing and then +1ed the SEO Inc. Google result. Next time you search for social media marketing you will see that SEO Inc. result higher than before and in most cases on the first page. But it doesn’t stop there. This +1 will also affect the search space for everyone in your Google + network. Essentially, this means that if your good buddy who is in your Google + network performs a search for the same keyword they will see the result you +1ed on the first page of Google, or at least ranking higher than before. Another important point is that your buddy will be visually informed that you +1ed that URL. This of course greatly increases the change that he or she will click on that search result.

It is important to note here that at this point when you +1 a search result it does not automatically show up on your Google + page. However, it does show up on the new Google +1 tab! We will talk more about this soon.

+1 from a Web Page Button

Now when you +1 from a Google + button on a webpage the same concepts remain but there are a few subtleties. Unlike the Google + button in search results, the Google + button that you have the ability to install on your webpage allows the user to also share the URL on their Google profile, However, they must make a selection to do this.

At this point you cannot use the button to share directly to a business page; however, you can still take care of this manually. Furthermore, by performing a +1 on a webpage it will register as a +1 on your account and have the same effect on logged in search results and non-logged in search results for yourself and the people in your network.

+1 from a Google + Profile or Business Page

When you use the +1 button on an actual Google + page or profile there is something that must be considered. In this case you are not +1ing a URL. Alternately, you are +1ing a post on a Google + profile. We have confirmed this through testing. This does not mean that this will not change in the future, but this is the way that the functionality works at this point.

So let’s take a moment to play out a scenario to better understand this. Say I take this post on The Many Ways Google +1 Influence Search Engine Optimization and post it to my Google + business page and profile. Let’s say that the post is +1ed 20 times on my personal page and the SEO Inc. Google + page. These +1s will not count as +1s for that URL at this point, they will only count as +1s for that post. Now this does not mean that those +1s do not have value. In fact they do. Think of them as getting 20 likes on a Facebook post.

The New +1 Tab

Google has just released a new tab on Google + that displays the items you have +1ed. What you will see is that this tab only shows website pages that you have +1ed and does not show individual posts you have +1ed from a Google + page or profile. It is important to note here that this has a massive impact from an SEO perspective. Each of the items listed on this +1 tab are now a backlink to a website! Here is an example of my page. You can bet we will be doing a full follow up post on this release

Summary

The most important points to take away from this blog are that

1. +1 from search results help rankings in regular Google search and personal Google search and add that URL to your Google + profiles +1 tab.
2. +1 from a web page button modify regular Google search and personal Google search and add that URL to your Google + profiles +1 tab
3. +1 from a Google + profile or business page only help the popularity of that post in Google +.

Please keep in mind all of this functionality is very new and it is changing daily. Please leave questions or comments below.

Watch a Video on Google Search Plus your World

Watch a quick video on Google Search Plus your World so you can get a general idea of the update. Next we will go through the features one by one.

So let’s take a look at these new Google features and then determine how to use them towards our advantage.

What is Google Search Plus Your World?

The concept behind Google Search Plus you World is fairly straightforward. Now, when you are logged into Google and do a search you will not only be presented with normal search results but also content that has been privately shared by people in your network. Google will be giving users who are logged in and do a search the option to toggle between personal results and normal results by clicking a simple button in the upper right hand corner of the Google search page. Furthermore, now when you do a search it will show the number of personal results and the number of other (normal results). If you like, you can only view personal results, which would only include things you or someone in your network have shared on a Google property such as Google+ or Picasa.

According to Google, these are the main changes taking place.

1. Personal Results, which enable you to find information just for you, such as Google+ photos and posts—both your own and those shared specifically with you, that only you will be able to see on your results page;
2. Profiles in Search, both in autocomplete and results, which enable you to immediately find people you’re close to or might be interested in following; and,
3. People and Pages, which help you find people profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest, and enable you to follow them with just a few clicks. Because behind most every query is a community.

