Google Changes are Coming!

A few interesting things have occured at Google this last month and I thought you might want to know about them:

I just sat through about a 2 hour session from Google on their new apps.

Check out Google Goggles - download this to your mobile phone - very cool! You can take a picture of the outside of a landmark and Google will tell you all about the place. Google does this for artwork, books, landmarks, etc...see the YouTube video on this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhgfz0zPmH4

Also, you can access 'Real Time' postings and blogs on Google by doing a search and just under the search bar is "show options" - hit that and now you can see blogs, news, updates! Social Media postings -Facebook, Twitter, MySpace have partnered with Google to allow "real time" postings to show up in the search queries. That means that if you post and use keywords on those postings they will show up in the search queries!

Google Caffeine (Google's new search engine) is coming out in January and will move our rankings around - I will be watching this carefully to see what happens! SEO is under some significant changes this next year and those of us that work in the Internet world need to be aware of those changes! It is going to be quiet the ride!

Anyone want to comment on these changes?

Q & A for a Good Social Media Strategy

Here's some great questions to ask yourself or company when setting up a Social Media strategy:

Who do you want to talk to?

How will you engage them?

How will you market your messages?

Where do you find people to listen?

Do you know what people are saying in the target market you are in?

What do you do to help customers become part of the process? Is there something you could do or say that would entice a customer to work with you in conveying the message?

What is your value-message? Is it worthy of engagement?

What are your goals for the Social Media plan?

Can you build a stronger relationship with your client through Social Media?

AND, probably some of the most important things to consider: Are you able and willing to maintain consistency, maintain postings regularly? If not, don't attempt a program unless you want it to be short lived. Also consider that Social Media should become a part of the overall marketing and communication programs for your company.

If you haven't consider these things, be sure you do! Hire someone to give you guidance if your not sure how to set things up and to develop a strategy a plan for your company. You could also hire a company to do your postings and manage the programs for you as well. Many companies decide to do this in an effort to become consistent.

LuCorp Marketing provides both marketing strategies and Social Media Management for small to mid-sized companies. Contact us today for a quotation on your Social Media needs.

Business Week Post "Beware Social Media Snake Oil"

This is a great post about the use of Social Media for companies. The articles gist is consultants, like ourselves, need to produce results for the companies we work for and not to make unattainable promises when working with Social Media.

I especially like the Chris Brogan quote: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_50/b4159048693735.htm

Brogan quote from the article about the use of Social Media for companies: "Is it an exacting marketing science? Not at all. Partly because it's so new that we're inventing the case studies while we're experimenting with what comes out of it. Are companies asking for more and more experiences with me to see if it'll work for them? Yes."