Marketers of every stripe should keep an eye on the latest from Google. The search engine and Internet advertising giant recently launched Google+, an exciting new social networking platform that soon may have powerful public relations / marketing relevance.

Still in beta, Google Plus is on a fast track to become Facebook’s biggest competitor. Of note:

• It took Facebook 36 months to reach the 25 million users mark. MySpace did it in 20 months. Google+ has achieved 25 million users in just one month.
• While the user base of Google+ is only about one percent of Facebook’s network of 750 million users, its staggering growth demonstrates great potential.

The Google Plus field test is by invitation only. And currently, only individuals can be invited to participate. But many businesses are eager to get on board, too:  the marketing and branding potential is quite appealing.

To meet the business crowd’s demand for access, Google says its speeding-up a way to allow companies exposure and interaction on Google+. But why wait while they tinker with the system? Start building your company’s presence on Google Plus now. Here’s how you can do it . . .

Encourage individuals you employ to pursue an invitation to join the Google+ field test. This will give you an important foothold on this fastest-growing social marketing platform. (One can find YouTube or Facebook users who’ll consider inviting you to Google+ upon request.)
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Technorati Tags: google, social media

I wanted to make note of two public figures lately that have created a stir due to some knee-jerk retorts to their loyal disciples. Lets start with our favorite mock-turtleneck obsessed fan boy Messiah, Steven P. Jobs. Unless, you live in North Korea, you couldn’t help but notice there has been some negative reception surrounding Apple’s latest golden boy, the iPhone4. Sparing you of my whole karma theory surrounding this product since the get-go (just Google: Jason+Chen+front+door+bash), the sleek new antenna design appears to have been a move in the wrong direction, dropping calls regularly but only if you hold the phone like any normal human being since the first handset arrived in 1876. And if you can somehow manage to not touch the lower left side of the iPhone, then you might be able to make it through a call with ease. This is of course you one of the lucky few standing 5-feet from a local AT&T tower, but lets move on.

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Technorati Tags: PR, public relations, social media

If you want to learn proven strategies for getting the most ROI out of your marketing budget, then Chicago is the place to be in April! The 2010 Online Marketing ROI Tour, sponsored by MarketingExperiments and MarketingSherpa, is an information-packed seminar that is focused on teaching companies the best marketing approaches to use for conversion optimization, list building, data analysis, and social media strategy. In short, the Online Marketing Tour will show you how to get more bang for your buck in online marketing.

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Technorati Tags: Chicago PR Firms, Chicago Trade Shows, MarketingSherpa, Online Marketing ROI Tour, trade show support

My main rule of social networking is that if you wouldn’t tell your priest, rabbi, minister, spouse, parents, kids, grandparents, neighbors, roommate, parole officer, landlord, doctor, or IRS tax man– don’t put it on your social networking site. Same goes for your neighborhood hoodlums.

Foresquare was designed as a way to network with people near you. You can check in electronically at a particular location, meet others around you, and even become the ‘mayor’ of a particular restaurant / store if you have the most check-ins. It’s become a point of pride to oust someone as the mayor of the Starbucks near your house. One thing is for sure, if you’re checking in at an airport or movie theater, you are broadcasting to the world that you are not at your home.

Let the backlash begin.

A new site called Please Rob Me has aggregated all Foresquare check-ins into one location. There is a disclaimer that Please Rob Me’s intent is not to have people’s homes become burglarized, but what it is doing is raising many security issues. How much sharing is too much?

We all have friends who overshare- too many updates on what their kids are doing, inane comments on who got kicked off The Bachelor- even sensitive health issues they should be talking to their doctor about instead of posting on Facebook. (And maybe we’ve all been a little bit guilty of posting things like this?)

We have become complacent in our social networking habits. A friend request comes in from someone you haven’t seen since elementary school. Although you may have had a lot of fun playing on the swings with this person 25 years ago, do you know anything else about them, or what they’ve been doing?

Anyone who is jumping into social networking needs to know that you put on Twitter, Foresquare, Facebook is out there for the world to see.

In the meantime, next time I Twitter about a conference I’m attending or client I’m visiting, please note that my tough-as-nails husband and vicious dogs will be home. I promise.

@KristinMiller

Technorati Tags: Check in Services, FourSquare, Location Based Services, please rob me, social media

This isn’t going to be a post on how badly Tiger Woods screwed up both his personal and professional lives, or how terrible his PR team is.  What caught my eye was the story that broke this weekend on Accenture pulling their sponsorships away from him.

The question that came to my mind was- Are brands that align themselves SO much with a paid spokesperson doomed to fail? (more…)

Technorati Tags: brand equity, branding, transgressions and branding