The Top 10 Google+ Social Selling Tips for 2015!!

With nearly 200 million active users online and around 50% logging in to Google+ on a daily basis, Google+ is rapidly becoming a huge social network that you simply won’t be able to ignore. 

It may not be as popularas Facebook just yet or as powerful as Twitter for driving huge volumes of real time targeted blog traffic, but it can substantially impact your SEO rankings positively.

The simplest things you can leverage from this social network is Relationship Marketing and huge targeted business blog or website traffic. 

Relationship Marketing can be done through Google Hangouts where you can connect with your audiences, and Driving Traffic becomes much easier with Google+ by simply building your profile and sharing news and content regarding your business.

While these terms define all the benefits in much broader terms, they are merely the basics. 

You can expand the idea a great deal since the social network has quite a lot to offer, and the versatile options can really compensate for any business’s marketing needs.

Using Google+ For Effective Digital Marketing

Google+ has more than 2.2 billion user profiles all over the world, out of these, nearly 200 million are active. 

Almost 50% of all Google+ users sign in on a daily basis, and the network has a growth rate of over 33% each year. 

You can see why the network is deemed best for driving traffic; all Gmail users have a Google+ account, and there is certainly no dearth of people using Gmail as their primary email. 

Such statistics only reiterate the fact that Google+ can effectively be the best thing that has happened to your business growth in a very long time.

Branding your business on Google+ allows customers from all over the world to find you on any and all Google platforms. 

Your business becomes accessible for clients through simple searches since the Google network is pretty much everywhere. 

There are numerous ways of sharing content; you can post to your own Google+ profile, you can post to the Google communities and you can send emails to your circles. 

But this doesn't mean a giant revenue boost just yet; the key to making your business work for customers online is utilizing all the apps this extensive social network has to offer in the most productive way.

Utilizing the Google+ Apps:

You can turn your posts into a WEB BANNER AD to make them interactive.

1. This results in up to 50% higher engagement than your normal ads.

2. The ads on Google make up for 64.6% of all clicks.




You can post your content to Google+ Circles to increase traffic.

1.  This will help you drive traffic towards your posts to increase engagement even further.

  The +1 Content

1. The +1 button on Google+ that you come across on many websites receives almost 5 billion hits every day!

2. This allows people from your audience to recommend your posts or site.

3. It increases the Click-Through Rate.

4. The topmost Google results get 36.4% of all these clicks.

5. This function also allows sharing and commenting from networks outside Google, like Pinterest.

 Google Hangouts

1. The Google Hangouts are an essential tool; this service allows group video conferencing and chats of up to ten people in total.

2.You can very easily host webinars through Google Hangouts to generate excitement among your audiences and getting back good leads.

 YouTube Integration

1. YouTube has successfully become the second largest search engine.

2. The network experiences almost 6 billion hours of videos watched on a monthly basis.

   This is why YouTube MUST be Your Core Content Marketing Strategy in 2015!!

    Google Drive  

1. This tool lets you share your information with your entire Google+ audience.

2. There are over 120 million users on Google Drive currently that are a valuable resource for business networks to target.

 Google+ Embedded Posts

1. These embedded posts let you share your content posted on Google on your blogs.

2. It helps in substantially extending the life of your content.

  Powerful SEO Benefits

1. Google owns about 65-75 of the entire search engine market shares and serves more than 25% of all the internet traffic in North America.

2. 18% of all the organic clicks go to the first result that appears, 10% goes to the second and 7% goes to the third.

3. 75% of all users never scroll past the first page, which means the best thing for your business is to be at the first page.

4 Tips to Visitor Interaction on Google+

When you look at a substantial amount of data from over 800,000 posts on Google+, you can find some great tidbits for strategizing your content for this network and increase engagement and interaction.

· Photos lead on comments, re-shares, +1s, and they account for 57% of all the posts on Google+

· The second most common type; Links are the LEAST engaging option for a post and are considered a pitfall.



Text-Only posts work very poorly for re-shares, but they do quite well with comments and +1s.

Posts that are more than a 100 characters long do better than shorter ones on all metrics. 

