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I don't know why this isn't better known, but Google has a service called Local Business Center, at which you can claim your business listing, and ensure that it is correct. You can even create online coupons!
I recently wrote about Google Profiles, a similar service for individuals. In another article, I included links to creating company pages on social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and Yelp. (Note to LinkedIn: Please respond to my inquiry about getting rid of listing for an employee that isn't ours!)
Take a few minutes to check out these links. It's always worth making sure that your search results are correct.
A lot of people still don't "get" Twitter. That's understandable, because although it gets a lot of attention, it's not often explained.
Twitter is what's called a "micro-blogging service." In other words, it's a way to publish whatever you want, but each message is limited to 140 characters. Other people can read what you write on your Twitter page (ours is http://twitter.com/chcs) or they can "follow" you, which means that your messages, called "tweets," become part of their Twitter feed, where everyone's messages are displayed together. There's much more, of course, but that's the basic idea.
The messages tend to fall into several categories.
So who do people choose to follow on Twitter?
So what's different about Twitter? Interestingly, not much. It's more about how they've put the pieces together.
Is reading Twitter feeds important? No. Is it a time-waster? It can be, although you can control what you see and how it's displayed. Is it fun and interesting? Mostly yes.
Is posting to Twitter important? Twitter can be a useful tool for individuals and organizations who have a story to tell or a product to sell. Think of your 140-character tweet as a headline. When written well, it can be used to entice visits to your web site or blog; at very least, it keeps you at the top of people's minds so that when they need your services, they'll think of you.
Most businesspeople are used to networking, and to communicating with clients postally or electronically. (If "postally" isn't a word, sorry -- it should be!) I think we understand that current and potential customers are more likely to use our services if they hear from us once in a while. And many clients appreciate receiving information, if it's carefully chosen to be of interest to them.
It's never been easier to connect -- through the social networks, through blogs, and through services like Twitter. In fact, it's so easy that even the boss can do it! I spend a bit of time each day reading the general press, the trade press, and news sites, looking for information that might be useful to me and my customers. And once in a while, I'll write a blog entry, or just share a link to an article.
Since you're reading this, you may already be doing something similar. But if you don't have the time, or if you know someone who could use some help making their organization more visible, please contact me and I'll be happy to help be a "ghost poster" for your organization!
If you've ever searched for a specific person's name on Google, you probably know that, in the past, it often hasn't worked very well. Google wants to change this, and compete with Facebook and LinkedIn while they're at it.
In order for searches to work, the person you're searching for has to set up a public profile on LinkedIn, Facebook, and now Google. Some people worry, understandably, about the privacy implications of this. I have argued that business people will probably find it worthwhile to give up a little privacy in return for visibility that can be positive for marketing purposes. It's a matter of being careful about what information you choose to make public; all of the sites I've mentioned have good tools for controlling what is displayed, and to whom.
If you decide to set up a public profile on Google, here's how you do it. First, decide which email address you want associate with the profile. (The email address itself doesn't need to be public, but that address is how you will log in the future to make changes.)
Now that you have logged in to the Google Account Settings page, look under Profile. Click on the link that says Create Your Profile. Fill in the information, especially the About Me and Contact Info sections. Note that the information on the About Me page is public, and will display in Google searches, so be careful what you add. The Contact Info data is not public, unless you specify otherwise.
When you are ready, click on the big blue button at the bottom of the page that says Create A Google Profile. You can always return to this page and make changes later.
It will be interesting to see how useful, and how widely used, Google Profile Searches turn out to be. After all, they aren't social networks, and don't have the features such sites have. But I wouldn't be surprised if Profile Searches become popular, since most people turn to Google for most searches.
For more information, see the articles in the Google Operating System and All Facebook blogs.
Are we seeing the beginning of the end for Facebook and the like? It's hard to believe, as they're still growing by leaps and bounds.
But people are fickle, and it's happened before. Some of the earlier social networks (Friendster and MySpace come to mind) have stagnated and are not cool any more.
Facebook and Twitter have both had problems recently: Facebook's redesign and the kerfuffle over it's terms of service; Twitter's ongoing reliability problems and, just yesterday, a virus (technically a worm).
These sorts of problems are probably inevitable. When a site depends on its users to create content, there are going to be users who will misuse their authoring capabilities to spread spam or malware, for financial reasons, or just to show off their technical prowess.
