Google+ was officially launched in June 2011 as an invitation only beta. Though still in beta, the platform became public in September 2011 and has now grown in to a 40 million strong global user base. Shortly after launching Google+ profiles, the platform also introduced brand pages that allowed businesses to create engaging, interactive profiles on Google+.

Google+ brand pages were introduced in November 2011 and the early beta saw brands like Macy’s, Angry Birds, and The Muppets create a strong social presence.

Businesses utilizing social channels like Facebook and Twitter were in frenzy when Google+ brand pages launched. It was yet another social network which social media gurus were touting as the next big thing. Google+ is more than “yet another social network” – it is a sophisticated platform designed for building social engagement, one that offers in-built Google tools such as Picasa and Reader to increase user involvement.

Why your business needs a Google+ brand page

Today’s widely savvy audience interacts through various social channels. Social presence may be limited to Facebook for a vast majority of people but remember that brands need to connect with consumers wherever they are, whether on Twitter, Foursquare, or on Google+.

With Google+ launching better and more user-centric features, more and more people are heading over to the platform to make use of unique features offered by it.

As a brand your primary target is the everyday user but you’re also targeting a niche market of power users. One update about your brand from influential social media users can provide a significant boost to your marketing efforts. These influential users are not just limited to primary channels like Facebook. Extending your campaigns to Google+ could help in achieving greater visibility.

Benefits of Google+ brand pages

• Direct connect – a feature that lets you find Google+ brand pages by prefixing a “+” before a search query. This will lead you directly to a business’s Google+ page.
• Search engine benefits – the more +1 likes your business has, the more relevant it becomes on Google searches, thus enabling users to find your Google+ brand page effortlessly.
• Inbound links – because brand pages work much the same as profile page, you can include links to website pages in the about section, thus increasing click through rates.
• Page type – with Google+, brands can choose from five different page types. This is particularly useful for local businesses as they have the added advantage of using a map to display physical location and phone number, allowing users to connect instantly.
• Hangouts – Hangouts are a great way to interact with your consumers and share information that is relevant for them. Hangouts are essentially like video chats that help you build communication and increase social engagement.
• Create multiple pages – Google+ allows businesses to create multiple pages that target each audience set in a unique manner.

Types of Google+ pages

Here is a screenshot of page types that Google+ currently offers:

To create a brand page, visit http://plus.google.com/pages/create.

Once on this page, the process is fairly self-explanatory. As with any social media strategy, nothing is relevant if you’re not interacting with your users – start interacting, start a hangout to say hello to your customers, and give them something of value.

Joe Linford writes on behalf of Broadband Genie, the social shopping site for broadband and mobile broadband

Chapter 17 is written by my very own self and covers the topic of reputation management in one of the newest but most powerful channels of communication – Facebook.

The book is described below and is available to buy from Amazon here

Insiders Know-How: Public Relations shines a spotlight on the practical, real-world issues that you face every day. By providing you with genuine advice on how to solve these problems, this book will make running your agency just a little bit easier.

PR thought leaders who have contributed to the book, includes the following:

Company x approached Sarah from amilliondresses and asked her to review a product from their online range. However the company retracted their original offer and tried to substitute with a product that was not to Sarah’s taste.

After several emails back and forth, the conversation turned personal and un- professional which left Sarah feeling upset and infuriated. Within seconds news travelled to the connected fashion blogging community and numerous tweets appeared in support of Sarah and against company x.

When approaching bloggers for coverage, it is worth remembering that they are highly influential and well connected to others who can soon pass negative news about your brand. Treat them with the respect they deserve, remain professional and if things do not go your way, leave a conversation before it turns into a bitchy attack. Fashion bloggers have personal tastes and preferences and will not promote a product or brand they don’t agree with.

A snap shot of tweets from last night

Very harsh comment and unnecessary

Before Christmas 2011 I was invited to a photo shoot with Hebe Media and Trinity Leeds which was in aid of supporting the local fashion industry and the new Trinity shopping centre, due to open in Leeds 2013. The fashion shoot took place in Leeds library which provided a very traditional and quaint setting for the photography. The models were dressed in clothes from local designer James Steward and emerging fashion designer Shi-Yuen Li from Asobi Fashion, plus bags and shoes from Daniel Footwear.

The most interesting result (apart from the amazing final images) was how the project was shared amongst Facebook. The photo shoot was posted on Trinity’s Facebook page and all parties involved were tagged in the post. Each photograph mentioned the company/designer that provided the clothing, shoes, equipment and hair and make-up. When mentioned and tagged, the post appeared on personal profiles as well as company fan pages. This enabled others to see the post and share amongst their friends.

Shang Ting Peng from Hebe Media owns a Facebook page that she started when arriving in the UK after her studies in Barcelona. The page involves photographing and documenting interesting places, products or projects and sharing them followers on: England Observing Diary. The page has a huge following of 103,596 to date. This fan page includes images from the Leeds and London which are taken by Shang Ting and her friend whom lives in London. It is a very simple idea but extremely powerful and cleverly updated as you will usually be able to see 100- 300 likes on a single post.