Think of your self as a blog co-owner when you leaving a comment on someone else's post. Add value to someone's post and they are very likely to add value to your post. 

Posts that are accompanied with photos and over a hundred characters do better than others on the extensive network of Google+.

What are the Best Practices when Using Google+?

Here are some basic benefits of applying the BEST PRACTICES that follow to get you started:

· It can help you improve the visibility of your business in the Google Search results.

· It is the second largest social media platform and has millions of monthly active users, which means it can help you gain a substantial amount of exposure.

· It helps in increasing and enhancing the social signals for your brand, as well as the networking.
· It can be used as a very effective micro-blogging platform.

Google+ BEST PRACTICES

· Always make sure that your profile is optimized; add an appropriate description, a branded profile image, and the URL to your website.

· Always allow the 1+ button on your website so that users can recommend your content.

· Verify Your Business.

· Always keep at regularly posting quality content; the more shareable and relevant your content is, the more Google+ will positively regard your online presence by boosting your Author Rank.

· Always try to use keyword rich title tags, treating all your posts like mini-blogs.

· Using the “rel=publisher” code, link your business page to your website so that Google may include your business in the authorship information in search results.

· Always keep adding connections to make your social circles larger and more versatile in terms of audience.

· Keep your posts visual to drive a higher amount of user engagement.



Applying and incorporating these practices in your social media strategy can help you gain a substantial amount of audience, increases user engagement, enhance the visitor flow and drive a good amount of social referral traffic towards your website.

Tips for Increasing Engagement on Google+

· Perfecting Your Profile: Your hover card and profile is the first impression, make sure every element of it reflects the personality of your brand to your audience.

· Manage and Create Circles: Grow your audiences by creating circles and managing them actively, to create a clear brand image in the minds of your prospects.

· Join Communities: Be an active part of a number of communities and try to play a positive role. Keep your prospects enticed with your brand and form a trusting social relationship by contributing actively.

· Share Vigorously: The more content you share on your Google+ page, the more recognized your brand can potentially become, since Google is the largest platform and can easily make or break a brand’s presence.

Become Part of The Google+ Ecosystem

So what we are really looking at here is an entire eco-system, named “Google”. 

A large portion of our online activities and interactions are conducted through this search engine giant, and the brand name has become more of a term. 

People nowadays look to Google for an answer to all their web related questions. 

If your business has any amount of influence and impact, it's compulsory for it to be related to the network in some way.

It is expected that the social media fabric will be even more intricate and complex in the coming years. What brands desperately need to look for at these times is their best platform. 

Although other social media networks have a substantial amount of impact, it is really the Google effect that can truly get your business established.



The Google+ social network has a much wider and more varying outreach than any other network today, and businesses can take a lot of advantage of this fact. 

The benefits that your brand can enjoy from the added exposure and outreach are boundless and the value of your brand can become recognized globally with much effort.

The Benefits of Using Google+

There are many advantages that your business enjoys by choosing this social media network. 

Since the statistics clearly state how much more outreach and exposure the entire Google platform has, the network is highly beneficial in terms of engagement, interaction, leads, gaining prospects and building and establishing your brand.

Must See G+ Infographic: Google+ vs Facebook and Twitter in 2015?

While other networks carry some competitive features, none can quite level up to the number of users that Google+ has gained over time. 

It has become a booming entrepreneurial and corporate environment where brands can flourish and truly experience success. 

Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms simply do not offer the same amount of consistency and growth that the entire fabric of the Google Ecosystem can propose.  

Some common benefits your business or brand will experience are listed below:

· Visibility: Your overall SERP rank increases substantially and by having your business website linked to your Google Plus account.

· Engagement: The communities and circles you join allow you post to a very large targeted audience that will be more likely to engage with your material.

·  Analytics: You get accurate and up-to-date information and data by linking your Google+ account up with insights.

· Informative: You can use Google+ to display your current client information, which can help in exhibiting this information via Google to raise your chances of interaction with client.

Conclusively, Google+ is a huge platform that features a large number of opportunities for businesses to grow and develop, and gain a good amount of audience. 

If you are looking to succeed in your business’ssocial strategy and have been wondering what you've been doing wrong, now you know. 

