Tag: Google

Do Nonprofits Rock at Social Media Marketing? And Other Hot Topics

If you only learn one thing this week, have it be this: Nonprofits do, in fact, rock at social media marketing.

After all, social media marketing is all about building communities and engaging with your audience. Who knows more about that than nonprofits? Check out what one study had to say about the current state of social media marketing in the nonprofit sector.

Ever wonder why someone “Likes” your Facebook Page? Now we know the number one reason why. And find out how Google’s not-so-top-secret project could someday change the world in this week’s news roundup.

1. Nonprofits are more social than ever…and it’s working

Despite limited budgets and short staffs, nonprofits are making a continued investment into social media marketing and are seeing measurable results. According to the 2012 Nonprofit Social Networking Report, 98% of nonprofits have a Facebook Page and have an average community size of over eight thousand Fans. 72% of nonprofits are involved in Twitter and have an average following of over three thousand Fans.

Bottom Line: Social media is working for nonprofits and its working because organizations are effectively managing their time and budgets. A whopping 43% of nonprofits budget $0 for their social networking activities and 73% allocate half of a full-time employee to manage their social media presence. So how do they make it work? By using effective strategies, prioritizing their social media marketing efforts and maintaining a dedicated staff.

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The Internet’s Gone Crazy for Pictures, and Other Hot Topics

You didn’t have to be looking all that hard to notice that the biggest trend in online content these days is visual content.

From infographics to photos, and on sites like Facebook, Instagram, and yes, Pinterest, all anyone wants to do right now is take, create, and share pictures and illustrations.

To capitalize on this, tools like Visual.ly are now making it even easier for people to create infographics, and Pinterest has redesigned its profile pages to help its users make better use of the site.

That’s just one of the week’s hot topics. We were also buzzing about changes to Google’s algorithm that will favor good content over search engine optimization, and new stats about why people are unfriending each other — not to mention what a share, “Like,” follow, and tweet are worth.

So let’s get right to it. Here are the week’s hot topics. [Read more...]

People Spend More Time Microwaving a Potato than on Google+, and Other Hot Topics

If you’re having a baked potato for dinner (or breakfast, if you’re one of those people), then you know that microwaving it to perfection can take five minutes or more.

Well, if you’re an average user of Google+, you can log on and off while making your potato, and still have time to spare.

A new report says that people who use the social network generally spend less time on it than it takes to microwave a potato.

Meanwhile, Facebook is ramping up efforts to become a social media marketing powerhouse, with its introduction of Timeline for brand Pages, its offering of premium advertisements to marketers, and real-time analytics from Facebook Insights.

We discuss this and more in the week’s news roundup!

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Will Google+ Ever Be Relevant for Small Businesses?

Jonathan (left) and Josh get ready to duke it out over Google+.

Google+ has been a controversial social media network since its launch last summer.

Alright, so maybe it’s not the same kind of controversy you might find in People magazine, but this is a controversy stemming from a big existential question: Will this thing work?

After the dismal failures of Google Wave and Buzz, Google+ seems — on the surface, at least — like a beacon of hope for the search engine giant. Internet metrics firm Experian Hitwise even found that Google+ had surpassed 49 million users in December 2011 — marking a 55% increase over the month before. In January, Google CEO Larry Page said that number had grown to 90 million.

But Google has been infamously cagey about how many of those users are actually active, and many people are still hesitant to join or adapt to the platform at all.

The big question, when it comes down to it, is this: Should small businesses and organizations bother paying attention to Google+ when Facebook has over 845 million users? We brought the question to Josh Mendelsohn, our senior product marketing manager, and Jonathan Mandell, our senior product manager of analytics. [Read more...]

Events Can Help Your Google Rankings

You did it. You just pulled off the best event you’ve ever had. There was a ton of buzz in the room, everyone left happy, and now you wish you could share your success with the world. If only there was a way …

Well there is, and it’s simple! You can ask your attendees to give your business and/or event an online review.

It’s becoming more and more evident that online reviews are playing an increasing factor in search results. The art of getting your business to the top of a Google search is known as SEO (search engine optimization). The benefits of SEO are pretty simple: When you get to the top of a search engine result page (also known as a SERP), it means more eyeballs on your brand, which leads to more business. [Read more...]

Google and Twitter Get in a Catfight, and This Week’s Other Hot Stories

What a week. Just as everyone was finally settled back from their holiday time off, Google went and woke people up when it announced it’d be integrating its struggling social network, Google+, more actively into its search engine. Not surprisingly, this sent a ripple through the social media world. Suffice it to say, some folks (particularly those at Twitter) were less than pleased, and a war of words began.

But not everyone was fighting. (Phew!) Love was in the air elsewhere as more proof was revealed that social media and mobile go together, and two big players in the email space came together.

Read on to learn about these stories and more in our weekly news roundup. [Read more...]

Google Blurs the Lines Between Social and Search

Guest blog post by Steve Abramowitz, senior digital marketing manager

If you haven’t already heard, this week, Google announced plans to incorporate results from its upstart social network, Google+, into search results.

Why is Google making this move, and what impact will it have on users — and most importantly, why should small businesses and organizations take notice?

How does it work?

In Google’s ongoing quest to personalize search results for higher relevancy, it will soon be folding in personal social content into your search results. In addition, Google’s algorithm will now rely more on social signals (specifically, +1′s) to influence how and where websites, blogs, photos, videos, and other digital assets rank in search results. For example, check out this screen shot:

When you perform a search on Google, such as the one above, if you’re signed into a Google+ account, then you’ll see the standard universal search results you’re accustomed to and ones from your Google+ account (such as photos and videos). The personal results will be identified by an icon resembling a person’s head. Only you will see your own personalized search results, but content you’ve shared within your Google Circles could populate in other people’s results. You can also opt out of having your shared content included in search results. [Read more...]

A Lawsuit, Google+, and Social Campaigns Walk Into a Bar, and Other Hot Topics

A varied list of stories this week offered stats on big increases in the use of email marketing this past holiday season, new “users” added to Google+, and the long-term boost to the metrics of social campaigns.

Oh, and someone is getting sued over his 17,000 Twitter followers. Just another week in social media!

Check out our picks for the week’s top stories. [Read more...]

Step Away from the Mobile Phone, and Other Hot Topics

This week in the round up, word of mouth still rules the day, a manufacturer of contact lenses gets its wrist slapped, more changes to Facebook and Google, and why you need to stop sleeping with your mobile phone. [Read more...]

It’s Time to Go Mobile, and Other Hot Topics

Halloween wasn’t the only thing people were buzzing about this week.

Google garnered attention for two reasons: It finally gave access to Google+ business pages — but only to some of its users — and made some significant changes to its search algorithm.

Elsewhere, a new study released by Nielsen showed that a majority of U.S. consumers under the age of 45 carry a smartphone.

What do these and other hot topics mean for marketers like you? Read on to learn our take on some of the week’s big stories. [Read more...]