I think Facebook is making it easier for projects to be shared on a wider scale even if it is not always your intention to share. The power of the ‘book of faces’ as I like to call it, can spread a message a lot further than a radio shout -out or even TV coverage.

A snap shot of the photo shoot on England Observing Diary

It was just recently that I saw the stop Kony campaign that cleverly put together by CEO Ben Keesey, of invisible children as he has seen the power behind social media and taken an opportunity to express a situation that he feels strongly about, knowing that a short video that is captivating and moving will be shared amongst friends and friends of their friends. The best thing about sending this message viral, is that it is free and probably the most efficient.

All photography was produced by Hasslebad

Alex Myers, Director of Manifest Communications presented us with a very clever and witty campaign for Brew Dog beer, including some risky but entertaining PR stunts that generated natural word of mouth on a huge scale. The basis of their strategy was to develop a craft beer that highlighted personality and left a community feeling as though they were part of the brand. Alex’s presentation that included the use of taxidermy and extreme tattooing  was very witty and entertaining.

Nokia and Elle magazine

Molly Flatt business Director for 1000 Heads, talked us through a campaign that increased Nokia’s profile by simply approaching those who were all passionate about the same thing, fashion! The Next Style Correspondent’ with Elle and Nokia, aimed to transform up-and-coming fashionistas into fashion journalists.
Molly stressed that finding influence-rs that are most suited to your brand is essential for success.
Within this case study a much personalised technique was used to encourage conversation around Elle and Nokia.
Key fashion bloggers were selected to carry out various creative activities during New York fashion week. Each participant was given a Nokia phone that they could use to be extra creative by capturing images, generating movie footage and demonstrating various activities throughout the week.
A couple of sticky key quotes from Molly,
“Tapping into passion, not trying to make them passionate”
“Listening to whole communities, not just conversations that are brand-related is, key.” So important and often forgotten”

As everyone presented their case studies, all very different and based on varied clients, important message were very much repeated. I learnt that if you are running a competition or a customer based challenge it is sometimes better to think bigger and not the case of just sticking with a simple idea. Challenge people and they will get more out, along with engaging better with your brand.

A community of influencers can spread a campaign message further by feeling involved and close to your brand. Tapping into communities is essential and finding the root of conversations helps you to build on this.

A tweet to remember
78% of people trust their social networks vs 55% who trust TV #smw4x4

I have been a member for 6 months and agree that it is a great place to share products, imagery and everything of personal interest.

However to get the most out of it, you have to remember normal everyday people are using the website and a large percentage of them do not have the same interests as marketing experts. Since being a member I have tried pinning a number of things to see what actually gets picked up and shared the most. I noticed that the images receiving the most re pins and likes are those that are unusual or humorous.

One that springs to mind is the Yoga Cat

Pinterest  via Crucodile .

I keep getting updates about this crazy but amazingly cute cat that has been re pinned many times and has received over 4000 likes since the date it was posted.

Tips when using  Pinterest

Stay genuine and make sure you engage with other users on the website. Start following those that interest you and sets that are similar to those that you pin.

Comment on other images and like those that catch your eye.

Start following other people and show that you care about Pinterest as a community.

If you are posting on behalf of a business then don’t purely spam! For example pin one or two images and then leave it a few days before you pin more. You need to show other people that you are serious about sharing your interests and are not just on it to purely plug a business.

Create a theme with the images that you pin, so that they are categorised and your followers understand why you have pinned. For example, images that catch your eye can be pinned under photography I love. Fashion can be pinned under My style and so on.

If you are a serious pinner, then pin more than twice a week to build up your profile.

The great thing about Pinterest is that you can share absolutely anything and use it as a mood board for inspiration! I am still learning how to engage with people on the website and figure out what interests people the most.

What do you think about Pinterest and how do you use it?

If you are struggling to remember when to post or forget those genious ideas that pop into your head for five seconds, then the editorial calender would definitely make your life easier.

You can add in blog posts for the full week and set them live at a time that suits you. This enables you to produce content at the beginning of the week and feed them out to those who follow your blog on allocated days. The calendar lets you minimise to one week or maximise to five weeks if you wish to plan ahead further.

Once you have added in a blog post, you can go back and perform quick edits if you wish to change anything before making it live to the public. You can still preview and also save draft versions.

Watch the video below and take a look for yourself,

The WordPress Editorial Calendar Screen Cast from Zack Grossbart on Vimeo.

What is Polyvore?

Polyvore is a social sharing website that is image based. People from all over the world are invited to create profiles and join the website to share their love of fashion.

This website enables people to discover style and set their own trends to influence other people and anyone with a keen interest in fashion and trends will use it to express their creativity.

With 10 million monthly unique visitors, Polyvore has generated a mass following.

Once you have signed up and created an account you can start putting together your mood boards (which can be a little addictive, trust me). With a simple widget that you can install and add to your toolbar, it is very easy and straight forward.  Visit your favourite online stores and start selecting products that catch your eye, then using the Polyvore widget hover over  products and save them to ‘My Items’.

