Google Plus Hangout is a Google product that allows groups of people to “hangout” over the Internet. Google Plus Hangout may very well be a parent’s best friend, especially if you are the parent of teenage kids who like to sneak out at night to hang out with their friends in the park. Oh, but, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The purpose of an online, planned or unplanned hangout makes a lot of sense. How many times have you wanted to chat with a group of your colleagues or friends but didn’t have any way to do this because of distance or a central place to meet? After all, we are social animals and have a need for human interaction.

Google Plus Hangout is a great start for that central hangout location. Think of it as Skype on steroids. With a Google Plus login and password, Internet connection and a now ubiquitous computer with webcam, you are ready to interact with friends and colleagues far and wide. Today’s limitation is that Google Plus Hangout can only support up to 10 real-time connections … that’s you and 9 of your friends or colleagues.

I had the opportunity to try out Google Plus Hangout with one of our clients, Grammy winner Patti Austin. The first live event was With Patti singing in a studio to a live audience of 9 fans. Woo Hoo! The quality of the video and audio was surprisingly good, especially considering that we were using a laptop computer hooked up to a high definition webcam. Both the artist and the fans LOVED the concept and wanted more.

Just a scant 2 weeks later, we gave them more. This time we decided to make a full on production out of this event. Not only did we have a Google Plus Hangout session, but we also had a live audience in studio with Patti Austin. And, because of the 10 person limitation of Google Plus, we decided to run 3 concurrent sessions. This was going to be sensational!

And so it was. There were a few glitches, of course. 1st, one of the laptops we were using for the event crashed the Google Plus Hangout session. Our conclusion is that the laptop just did not have enough processing power / memory combination. It was a Mac after all. The other 2 sessions on laptops with at least 4 gigs of memory ran like a charm.

Since we lost one of the hangouts we decided to stream it live on one of the other laptops on Ustream. This also added to the “cool factor” of this event. Now, we were not limited to just 27 people, but anyone with the Ustream URL could view the live concert with Patti Austin and “friends.” Over Facebook, we updated everyone in real time about the live Ustream feed.

Now, this type of production is not for the weak of heart. Not only did we have a live audience in studio, but also a live audience only IN ADDITION to a professional 3 person camera crew filming the whole event. Needless to say this set up was a thousand times more complex than most people will ever get in their own hangouts.

Back to Google Plus Hangout being a parent’s best friend. If you can convince your teenage kids that it’s better and SAFER to hang out with your friends virtually rather than in the park at 4am in the morning, you’re guaranteed to sleep much better at night.

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by Zooey_ under CC BY-SA  with adpublishing

How to get your money back with social media marketing!

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Three weeks ago I was driving to San Francisco on a beautiful sunny day. As is customary on these types of days, I opened my sunroof so that I can enjoy the warm rays. As I reached the Bay Bridge, it was getting a bit chilly so I proceeded to close my sunroof. Big Mistake! It got stuck in the OPEN position. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t close it. Worse … the forecast for the next day was anything but pleasant. It called for rain and rain for several days thereafter. What was I going to do?

Once I reached SF, I immediately went to the Toyota car dealership and asked for their help. I was told by the service department that it would cost $600+ just to open my car up and check it out. If a part was needed, it would only be about $800 or so. I figured at that point it was worth it. Several hours later, I was advised that the sunroof mechanism couldn’t be fixed. Worse, they couldn’t even close it for fear of breaking the glass. The only alternative was a new $3,000 assembly plus labor. I said no thanks and to please give me my car back. At the end of the day, they “only” charged me $160 to check out my car.

After sealing my roof with Plexiglas (thanks, ACE Hardware!), I started shopping around for an alternative. After 2 weeks, I finally found a great, honest place – Vallejo Sunroof and Auto Upholstery in Vallejo, CA. The young proprietor didn’t promise me he could “close” the sunroof but he said he’d try his best. Not only did he close it, but he FIXED it. The price tag? $475!

How did social media marketing play out in this scenario? I decided to post a very disappointing Yelp review about my experience with the Toyota dealership. Remember now, an online review is there for ALL to see. Within a couple of hours I got both an email and a call from the customer service rep. He apologized profusely for the inappropriate treatment and offered to reimburse me for my $160.

On the flip side of the story, I gave a positive review for Vallejo Sunroof and Auto Upholstery. I even offered to help him with his marketing for free.

The moral of the story? Social media marketing works … if nothing else but to help you let off steam. Better yet, you might even get lucky and get your money back.

I’m still waiting for the “check that’s in the mail”, though. Until then, I’m sticking to my story.

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Reputation management is more important than ever these days because of the amount of information available on the Internet. This is true for both individuals as well as large and small companies. Consider some of these staggering statistics and you’ll quickly realize that trying to manage what you have posted or what others have posted about you can easily become overwhelming. There are over 1.8 billion global Internet users, 200 million blogs, 600+ million Facebook users, 5 billion+ images, and over 1 billion videos being served up YouTube every day.

