Also the badges will now include the +1 and the circle count.

As Google says “We recently looked at top sites using the badge and found that, on average, the badge accounted for an additional 38% of followers. When you add the badge visitors to your website can discover your Google+ page and connect in a variety of ways: they can follow your Google+ page, +1 your site, share your site with their circles, see which of their friends have +1′d your site, and click through to visit your Google+ page.”

Follow the discussion on Google+.

Kevin O’ Keefe offered some useful commentary on these results through his blog.  He pointed out that blogs help with search results. If your provide valuable content you will generates incoming links which supplies more traffic and even better search results. If your provide valuable content your blog will generate a social network for you. People regularly share posts from blogs on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Twitter is my main source for finding out about what is happening on relevant blogs to my interests. I no longer have patience to sort through a RSS feed.  

Has Twitter changed these reasons to blog? I think that Twitter complements blogs and does not replace them. Here is a useful post by Adam Singer that goes into detail on this point, 19 Reasons You Should Blog And Not Just Tweet. Twitter offers the sound bytes and blogs can go into depth. As noted in this blog post, many of the most useful tweets contain links to blogs and other content that goes into more depth.

Adam notes: “Unscientific observation: most bloggers use Twitter, but many Twitter users do not blog.” I think these non-blogging Twitters are missing the chance to have a substantial conversation with their audience.

Case in point, the 19 reasons to keep blogging could not be conveyed in Twitter but the title should draw a lot of RTs and click throughs to the actual post. Which is better to be a RT pointer or the owner of the content where the reader ends up? I encourage you to check on Adam’s 19 reasons. I agree with all of them. Blog on.

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When you visit your Facebook Page you’ll have the opportunity to “upgrade” your business to the new page style, to take the tour or to preview what your page will look like. Below are some screen captures from the tour.

Your latest photos will show up at the top of the page, just like they do on your personal profile. Fans photos won’t appear here, and you do have the ability to delete/hide photos.

The navigation now appears on the left column, similar to the profile pages on Facebook. File under “Big Whup.”

Posts won’t necessarily appear in chronological order only. You can promote specific posts, making you look even more popular than ever. Better hope that someone slamming you isn’t the most commented and liked post on your wall. Right, Cooks Source?

“Use Facebook as Your Page.” That’s a confusing turn of phrase, but basically you can use Facebook as your page in the same way you would as yourself…within reason.

Actually, it’s the first bullet that’s the most interesting I think: “Get notifications when fans interact with your page or posts.” This is a great new feature, as in the past someone could put up some Acai Berry spam on your wall and you might not notice it for days. Up until now I’ve been using Nutshell Mail, which sends you an email which includes new posts on your wall, whether from you or a Fan.

There are some new features in the administration panel as well. Facebook now lets you “set defaults for your email notifications and how you post to your page.”

SWEET! That was the number one request we heard from clients who have Facebook pages…the ability to comment and like items as themselves. To do so you just need to edit the setting in the admin area.

There’s no turning back now…once you upgrade your page there’s no CTRL-Z. However, Facebook is going to kick you to the new design in March anyway, so there’s little reason (that I see) to hold back.

The new features and controls administrators now have over their pages make the switch well worth it.

What do you think about the new layout and features of the Facebook Page Makeover?

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If you are like most small businesses, though, video is likely the last type of content that you are actively using online to promote your business. After all, it seems much harder to produce than it really is. In fact, video can be the easiest type of content to create if you follow a few basic rules.

The 3 Basic Rules Of Using Online Video

1. Get an easy to upload camera (like a Flip Cam).  This will make the process of getting your video online much easier and make it more likely you will actually follow through and do it.
2. Shoot exactly what you want so you don’t need to edit anything. The biggest time investment in using video is having to edit afterwards, so as much as possible, film things in one take and only get what you will use.
3. Make sure to get close enough for good sound.  Video quality is no longer the major issue with online video as long as you are using a real camera and not a mobile device. The issue with quality usually comes from sound – so try to get close enough so everything you want to hear will be audible, or invest a bit of money and buy an external microphone.

Once you have these rules down, you are all set to create videos to promote your business. The first part of having everything ready to go is the easy part. The harder part is answering the question about what your content should be.  Let’s look at a few examples of how to make this process easier.

5 Super Easy Ideas To Promote Your Business With Online Video

1. Answer your customer’s biggest questions. In any business, you likely field the same questions from customers or potential customers over and over. Whether your business has a product or service to sell, if you can use video to effectively answer those most common questions, then you can not only use video to promote your business but also as a way to field those questions in a more engaging and shareable way.
2. Creating an “unboxing” situation. The art of “unboxing” is becoming popular online as a way to experiencing a product without buying it. In an unboxing video, someone simply places a camera on a tripod and films themselves unpacking a product so you can see the packaging, what comes in the box and virtually watch the experience you might have if you did purchase the product. These types of videos help demonstrate to potential customers what their experience might be if they did purchase your product and though it is better suited to tangible products instead of services, the concept could be extended to services as well.
3. Do an office tour. This is exactly as simple as it sounds. While it may seem like a trivial exercise, simply letting potential customers have a virtual look around your office can do wonders for helping them to see you as a real business with real people instead of a yellow page ad or a static website.
4. Interview your best customer.  Not everyone will be able to get their customers to talk on camera, but if you have a customer that you have a particularly good relationship with, ask them if they would be willing to talk with you in a short video to share what they like about your business and why they might recommend you.
5. Demonstrate your product or service in action. Think of this as a simple demo video, where you can show how your product works or demonstrate the thinking behind your services in action. Ideally, you can just capture something that you already do every day on video.

Using video online can help you bring your small business to life and it does not need to be a daunting task requiring a professional crew and big investment.  So what are you waiting for?

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So, what about brand marketers and direct marketers? Ralph Kiner, the Hall of Fame baseball player, once said, “Home run hitters drive Cadillacs, and singles hitters drive Fords.” So it had always been with marketing, where brand marketers worked for the big names, got the big budgets, and the made the big money. Direct marketers were the singles hitters of marketing, toiling away in relative obscurity.

So, given the dichotomy between brand marketing and direct marketing, many people ask which one is more important. Luckily, the answer doesn’t force you to choose between brand awareness and sales. Despite the differences between brand and direct marketing, brand awareness and sales don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

Despite its name, brand marketing is not the only way to raise brand awareness or improve your brand image. Direct marketing can raise brand awareness as well as sales. After all, if more people buy from you, I guarantee that your brand awareness is going up and that your brand trust is increasing. But the opposite is not always true. Trying to directly improve awareness and trust doesn’t always translate to higher sales.

What that means is that brand marketing might be important, but it has limitations. While improved brand awareness can lead to higher sales (and often does), the effect is indirect and hard to measure. And higher brand awareness should be a means, rather than an end. Sales needs to be the goal of all marketing, so direct marketing has a natural advantage over brand marketing.

Especially when thinking about Internet marketing, where direct marketing is so easy to implement, you should almost always lead with direct marketing techniques, assured that those approaches will also lead to the brand awareness you desire.

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