Switch to Google+ to enhance the performance of all your social media pages and sites and drive prospects towards your business. 

Your ideal customers: the people looking for your products or services right now, but who can't find you yet on social media - they're waiting for you right now on G+! 

Don't have time to be constantly creating fresh engaging content for your blog or website? Check out our 5 star content marketing service!

 Top image courtesy of:  YuKop

Middle image courtesy of: www.exacttarget.com

Top 10 Tips to Look Professional on WebCam [#Infographic]

Are you a busy recruiter or life coach who regularly conducts interviews or interacts with clients via webcam? 

Maybe you're starting a new online business and deep-engagement video will be your main content marketing strategy in 2015. 

In all of these scenarios, having a crisp, clear and vibrant presence via web cam may be critical to your success!  

Here's a great infographic I found that was posted recently by digital marketing expert: LindsayKolowich
Here are 10 practical tips you can start applying right now for an immediate improvement in how you look to your prospective customers or new hires via webcam: 






Header Images Courtesy of: JobsDB 

4 Reasons Online Reviews Could be Critical to Your Digital Marketing Success [#Infographic]

Check out this infographic from WebRepublic.com on the digital marketing power of online revues.

There are some really surprising insights. For example:

Did you know:

• A 4.5 star out of 5 sells better than a 5 star rating by up to 3x? 

• Products with positive reviews get 200% more sales?

• Having more positive reviews creates a higher organic SEO ranking? 

• Consumers who read reviews on mobile devices are 127% more likely to buy then if they read reveiws on their PC or laptop? 

                                                                                                                                                       




Top image courtesy of: pixabay.com  

31 Content Marketing Tips to Increase Blog Traffic [#Infographic]

Blogs that have more than 100 high quality posts and that post fresh content 15-30 times per month see 500% more targeted search engine traffic on average. 

Combine high frequency deep engagement blogging with an extraordinary value proposition and you've got a blog that will generate leads and revenue for your business. 

But where do you get all that great content from? 

Do you have a working content marketing plan for your business? Are your audience getting value enough from your blog posts to make them share your blog contents?

Blogging based on a strong content marketing strategy means you have to  plan, prepare and research the article. before writing. 

You still have to edit and be sure that the article is readable before posting. It has to be of  serious and immediate value to your target audience. Only then will they share it.

 I found a great content marketing infographic to help you shape your content marketing strategy. You'll find these tips very useful when creating content for your business. 

There are 5 Steps that break down into 31 tips. 

These are the 5 steps: 

• Planning And Research

• Writing

• Optimization

• Making It Shareable

• Promotion

Now, let’s take a look at each step one after the other to highlight the most valuable tips for each step.

Content Marketing Means Planning and Research

Planning and researching begins with finding keywords relevant to your chosen topic. One that people are searching for on Google and other search engines. To achieve this you can:

• Use Google Keyword Planner to get relevant keywords people are searching for:

• Search Twitter for popular topics that are related to your keyword. Your focus should be on those ones getting the favourites and highest retweets

• Do a Google search with your keyword to know other pages ranking for the same keyword based on Google’s suggestions that pop up as you type your keyword ideas

• Now create a list of compelling points you want get across on your blog post.

Writing Your Content

To make your blog post easy to read follow these steps:

• Make short paragraphs. Break up every 2-3 lines or every 75-100 words

• For every 500 words of text, include an image (the most shared posts have an average of 1-2 high quality engaging images per post)

• For easy reading use sub headers to break up your article

• Create a compelling headline with at most 55 characters

• Use bullets and list were necessary

• Spell check before posting

Optimization is Key

You have to optimize your content for search. This includes stunning visual optimization of your social media accounts. 

This for better ranking on the search engines. Here are some basic but critical SEO points to note:

• Post article of 1000 to 1500 words in length or more 

• Place your keyword into your blog title for easy identification by search engines

• Include your keyword in an H2 header

• Place your keyword at the beginning of your title for optimal results

• Make It Shareable

The more you share your high quality content on social networks the more popular it becomes. And the more traffic you get to your blog. This can mean more sales if you’ve written and extraordinary value proposition. 

