Blog

Many of my clients recently have gotten this email from Google: It looks like the Google+ page for ACME Roadrunner Rentals has not been used in a while. To simplify your Google My Business listing, we will be removing this additional page from our system in 30 days. This change won’t affect your Google My Business listing – you can still be found on Google Search and Maps. You can download a copy of your old content before it’s deleted by visiting this page. Alternatively, you can post or comment on someone else’s post within 30 days to keep your Google+ page active. Thanks, Your Google My Business Team So what’s up with that and why are so many people confused? The reason for the confusion comes from Google, and more specifically from it’s handling of Google+, which was supposed to be the next big social network thing for individuals and businesses, then was supposed to go away, then didn’t but – and this is the most important point – Google separated Google+ from its map-driven businesses listings, known now as Google My Business. Once upon a time they used to be the same thing and the information and posts you submitted to your Google+ local business page is what people saw when the clicked on your map listing. (And not to add to the confusion, but these pages were different than a Google Plus Brand Page, which is not associated with a business map listing). So what’s essentially happened is that Google carved those Google Plus local business listings pages off and turned them in effect into brand pages. And what you post to your Google My Business listing no longer automatically posts to your old Google Plus business page (and likewise, descriptions, photos and the like were not automatically migrated over to your current Google My Business listing). Whew! To answer the question at the top of this blog, for most businesses the short answer to that question would be no, there’s no need for that old Google Plus business page; most people won’t be able to find it, unless they search from within Google+, which of course nobody does. The longer answer is unless you have a...

Admittedly this has not been a good year and a half for Facebook. There was its unfortunate culpable influence on the 2016 election through fake news posts and the tendency of its users to believe and share anything in their echo chamber (perhaps while hurling snarky insults at those outside said chamber). Then there was the fake followers scandal, where businesses discovered that many of the real followers they thought had maybe came from the place in China where they produce farm-raised fish. If that wasn’t enough, then came the revelation that Cambridge Analytica mined the profiles of 68 million users and their friends (without user permission) for political-targeted behavioral marketing. But wait, there’s more! After that came the revelations that Facebook shared user data and friend profiles without their consent to hardware manufacturers, including a Chinese company that was on a US espionage watch list. Whew. That sure has Mark Zuckerberg’s makeup artists working hard before each public appearance. So many of my clients ask me, should I be active on Facebook, market on Facebook, even be on Facebook? To answer that question we have to go back to a place before all the sensational headlines and examine the premise of trying to market on Facebook itself. The Ideas Behind Marketing on Facebook   The two basic premises for marketing on Facebook was that you can get a lot of traction for free and everyone is there. Well Facebook took care of the first premise by making it harder and harder to get into people’s feeds so you now have to pay for it. As for the second premise, just because tens of thousands of people are in the park for a Fourth of July fireworks display, is that a good time to go out and try to sell them life insurance? They may be there, but they’re not there to buy anything in particular, the reason to be there is to have fun. So is it an audience, sure, but a receptive one? That’s another thing entirely. Targeted Marketing on Facebook   So pivoting back to the top of this piece, what about paying to advertise to selected user profiles al la Cambridge Analytica above? Well behind...

When I launched this specialized website focusing on local marketing, I was fully prepared to talk about how businesses could improve their presence in local search — how their listing could get a higher ranking on Google search results and better placement on the map driven by the results. What I wasn’t prepared for is that many local businesses don’t realize how critical the Google business listing is, where to find it and how to claim it. Not claiming and populating your Google business listing is akin to having the latest technology and swank furniture in your office and not having a telephone. For almost any local business it’s absolutely essential and building an effective listing is easy to do, as a matter of fact a lot easier than it used to be: Step one: If you haven’t already done so, claim your business listing. The easiest way to do that is to search for your business in Google, click on your business on the map results, and when the details show click claim this business. You’ll have to verify that you own the business and Google will usually do this by sending a postcard to your business with a PIN. Once you verify your listing, make sure all information is accurate, including address, phone number, hours and so on. Choose a category that best fits your business and write a description that succinctly describes what your business has to offer. Upload photos, they help to make your business look interesting. Get reviews, reviews and more reviews. They are the most important factor in how your listing gets ranked in local search results. Did I mention get reviews? Make sure that the information on your business (phone number and address) is the same in other places like your website, Facebook, Yelp and Yahoo (we can help with that). That’s all there is to it. You can post to your Google My Business page like other social media pages and include things like video, but posting no longer appears to have much effect on your local rankings as it used to as far as I can tell. Have questions? Give me a call at 904-744-8877. The advice is...

This is another post from the Everyday Marketing Advice archives. Some of the mechanics of managing your Google My Business Listing have changed, but the basic tactics for improving ranking in local search remain the same: Why spend money on a human directional dressed as a chicken or a giant submarine sandwich? If you’re a business with a local trading area, your best bet to get seen by your potential customers  is through local search. It’s really just a matter swimming with the current (or dropping your line where the fish are swimming or whatever aquatic metaphor that you prefer) because that’s how most people begin to search when looking for a place to go or something to buy. And with Google looking to return localized results with every search and mobile searches growing exponentially (where local results are most prominent) needing to succeed with local search is as essential as paying the electric bill to keep the lights on. In fact, it may just be the most effective way to keep the lights on! So you may ask: “Larry, can I really get free visibility through local search instead of paying someone to stand all day in an uncomfortable costume in the stifling heat?” Not only will I say yes, but I’ll tell you a few simple steps to get you started. So here goes: If you haven’t yet claimed your Google My Business listing (the one associated with the map, search for yourself (aren’t we all searching for ourselves?) and when your listing comes up,  click the Own This Listing? link. Follow the steps that Google gives you to verify your business and set up your Google+ Local page (which is basically your My Business Listing). In setting up your listing, make sure you complete all of the business information that Google asks you for (they give you a handy progress bar to let you know how you’re doing. This includes choosing the category(ies) that most closely match your business, writing an about description using words that people use when looking for what you do or sell, adding hours and contact information (including your website). You also set up your Google+ Local page with a cover photo,...

No, I don’t mean whether you invariably spill drinks on people at parties or find it hard to start up conversations with strangers (although there are probably virtual equivalents to both). I’m referring of course to your social marketing efforts. Plenty of businesses spend lots of time on social marketing. Some measure effectiveness by the amount of followers or likes, how many comments they get, reach, or how many “influencers” they create (people that can affect other people’s purchase decision). Others even trot out the vintage Larry Tate (of Bewitched fame) or Madmen adage of brand awareness. Few can tell you what they’re actually getting out of it when it comes to booked business. Many do it because they read they should be doing or because they like it (hey, I’m on Facebook and Twitter all the time anyway). This is the equivalent of a job candidate saying I like to work with people because I’m a people person. This article from Web Marketing Today makes a valiant attempt to give you a framework for putting some metrics around social. What strikes me is that of all of those listed, only one — clicks to the website from social channels and the resulting conversions — are hard metrics. That’s not the fault of the author, it’s simply the nature of the beast. From social interaction through engagement to the sale is a complicated chain and it can be difficult to discern what generated the behavior that resulted in a sale. A person could go to your website directly or through branded search (typing in your business name). There is no definitive way to know what generated that behavior — advertising, social influence or even a prior search. So the bottom line is, you have to be careful to calibrate the money, time and resources you put toward social with what you think you are tangibly getting out of it. Now if you can marry social with the search dynamic, that’s a whole other story. And yes, the topic of a future blog...