What are some of the ways that your reputation can be compromised? Let’s take a simple example of something you might have posted on Facebook and did not set your privacy filters correctly. Perhaps one day you went out on a date or with a client and things did not go well. In frustration you decide to post a comment on your wall that was disparaging to your date or the client. Every person who is your friend on Facebook or likes your fan page (if you have one) will immediately be able to see your pos. This seemingly innocent post could easily be propagated to people you don’t know or directly to the client for your date. It’s not too hard to see how damaging this could be to your reputation.

Another example of reputation management has to do with images posted on the Internet. You may be posting images to sites such as Flickr, Facebook or even other “open” blog sites. Without realizing it, these images could easily have been tagged with your name. Compounding this problem is that others could also be uploading images that are tagged with your name. All of these images are indexed by the major search engines and can very well be “served up” when your name or company name is entered into the search bar. Imagine that some of the images were not too flattering or even downright disparaging.

You can extrapolate that potential problem even further to include videos that are posted on YouTube, Vimeo, and other video sharing sites. And, what about people who might be blogging about you or your company without your knowledge? This happens every day. It’s called freedom of speech. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that what’s up on the Internet stays on the Internet – good and bad. There are, of course, rare instances when posts / images are taken down and de-indexed, but the damage has already been done.

One of the fastest growing sectors of marketing is online reputation management. There are a number of ways to monitor what is being said about you and your company. And, there are also many ways in which to protect your “brand equity.” Make sure you consider what you are posting before pressing “enter.” At the end of the day, you are what people “perceive” about you based on what they discover online.

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If you were a fly on the wall and listening to these conversations, you’d gain valuable insight into the likes/dislikes or interests of each employee. In this way, you may decide to target specific programs or activities to retain key employees, for example. This process is not unlike how salespeople bond with their prospective clients. Salespeople gain a better understanding of their clients through engaging with them in social activities such as: playing golf, entertaining them over dinner and other similar activities. During these social interactions salespeople gain their client’s trust and, if successful, eventually make a sale.

In the context of today’s technologically intertwined world, the use of business social media allows businesses to engage with potential customers in far more complex and expansive ways than the “office water cooler.” A business can dialogue with tens/hundreds of thousands of potential customers over a multitude of topics related to their industry niche. By becoming the proverbial “fly on the wall” or, better yet, interacting with potential customers, businesses create trust by injecting value added information. This is a critical component of the sales process..

For example, a skin care company might “solicit” new customers by engaging with them in social media forums and offering advice on how to cleanse one’s skin. Next, the company might offer tips on eating the right types of food in order to keep one’s skin hydrated and nourished. Eventually, as the prospects become more trustful of the information source, the company can then interject products and services that might appeal to them.

There are many more ways that business social media can benefit companies. In fact, the number of social media “coolers” is rapidly increasing. The best way to capitalize on this growing trend is to just jump in and participate. Once again, the key to success, though, is to provide valuable information within the context of the dialogue. Trust is hard to obtain but very easy to lose.

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Marketing is becoming increasingly easier for small businesses to execute on, because of the ever-growing use of the Internet and the proliferation of tools. Let’s say for example, Google’s powerful search engine. If you understand how to use Google’s local listings service, which is called Google Places, you can dominate your category for a local area. For example, if you are pizza parlor and you know how to create a local listing by adding reviews, videos, and the correct keywords, you can have a listing that is easily found by many customers in your local and nearby cities. This tool is so powerful that it’s becoming the search of choice for people, outperforming the Yellow Pages and the newspaper.

Another great marketing tool includes the ever increasing pool of online PR services, which are both free and paid. By creating and distributing your own press releases online, you can reach a much larger audience than just your local region. In addition you will reach an audience of patrons who trust press releases over generic search results.

Other small business trends include the use of millions of different types of services now available on the Internet. They help companies reduce their expenses in a myriad of ways. For example, one great service for saving you time and money is one based on the concept of “virtual telephone service.” What does this mean? A virtual telephone service generally means a voice over Internet protocol or “VOIP” system. A virtual phone service allows you to make and receive phone calls, as well as use all of the other telephone services that you are used to such as: voice mail, call forwarding, and three way calling. These services cost a mere fraction of what they used to cost during the monopoly days of the old AT&T.

Small businesses are also getting smaller. What do I mean by that? The overwhelming majority of small businesses are sole proprietorships, which means that they are single individuals who are running the business. This has all become possible because of the availability, flexibility, and increasingly cheap technology. With this technology you can virtually run a business that touches a city, state, country or even the globe without leaving your home.

There are plenty more small business trends that can be harnessed. But the key to success is not just following the trends but utilizing them to your advantage.