Make It Really Easy to Share

Want more social shares to increase the social signals on your blog? Here are some tips: 

• Create an attractive custom graphic that shows the title of your blog. This will increase shares on Pinterest and other social networks

• Use click to tweet to include tweetable quotes and stats in your blog

• Create an infographic relevant to your topic and be sure to include it in your post

• Include videos or slide share presentation

Promote Your Content

To get more people to see your blog post you have to socially promote your blog. It may be the blog as a whole or a particular blog post. 

But focusing on promoting a particular post will give rise to reaching your target audience based on your #keywords. Use the following content promotion techniques to promote your blog posts:

• Send an update to your email list for instant traffic. Be sure to include a link to your blog post

• Share your blog post on Facebook

• Share on Twitter with your custom blog title graphic included

• Pin to relevant Pinterest boards to get more exposure

• Share your blog post on your Linkedin personal profile and company page

• Share to relevant Facebook groups

• Use Facebook adds and Linkedin sponsored updates to run targeted adds

• Install a social sharing plugin on your blog for easy sharing

• Consider other places like Reddit, Digg, Myspace and the likes. But you must understand how these sites and their communities work before posting your content. To avoid making wasted efforts posting on them. 

• Share your post on Google Plus profile and relevant communities

Check out the amazing infographic that inspired this post. It's from the content marketing masters at TopDog.com : 





                                                                                                                                                         top image courtesy of: http://www.marketingfacts.nl/berichten/mediabesteding-hoeveel-tijd-besteden-we-aan-tv-lezen-internet-en-andere-med

Top Social Sharing Times for Digital Marketing in 2015 [#Infographic]

                                                                         

Here's a great infographic from SproutSocial on the best times to post on social media for business. 

It's interesting to compare top posting times for #B2B digital marketing effectiveness to the top social posting times in general. 

For example, the best time to maximize #B2B re-tweet rates on Twitter is 5 PM on week nights. Tweet around 6 PM to maximize your click through rate. Take a look:  

Header Image courtesy of Wikimedia.org

Top 10 Linkedin Social Selling Tips for 2015! #infographic

The verdict on social selling through Linkedin can be summarized in 4 words – It Works and it's powerful! 

Now that you have the single most critical digital marketing factor working for you it's time for your join the growing Linkedin digital marketing boom! 


If you haven’t joined the 300 million plus people who are on Linkedin just yet, then you need to connect your business to LinkedIn ASAP.

Start by familiarizing yourself with what other smart entrepreneurs have known for a couple of years now: 

It’s no secret that huge numbers of the hottest B2B social selling connections are happening right now on Linkedin as you read this! 


Savvy social salespeople and digital marketers are increasingly using LinkedIn as a major source of new leads and tangible revenue, - and so should you! 

So, how can you use this social media platform to your business’ advantage? How do you actually generate leads and make sales like the digital marketing pros? 


Well, the following are the top 10 tested and proven strategies for social selling through LinkedIn: -




1. Identify your Target Prospects


The first step in any effective digital marketing campaign is to:  identify your target market or your ideal customers. 


It's a waist of time to embark on a social selling campaign without having a clear grasp of who your target audience is. 

Mapping your target prospects will involve determining the common professional titles and keywords that your ideal customers are use to best describe themselves. 

Once you identify these titles and keywords, you can use two separate methods to find them, i.e. through the LinkedIn Advanced Search and LinkedIn Groups.




2. Send a Connection Request


Once you identify your target prospects, you can proceed and make first contact by sending connection requests. 

When sending connection requests, be sure to send a personalized message explaining two things: One, how you know or heard about them and two, why they should connect with you.





3. Always Send a Thank You Message


There are's a powerful pairs of words that when used usually indicate that a person is highly courteous and approachable “Thank You”. These words shouldn't be used sparingly, especially if one expects to get new prospects, as well as maintain existing customers. 

Once a targeted prospect accepts your connection request, sending a “Thank You” message will certainly add some weight on your side of the courtesy scale.



Make sure to describe the top 1-3 reasons that your thankful for the connection. For example, describe what you love most about your new connection's value proposition. Let them know what you've learned or gained from the content they've shared. 




