First, Google Plus has more users than you think. Yes, it pales in comparison to Facebook — but so do most other social sites. Rather than trust Google’s own user data, we decided to run our own survey. We asked more than 60,000 US online adults which social sites they used — and 22% told us they visited Google Plus each month. That’s the same number who told us they use Twitter, and more than told us they use LinkedIn, Pinterest, or Instagram. That means you can build a real follower base on Google Plus: On average, top brands have collected 90% as many fans on Plus as on Twitter. (In fact, the brands we studied have more followers on Google Plus than on YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram combined.)
Second, and more importantly, Google Plus generates much more brand engagement than you think. Recently we studied more than 3 million user interactions with more than 2,500 brand posts on seven social networks. The result? Brands’ Google Plus posts generated nearly as much engagement per follower as their Facebook posts — and almost twice as much engagement per follower as their Twitter posts.

Why Every Marketer Should Use Google Plus

Who Is In YOUR Google Plus Circles & How It Affects Marketing

I realize that you may not be expecting to become successful on Google Plus right away, and you shouldn’t. If you’re just coming into this social media powerhouse it’s
going to take a little time to build up trust, authority, and relationships before you really start seeing true results monetarily from Google Plus.
However, you can manage who is in your Google Plus circles. This is one thing that you can control, and I think that it’s an important part of the social marketing process. The people that you choose to follow is going to be the people that will be influencing you on this platform. The one question that you should be asking yourself is who should I choose?
One thing that you need to get out of your mind from the beginning is to wipe away what marketers have been saying for years, and that is The more followers you have, the better off you’re going to be-False. People that keep up with the scoreboard on social media are people that are just trying to display a sense of power for their own pleasure.
Just because this is your first day or first month on Google Plus doesn’t mean that I’m any better than you are because I have 6,000 followers. That’s simply ridiculous! You can create content that no one else can, your opinions and viewpoints are original only to you, it’s just up to you to voice them and create your authority on this platform.

Who Is In YOUR Google Plus Circles & How It Affects Marketing

The Importance of a Good Social Media Profile Picture

In the past few years, it seems like everyone has somewhat of a social media presence on sites like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and they use these sites to promote themselves, a product or a service.
    All of these sites have something in common, the facility to show a photograph as a profile picture and unless there is a good reason for anonymity, most people have a picture of themselves in place.
    When was the last time you had a good look at your profile picture? Does it match the image you are trying to portray for that particular site or are you still using an old outdated photo from a couple years ago to portray a cool guy image?
    While that outdated image may be acceptable on personal sites like your personal Facebook page, it certainly isn’t acceptable on more business-orientated sites like LinkedIn or sometimes even Twitter, if you are using it for business related reasons. Even Facebook Pages for your business demands a more professional image.
   Remember, first impressions count, and people do business with people they trust so be sure that your picture conveys the impression of the warm, professional, friendly person that you really are.

The Importance of a Good Social Media Profile Picture

Obama Care and Marty's Startup Journal

It's 5:32 and I woke up the normally loud Lucian the cat this morning. I'm in the third week of my cold. The third week is always the hardest because I'm so tired of having the cold that its lingering can be crushing psychologically.

My brother Drew got this difficult flu too. He has had it for two weeks now and didn't sound good when he called yesterday to let me know he wouldn't be working on CureCancerStore.org since he couldn't get out of bed.

Today is the first day of Obama Care and I live in a state where anti-Obama care ads have been running night and day. I wouldn't wish the Big C on my worst enemies, but I do wish the people spending money on these ads could experience a week of worrying about not having health insurance with the knowledge that no health insurance means no care and no care means you die.

Obama Care and Marty's Startup Journal

What is the Value of a Facebook Fan?

Not all fans are equal and, indeed, not all brands must turn to Facebook to drive their business. No matter the brand, however, the question of the return on investment and the value of a fan are central to any decision to participate and invest in a social media strategy.
The short story is that there is no way to place a single value on a fan. The answer to the question: "What is the value of Facebook Fan?" is that “it depends.” Not only are some fans worth more than others, but the way you build up engagement on your page makes the value of a fan more or less potent.  This means identifying, for example, who are the major (offline) purchasers, who are the most influent and who are the most engaged.  With each category a different type of treatment should be considered.

 What is the Value of a Facebook Fan?

From cat videos and singing babies to political satire, memes are one way that we share big cultural ideas. According to Social Fresh, “a meme is a categorization of a cultural trend or truth, a unit for communicating and collectively sharing cultural ideas through words, symbols and pictures.” Memes are interesting from a marketing perspective because they tend to go viral: they resonate and gain momentum and exposure. Whether you create the meme or just spoof it while it’s hot, memes offer interesting room to for marketers to get creative.
You have to select memes that are relevant to your audience and to your brand. If you have to introduce your customers or prospects to a meme before they see your spoof, it’s not going to work. Content must engage and resonate with the people you’re trying to reach. The Harlem Shake, for example, was fairly mainstream

How to Use Memes in Your Social Media Marketing Campaign

Every 24 hours, 2 million unique blog posts are published. In light of this statistic, the quest to claim the #1 spot on Google’s search results for key terms in your industry suddenly seems harder than ever, doesn’t it?
Google’s search algorithm uses myriad different factors, known as “signals,” to determine quality of content. The factors and their relative weights are all a closely-guarded secret, but you’ll be pleased to know that content creators aren’t completely left out in the cold. It’s critical to not just acknowledge Google’s quality guidelines, but to also make them an integral part of how you approach the production of web content.

What Exactly Does Google Consider High Quality Marketing Content?