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By utilizing widely available Internet tools and services small business owners can market to new and existing customers in ways not available in the past. Traditionally, products were marketed through newspaper ads and classifieds, yellow pages and even radio spot and TV commercials. Generally these marketing mediums are called “offline” marketing. Tracking offline marketing campaigns were difficult and often downright impossible. There was really no “direct” way of measuring success, except through surveys and inserting ad response codes. One of the problems is that people forget ad response codes and surveys do have a high percentage of related errors.

New Internet / online small business marketing strategies incorporate such concepts as social networks, online PR and the newly renamed Google Places. Let’s dissect these strategies to see how they fit within any small business’ overall marketing campaigns.

Google Places is essentially a local listing within your demographic area, whether it is a county, city or borough. With Google places, small businesses can list their company utilizing words that people type into Google search when looking for a service or product. For example, when someone searches for a “tailor” in Manhattan, New York, Google would serve up a list of tailors in that area. These listings appear even before the traditional top 10 organic listings that Google services us. It’s imperative to understand how to utilize Google Places in order to maximize your potential customers.

Online social networking complements offline networking with business associates. Think of online social networking as joining your local Chamber of Commerce or socializing at the office water cooler. Through online social networks, such as Facebook, Linkedin, and MySpace, small businesses can reach out to many more potential customers than they could ever have achieved through using offline networking avenues alone. Learning how to navigate these online social networks is critical to reaching new customers, as well as maintaining existing ones.

Small business marketing strategies should also include online PR. Small businesses are used to guerrilla type marketing. Think of online PR as another way of getting your message across to your market through free and cheap publicity. Generally there is a section in newspapers and magazines for announcements, such as a staff promotion, a new product, education and things like new partnerships. By issuing an online press release, you can reach thousands of viewers without alienating them through a “sales” pitch. Press releases are generally viewed positively and “trustworthy” by consumers.

Incorporating these new marketing strategies will help small business owners maintain their market position, as well as grab new markets. This is especially true during this period of transition as offline marketing reach through print, radio and TV declines and gives way to online marketing through the Internet and mobile devices.

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As technology progressed so did the fax machine and its limitless possibilities. I was recently reminded of the reason why faxing to a dedicated fax machine is virtually a thing of the past when I was asked to send some documents to an “old school” attorney recently. The first thing he told me was to “wait … don’t send anything until I can switch on my fax machine.” Of course, being the polite person that I am, I said “sure.” He called me back in about 5 minutes to tell me that the machine was on and to proceed with the fax transmission. On my end, I pressed the send button on my computer and waited patiently for him to call me back to inform me that he’d received my fax. 10 minutes … 20 minutes … 1 hour. Finally, 2 hours later he called me back and said that he had to use the “fax machine” to take a call. In other words, the fax was on the same line as his phone number. Over the course of 5 days, we played this game of fax tag.

Let’s fast forward to the 21st century. On my end, I’ve been able to send and receive faxes by email for years. But, then again, I’m a technology geek, so I tend to adopt technology early. Mind you, though, sending and receiving faxes by email is not rocket science stuff. If you can turn on a computer, open your email and attach a file, you can send a fax via email. Those are literally the steps you take to do this 21st century task. And, the receiver of the fax has no idea that the fax was not sent via a regular fax machine. Conversely, receiving a fax to your email is just as easy. The fax is sent by the sender to your “fax number”, which essentially turns it into an email attachment. If you can read an email and open an attachment, you’ve just figured out how to get a fax by email.

What are some of the benefits of a solution like this? Let’s see let me count the ways. Firstly, I’m a big proponent of everything virtual … virtual phones … virtual office … virtual assistant, and yes, virtual faxes. One of the biggest benefits of getting your fax via email is saving on the massive amounts of paper faxes generate. Virtual faxing is good for your pocket book and good for our planet. In other words, print only what you need. Another great benefit is the ability to be anywhere on the planet. You can literally be on the beaches of Hawaii and receive your faxes. Isn’t that a lovely thought? Finally, and this is by no means an exhaustive list, you don’t have to hang up on the person you’re talking to in order to send or receive a fax … keep on talking!

What are the downsides to receiving faxes via email? For one thing, there is a monthly fee associated with it. But, the costs are minimal, some as low as 7 bucks a month. What about signatures? I’ve scanned my signature into my computer. So, I simply cut and paste my signature onto a fax document and voila, I’m done. I hate paper and love the freedom to be anywhere I want to be, unshackled by a physical device. Now, isn’t that worth the prices of a couple of What are the downsides to receiving faxes via email? For one thing, there is a monthly fee associated with it. But, the costs are minimal, some as low as 7 bucks a month. What about signatures? I’ve scanned my signature into my computer. So, I simply cut and paste my signature onto a fax document and voila, I’m done. I hate paper and love the freedom to be anywhere I want to be, unshackled by a physical device. Now, isn’t that worth the prices of a couple of Starbucks Frappachinos a month?

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