The great thing about creating your own library of Items is that other people can display and share them on their mood boards. As each member will have their own following and unique way of displaying their fashion inspiration, the amount of shares and likes of your products will increase.

This is great for fashion brands as you see an increase of products being shared regularly and the best bit of all, a link to your website is still included.

However remember to remain genuine and get involved yourself. This online community is not for those who simply want to SPAM.

Below are a few examples. Enjoy !

Tips and Tactics
Don’t spend time writing long press releases! Generate a longer email that is captivating and straight to the point. As long as you identify what you want to achieve from the email then this can work in your favour. Journalists are getting busier and busier so they don’t always have time to read long releases.

Pick up the phone- you will hear most PR professionals say the same thing but it is very true. Getting your message across is easier voice to voice rather than on paper. Make more of the effort to call and engage in conversations rather than pestering with email after email.

Use Twitter- We all know that twitter is becoming the most powerful communication tool in the online atmosphere. Sending a tweet takes two minutes and you will be surprised what response you get in a short space of time. People are turning to twitter rather than email.
Think more and be clever! Coming up with creative ideas can help you win the coverage you deserve. Look at what competitors are doing and take a trending topic you can work with. Creating mood boards and infographics can appear more appealing than wordy articles and saleslike spiel.

Lastly it’s not always what you know but who you know. Look at your list of contacts and think about whom you could use in a time of crisis, formulate a plan that is simple but effective.
It is no fun working in PR with a broken hand but in the last few weeks I have learnt more than in my whole career path to date. If you do break a hand or just need a little help coming up with some simple but catchy ideas, feel free to message me

A great way to ‘stay connected’: Facebook proves how credible it is with some astonishing figures:
1)    Over 800 million active users, over 50 % of which log-in daily
2)    Over 250 million photos are uploaded per day
3)    More than 2 billion posts are ‘liked’ or commented on per day
4)    And, the site is now available in more than 70 languages.

So for the average person, using Facebook has become part of daily life. It’s how we keep up-to-date with friends, family, co-workers, events, photos and who ‘likes’ what. We even might be ‘friends’ with people who are actually just acquaintances and enjoy the odd ‘Facebook stalk’ of someone we wish to know more about. Whichever way we use it, Facebook is a central aspect of our day-to-day life… and it’s not going away.
Reaching such a huge global platform makes it easy to see why Facebook has to remain up-to-date, user friendly and safety conscious: to protect its users and keep them engaged. However, although many of its new changes have been met with praise Facebook is not without its critics. Latest updates like larger image displays and the opportunity to download images are amongst new features that are particularly user-friendly. It seems that to the digital-native, constant developments to Facebook are easy to overcome.

However, this is not the case for the non-digital native, the kind of person who has just got to grips with how to use Facebook. For this category of users, the renovation could appear some what confusing. Making it easier to group friends into categories is a good idea, overall. This means that when you post something, you can either make it visible publicly to either friends, to a certain ‘group’ of friends, friends of friends or a custom set of personally selected individuals. A good idea in theory, this new change may work well, however I am unsure how many people will actually feel the need to use this feature. It  is also eerily similar to the new Google+ ‘circles’ feature which encourages users from the offset to categorise all contacts in such a way.

Another new change Facebook has introduced is the ‘subscribe’ feature. This new aspect allows you to subscribe to the status updates, events, photo’s, comments and likes of an individual or organisation without actually being friends with them. This could be seen as an addition to the privacy settings, or indeed a flaw in them. Subscribing to a user means that you can learn all sorts about that user but without having to send a request of friendship. The subscribe feature has been likened to the concept of ‘following’ someone on Twitter, which poses the thought, is Facebook just trying to keep up with the Joneses?

Finally, and possibly one of the most important of the new changes to Facebook, is the talk of how the social media platform is now offering more information about users to its advertisers. The new package for advertisers allows them access not only to the information of their ‘fans’ but also ‘friends of fans’- ultimately widening their audience. This new tool allows companies to see what is being discussed on their page, and utilises the ‘people talking about this’ feature to encourage discussion. Although these changes may be positive for companies, Facebook’s ‘big brother’ knowledge is getting increasingly more difficult for people to control, no matter how many privacy features Facebook installs. Even when logged out of your account, Facebook has access to all sorts of our online activity and uses such information to sell to big companies wanting to promote their products and services.

However, although people make complaints against Facebook, they still use it and always will. The fact of the matter is: to the bog-standard user Facebook is free. If we wanted to set up a page to network and market one of our own products or services, Facebook would be there at the forefront of Social Media allowing us to do so at little or no cost. So for that, I say thank you to Facebook for “Giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected,” it does exactly what it says on the tin!

Written by: Sophie Bratt 22, a Psychology graduate from Cheshire, North West England.  She is currently looking to break into the field of marketing and advertising, and is presently seeking work experience in these areas.