4.Send Relationship Building Messages


If you thought that it all ends at the point you send a “Thank You” message, then there's still lots to learn about social selling on Linkedin. 

You'll also need to reach out to your new connections even if you aren't sure they'll be of any value to your business. 

There is something known as a “Relationship Building” message, which starts with you providing something of value to your connections without any ulterior motives. 

This could sharing an insight that solves a real business problem or pain point. It could also be a tip or strategy that is likely to translate into direct benefit for your new contact.  




5. Engage with On-Shared Linkedin Groups


 If you haven’t had the privilege of being a part of any LinkedIn groups, it would be wise to find out which groups your prospects are connected in and join them there.

Not every prospect will be active on Linkedin groups but once you find those who are, don’t hesitate to become part of their groups as an active value-adding contributor.


And quality over quantity is the rule here, both in terms of the number of groups you join and the kinds of contributions you make. 

For example, never billboard your preexisting content cut and paste style. Engage in real time. Solve real problems, answer real questions. Treat your linkedin group members as your best paying customers or clients and what's they'll be more likely to become! 





6. Connect and Engage on Your Other Social Media Platforms


Social selling stretches far beyond LinkedIn. The more you expand your fan base, the higher your chances of gaining more customers. Social platforms such as Twitter and GooglePlus should be your “stepping stones” to accomplishing serious digital network growth and brand reach. 

Be sure to add your Linkedin prospects to your other social media sites if they are already using those platforms. If not invite them to join. 

Also, build on and strengthen existing connection and engagement levels by sharing your LinkedIn connections' content and by having real time solution for business-focused conversations that others will see and want to become part of. 




7. Move Your Strongest Relationships Offline


There will come a time when you will need to make the transition from online to offline interaction. That's where the real business connections materialize. 

Before a transaction takes place, your relationship with the customer may have to go beyond online chatting, engaging, friend-requesting and following. 

Your prospects should be open to the idea of interacting with you offline after you demonstrate a high level of expertise and credibility. It may be time to make a sale!




8. Concentrate more on Building Relationships Instead of Adding Connections


LinkedIn is not like Twitter and Facebook. As much as having an inflated number of prospects sounds good, it won’t be profitable for your business if those prospects don’t add any real value to it. 

The basis of a strong relationship ROI is to create a long-term bond between your business and  your prospective new customers. The stronger, more authentic and value-based your relationship with your customers, the more value they will add to your business in return.




9. Tag Your Connections in Posts

It’s highly advisable for you to update your customers about the current trends in your profession or industry. You can do this by writing fresh engaging blog posts from time to time, and then tagging them on LinkedIn. 

This will ensure that your prospects will see your latest posts even if they haven't logged in to LinkedIn for a while. The result? They'll get short emails indicating they've been tagged.



10. Add Rich Visual Content to Your Linkedin Profile

Too much text and no infographics or videos can make your profile disengaging.  Make us of the Professional Portfolio feature to add deep-engagement infographics, videos, photos, screenshots and SlideShare presentations to your profile.

You can use Linkedin as your secret weapon against your competition. This social selling tool has been proven to be highly efficient in turning businesses into a pacesetters in their specific niches. 

What are you waiting for? Get yourself linked-in and have the last word in the title “social selling tycoon wannabe” dropped off for good!


Check out the incredible infographic that inspired this blog post. It's from arguably the world's leading LinkedIn social selling experts at TopDogSocialMedia.com:



                                                                                                                                                                  
Top image courtesy of: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LinkedIn_logo_initials.pn

How to Write an Extraordinary Value Proposition for Social Selling #infographic

The Top 10 Tips to Write a Value Proposition That will Drive Your Click Through and Conversion Rates through the Roof! 

What exactly is a Value Proposition in Digital Marketing and Why Do You Need One?

To put it simply: If you don’t have a killer value proposition your social media marketing efforts will fail.

A value proposition enables a prospect to find all the right reasons for choosing one businesses over its competitors. 

• It's a promise of real value to be delivered by a business to its esteemed customers.

• It speaks directly to the target audience and tells them exactly why they should buy products or services from that particular business.