According to Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Land, “Search Plus Your World doesn’t cover content on Facebook. Or Twitter. Or Flickr. Or any social network or place where content might be shared to a more limited audience. Currently, “Search Plus Your World” would be better described as “Search Plus Google+” Sullivan is exactly right. The personalized search results will only include items that have been shared on Google networks. In most cases, Google +.

Concerns with Google Search Plus your World

Critics have expressed strong concerns already about these new features. For one, when you do a search it appears as though your own private content is now listed in public search results. This, however, is not the case. It only appears this way. The content is actually secure. Remember back to when Google moved logged in searches to SSL connection? Now we know why right? To secure the log in before this update!

At this point the information is actually secure, or at least we think so. You could of course reveal unwanted information to someone if you stayed logged in to Google and walked away from your computer, as they could browse through your personal results. But this is true of really any website on the internet that you participate in while logged in. According to Google, “This means when you’re signed in to Google, your search results—including your private content—are protected by the same high standards of encryption as your messages in Gmail.”

The Search your World People and Pages Feature

There has been some controversy over the People and Pages feature. Essentially, now when you do a search you will be presented with relevant Google + profiles and business pages in the sidebar.

“Starting today, if you search for a topic like [music] or [baseball], you might see prominent people who frequently discuss this topic on Google+ appearing on the right-hand side of the results page. You can connect with them on Google+, strike up meaningful conversations and discover entire communities in a way that simply wasn’t possible before.” – Google

This provides a whole new form of Google + profile and business pages search engine optimization. Google will now automatically associate certain items on Google + with specific search queries. This will results in pages and profiles showing up in the sidebar when a specific query is completed. This means we need to find a way to associate Google + business pages and profiles with the correct query. Presumably, this is determined based off the information filled out on the Google + profile/page, the profile settings, the popularity of the Google + profile/page and the search engine query.

Final Thoughts on Google Search Plus Your World

This new feature in Google has not been rolled out to everyone yet. It should come out in English to the main Google property first over the next few days. Google says, “Search plus Your World will become available over the next few days to people who are signed in and searching on https://www.google.com in English.”

We are holding our tongs and trying not to make any rash predictions at this point. However, it would appear this update just brought a whole lot more of Facebook type functionality to Google, when selected of course. It would also seem that this update resulted in a giant change for SEO, making Google + business pages and profiles even more critical. Might want to download our Google + business page whitepaper!

What are your thoughts on the new Google Search plus Your World update? Comment below!

John E Lincoln on Google +!

Some of the main points of the article were.

• Google is slowing seeping Google + content and pages into their normal search results.
• This favoritism towards Google + makes it important to focus on them.
• As of now, Google + Business Pages are only showing up for a limited amount of queries but we expect this to increase.
• If you post favorable content to Google + it will quickly show up in your branded search space.
• Having the ability to post messages directly to your branded search space in real time in Google provides great link building and marketing opportunities.

View the Toyota Example Below

Overall, Google + business pages are becoming more and more important. Whether you are looking to increase your SEO or improve your online reputation, it makes sense to incorporate these online profiles. Read the full article on Search Engine Land.

Share with Google + from Google Search

What do you think of this new way to update? Will it make you use the Google + share feature more?

According to Twitter, “We are thrilled to launch the new enhanced profile page exclusively with 21 advertising partners and select charities and individuals.”

Some of the profiles being offered this exclusive opportunity are @AmericanExpress, @BestBuy, @bing. However, keep in mind you’ll need to use the new version of Twitter to see these enhanced profile pages.

So is this just a bunch of hype or should brands really be getting exciting? Well, to me it is going to be a necessity for brands to make the switch to the business profiles, but the changes are not anything life changing. What we are looking at here is an enhanced profile page.

Twitter says, “Now, your profile page does more to help you make an impression with a large header image for displaying your logo, tagline, and any other visuals. You can also control the message visitors see when they first come to your profile page by promoting a Tweet to the top of your page’s timeline.”