And the social networks do compete with each other. There are over a hundred of them now, but no one has the time or desire to participate in all of them, so each network will try to come up with features to attract users to their site, rather than someone else's. In fact, many sites have figured out ways to import content from, and export content to, other networks.
This situation is a natural outgrowth of the preferences we've been taught in older media. We're used to advertising-supported modes of entertainment. The subscription model hasn't worked on the web, and isn't likely to.
So we've brought together user-generated content, advertising support, and a boom mentality where technical controls are minimal. The perfect conditions for the coming together of Murphy's Law and Sturgeon's Law ("90% of everything is crap").
As I see it, it's not evident that social networks will go the way of the pet rock. But it seems to me that a lot of sites will disappear, and only the strongest will survive. It will be interesting to see who makes it to 2010.
A friend asked me why I am active on the social networks, like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. So here's what I came up with. Thanks, Eleanor, for the idea!
It's enjoyable to find out what friends and colleagues are doing. In the last few days, I've seen announcements that friends are getting married and have gotten jobs. I would have found out about these things anyway, but it was fun to be among the first to know.
The web is changing very quickly, and my clients often ask me what's happening. So it makes sense to experiment with the various social sites, even if some of them turn out to be less than useful.
Many of my younger friends don't use email much, if at all. So connecting with that generation is why I originally joined Facebook, before it has grown explosively in the last few months. (Of course, now that us old folks have discovered it, the kids will go elsewhere, I'm sure.)
My web development company has always been able to update sites quickly, and we have the conent-management tools to let our clients do the same. But it's very easy to post to social networks. That can be a two-edged sword, but quick and careful responses are almost always a good thing.
Each social network has a different personality and a different audience. Since I know who my connections are, I can tailior what I say accordingly. I do use tools like Ping.fm that allow me to post to many places at once, but I use such tools sparingly.
Places like Facebook Groups, Ning and Biznik allow me to create and participate in networks for people with common interestes. It looks like Facebook is having a huge impact on the political process. I am less impressed so far with Biznik, aimed at small business owners, as well as the "walled garden" social networks offered by many alumni organizations.
A friend warned me when I joined Twitter that it could be a major time-waster. I havn't found that to be so, because I've found a system for managing electronic communications that works well for me. In fact, I feel that since joining the social networks, I've gotten more results per marketing hour spent. And I haven't felt the need to pay for the "premium" (paid) membership levels offered by some networks.
In today's economy, we're all looking for value, and we'd like to work with people we know and trust. I've reconnected through social networks with folks I'd lost touch with, and some have become customers. Others are, well, just good friends...but that's great, too!
Business networking groups -- chambers of commerce, community groups, service clubs, and the like -- have been around for a long time. I still participate in these, since they do one thing that the web-based social networks don't do very well: introduce me to new contacts. But that is changing. LinkedIn in particular has an excellent system for referrals and introductions. I'm lucky, of course, in that I can do business anywhere.
Just being a member of social networks is not enough: I need to be active, so that my name comes up. Thus I change my status, write notes, and answer questions, whenever I feel that I have something useful to add. People don't need a new or updated website all that often, but when they do, I hope they'll think of me.
If you have manage a Facebook Public Profile (formerly a Facebook Page), your fans may not be getting updates from you. Have some of the pages you are a fan of been hidden?
Managers of public profiles can use other tools to reach fans, like the "Send An Update to Your Fans" option, but I suspect that many fans won't appreciate too-frequent updates.
It's evident that Facebook is still tweaking their new system. And a lot of people are saying that they don't like it. So we'll see what happens.
UPDATE (10 hours later): That didn't take long. I got the following notice this evening:
Managing email, social networks, and other electroniic communications is a must for me, and for most of the folks I talk to. Macworld has an excellent series on how to manage email. (Their techniques work on other computers, too.)
If you missed my earlier post on this subject, here's the link. How do you manage electronic communications?
A few weeks ago, the AllFacebook blog published an excellent guide to privacy settings on Facebook. Today, PC World has published a similar guide to privacy on LinkedIn.
But social networks change quickly, so keep an eye out for announcements like this. Please let us know if you find any other useful tools. We'll be happy to share them.