The most powerful value statements simultaneously invoke your ideal customer’s most salient and immediate personal pain points and business problems while offering fast, solution-focused relief.

So, what does it take to have a value proposition that will turn your social media presence into a social selling power house?

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the top 10 tips for writing an outstanding value proposition for your digital marketing business regardless of its size or the type of industry you’re in: 



1. Identify Your Ideal (=Paying) Customer

Before drafting your value proposition, it’s crucial that you identify who your target audience is or, more specifically your ideal customer (people who want to buy from you right now but who can’t find you in the digital marketing noise).

The type of audience you want to address will determine the keywords, tone and pitch to use.

For example, the tone and keywords that can be used to convince genYers’ to buy the latest iPhone may not be appropriate for persuading the genXers to try out a new retirement savings plan.



2. Communicate the Value You’re Adding

Your ideal customers are out there right now overly curious to find out not just the value you’re adding, but also the problem that you’re solving.

It’s only after you give an outline of your product/service value that the customers will want to find out how it works.

While you are at it, you have be authentic because most customers (if not all) can smell brand or personal in-authenticity from a mile away.



3. Recognize and Highlight Customer Benefits

It will be quite beneficial to your business if your target audience recognizes the benefits that they will get beforehand.  

Make a list of all the benefits that are associated with your products or services, and ensure that these benefits have actually been enjoyed by your existing customers.



4.  Explain why Customers should Choose you Over your Top Competitors

Another thing that customers will be curious to find out is what really sets you apart from your top competition. This is where you will need to go out of the way to explain why the ideal customer should choose your solution over your competitors’.

If it’s your incredible pricing, improved operational efficiency or extraordinary customer experience that puts you over the top, then let it be known.







5.  Develop Unique Value Propositions for Separate Products/Services

In case your business offers different products or services for sale, it’s advisable that you develop individual value propositions for each one of them.

This will help your customers to clearly understand what they can expect from each of those products or services.




6. Incorporate “Wow” Visual Elements

Most buyers go with the notion of “what you see is what you actually get”. 

There’s so much valueless content to be scanned and you have to be  a lot more compelling so that your value stands out in the noise. 

That means incorporate visual elements that really grab your reader's attention. You have to show an image or video to enhance your message. And of course infographics are the most shared visual content out there right now. 



7. Craft Specific Value Propositions for Specific Buyer Personas

You must be considerate of the fact that different buyers have different personas. 

There are those buyers that will make a purchase right away, while there are those buyers that require a persuasion.

To appeal to these diverse personas, it would be wise to modify different value propositions, i.e. one that is straight to the point and another that is more detailed.



8. Conduct Competitive Research

In order for you to really get to know your ideal customers' persona, you must do targeted research that will help you really know how your prospective buyers’ minds work.

Market research is crucial because it enables a business or a service provider to understand customer needs and preferences as well as dislikes and turnoffs. 

How do you do do scale-able market  research if you're a small business or individual consultant? Well for starters: 



9. Submit Your Test Value Proposition to Rigorous Social Testing

With so many social marketing platforms to use these days, it would be a real shame if you don’t utilize all of them to the maximum.

From your business website or your blog and social media sites, make sure that your test value proposition is amplified across all of them.

It's critical you ensure that the core proposition-messaging is consistent across all of your social sharing platforms as well.



10. Make your Value Proposition Brief and Easy to Understand

Most people have the misconception that they can only create a great impression by using a lot of big words  and heavy jargon.

This is a HUGE mistake that you can’t afford to make. 

Go with verbs and ditch the adjectives! In other words, keep your value proposition brief and easy to understand.

By following these top 10 tips, you’re sure to develop and deliver a value proposition that will not only hold merit in the eyes of your prospective buyers and clients, but one that also set your business far, far apart from your competition!


Check out the cool infographic that inspired this post! It’s from the content marketing geniuses over at QuickSprout.com courtesy of HubSpot.com!

top image  courtesy of: http://www.marketingfacts.nl/berichten/10-interessante-onderzoeken-van-afgelopen-week2 

middle image courtesy of: http://www.marketingfacts.nl/berichten/zijn-retailers-wel-klaar-voor-digitale-marketing