The Promoted Tweet will appear auto-expanded so that visitors to your page can instantly see the photo or video content that you link to from your Tweet. This does of course have implications from a marketing standpoint, as it makes it easier to make a message front and center.

So that is the deal. You can now add a larger header image and promote one sticky Tweet to the top of the page. Well, not now but soon when Twitter makes these features available to the masses; they’ve said it will be rolled out to everyone in a few months.

“Today we introduce a new version of Twitter. We’ve simplified the design to make it easier than ever to follow what you care about, connect with others and discover something new. You’ll see this new design both on Twitter.com and mobile phones, so that you’ll have a familiar experience any time, anywhere. We’ve also updated TweetDeck to be consistent with this new version.” – Twitter

The new Twitter design and functionality looks similar to the Facebook Timeline in many ways. First, feel free to watch a video on the new design and functions, then we will explain them.

New Twitter Design and Tabs

Twitter Home Tab
This is where you can see the Tweets from your followers.

According to Twitter, “It’s now easier and faster to see the information that matters most to you. Immediately access your favorite features from the left-hand side. Photos, videos and conversations are embedded directly in Tweets so you can see the whole story at a glance. And now everything in Home will appear consistently across computers, iPhones, and Android mobile phones.”

Twitter Connect Tab
The new Connect tab gives you a place to access mentions, replies and Tweet quotes. You can also see who has followed you, retweeted or favorited one of your Tweets.

Discover Tab
“When you use Discover, you’ll see results reflecting your interests—based on your current location, what you follow and what’s happening in the world. As you use Twitter more, Discover gets even better at serving up more content just for you. Whatever you’re curious about, Discover will help you find out more.” – Twitter

As we can see, the Discover tab on Twitter shows trends surrounding your interests.

Me Tab
The new profile section (Twitter Me tab) is your home spot on Twitter. Others can Tweet to you and view you the lists you have create, favorites, followers, photos and more. The Me tab also lets you access the direct messages you have.

New Tweet Button
The new Tweet button let’s you compose a message and send it out to your followers. Some of the newer or improved functions include uploading photos, adding your location and linking to videos.

SEO Inc. will be keeping an eye on these changes to see how they effect Twitter organic operations and Twitter ads.

Do you like the new Twitter? Comment below!

According to comScore, Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in October with 161 million unique viewers and reached a record high of 20.9 billion videos viewed.  Not surprisingly Facebook.com ranked second with 59.8 million viewers.

The site with the third largest views was VEVO, coming in at 57 million. Following closely behind Microsoft Sites received 49.1 million and Viacom Digital had 48.2 million. More than 42 billion videos were viewed during the month, with the average viewer watching a record 21.1 hours. Google Sites demonstrated the highest engagement with 7.1 hours per viewer.

The advertising data revealed in the comScore report showed that Hulu has a thing for its paying customers. Americans viewed 7.5 billion video ads in October and with a total ad impression delivery of 1.3 billion Hulu delivered more ad impressions than any other video network. Tremor Video ranked second overall as they delivered 1 billion ad impressions for the first time. BrightRoll Video Network ranked third with 756 million, followed by Specific Media with 512 million and CBS Interactive with 415 million. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 46.5.

So what can we learn from this data? Well, it is clear that the user interest in online video is growing. We can expect this trend to continue as the world population gains increasing access to web browsing tool. With smart phone sales on the rise and overall adoption of internet video accessible products it becomes clear that these video sites offer an opportunity.

Small business owners often find video and the idea of broadcasting on the web in general to be daunting. As with most things, it can be hard to take that first step and put yourself out there. While that is the case, the benefit is clear. By creating a video that represents your business, despite the production quality, you will gain more exposure for you company online. Simply create a video, upload it, optimize it and watch as your views grow over time. With 20.9 billion video views on YouTube now a month and many other highly trafficked video sites right next store, you can’t afford to miss this opportunity.