First Impressions of Google+

Everyone knows that first impressions are vital, so how did Google+ do? WebProNews posed this question to numerous search and social media leaders and received a variety of responses. Loren Baker, the Vice President of Services at BlueGlass, told us that Google+ felt like a “private version of Facebook” but with a better user interface. He also pointed out that it had given people the ability to “reset” as far as selecting who to include in circles and who not to include.

When Facebook opened to the general public, most users tried to get as many friends as possible regardless of whether a relationship existed or not. Baker believes that people have gotten smarter now and are using Google+ more selectively.

Social media speaker and author Mari Smith added that there seemed to be a “different vibe inside Google+” since users were sharing more and having “more thoughtful conversation.”

One interesting aspect that Lee Odden, the CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, noticed was that it appeared to be a big traffic driver. What’s even more interesting is that the amount of time that users spent on his site to read the post he had shared was 4 times the amount that people were staying when they came from Facebook or Twitter. He said that this data was especially noteworthy since Facebook and Twitter were usually strong sources of quality traffic.

Google Makes Progress in Social

Although Google has struggled to get into the social space, Google+ appears to be its golden ticket. As many people have pointed out, the platform looks very similar to Facebook and has similar sharing aspects as well. However, it seems to flow more like Twitter.

At this point, it looks like Google+ is trying to re-produce the features that users favor on the other networks, expand on them somewhat, and also capitalize on their shortcomings. Steve Rubel, the EVP of Global Strategy and Insights for Edelman, told us that these developments have created a different type of social experience that is peaking the interest of users.

“This is their first entry that they’ve had that is really serious [and] that people are really using a lot,” he said. “It’s a very open approach that I wish others would take.”

On the other hand, Li Evans, the CEO and Co-founder of LiBeck Integrated Marketing, told us that, while Google+ is a better attempt at social than its previous efforts, its value proposition is still lacking.

“What is the value proposition? What do I get from Google+?” she asked.

She went on to say that, at this point, she did not see the same value on Google+ that she sees in Facebook and LinkedIn.

Google+ Vs. Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter

Because of the positive feedback that the platform has gotten, it is only natural that people are questioning how Google+ will faceoff against the other social networks. Tech analyst Rob Enderle recently told us that Facebook had an advantage over Google+ since it had the majority of users.

But, as we all know, Myspace was the biggest social network when Facebook began. Enderle indicated that, if Facebook wasn’t careful, it could fall to Google+, just as Myspace did to it.

While Barry Schwartz, the CEO of RustyBrick, speaks very highly of Google+, he doesn’t think that Facebook has anything to worry about.

“I don’t think Google+ will kill Facebook going forward, I think, Facebook will still be very strong… probably the strongest player in that market,” he said.

Rubel doesn’t see Facebook dying to Google+ either. He thinks it has promise but said he had some doubts too.

“There’s no doubt that it’s going to be a strong #3 or #4,” said Rubel. “Whether it goes mainstream… the jury’s out. I don’t see that happening so fast.”

Smith also agreed that Facebook should not be worried about Google+. She did, however, say that, while it would always be an important player, she could see Facebook losing its #1 spot in the social space.

“If Facebook could just launch a powerful search engine, it would be fierce competition right back at ya for Google,” she said.

She went to say that Twitter, even though it needed improvements, was also a valuable product that would not likely fall to Google+.

Odden believes that Twitter is very effective as well for both business and personal usage. He explained to us that the propagation that happens on Twitter is very different that the closed environment of Google+

“Google+ is all about Google,” he said. “It’s not about propagating externally so much, whereas Twitter, is completely wide open.”

He did add that, if Twitter and Facebook were smart, they would find ways to work with Google+.

Incidentally, Facebook has seemingly responded to Google+ with its group chat release and video chat feature. It also announced a new page called Facebook for Business, which some believe was to counter Google’s shut down of business accounts.

When Google+ does roll out its business option, Baker told us that he could see it having a “competitive advantage” over Facebook if it incorporates Google products such as Deals, Latitude, and Places. He also said that if Google+ is fully integrated into mobile devices and Android, it could have the same penetration that Gmail has. Since Android dominates the mobile market, he thinks that Google+ has the potential to grow exponentially.

Wishlist of Further Development

Despite its extensive growth rate, Google+ has had its problems in its short existence. There have been privacy concerns in regards to user names, and there was also disappointment that the service launched without support for many Google Apps. The lack of business product was, of course, another basis for complaint.

So, what else would people like to see from Google+? Baker told us that he has had issues with Google+ since he has both a personal Gmail account and an apps Gmail account. For this reason, he would like for Google to converge the two accounts together.

On the topic of search, he said he would like more integration of Google+ into the search results. He suggested that Google cater search results based on each users’ Circles.

Evans and Odden both told us they would like to see more sharing capabilities. Rubel also said that the mobile experience has to improve. He would  like to have Hangouts move beyond 10 people as well.

Smith believes that Sparks needs a lot of work. Additionally, she wants Google to allow developers to have access to its API in order to create tools and other features on top of the platform.

Odden said he understood that Google was trying to produce a product especially for businesses, but he thinks that, in the mean time, businesses should be allowed to have a profile. As he explained, Google could then give them a migration tool to transfer information, once a business option is available.

Google definitely has a ways to go, but it’s clear that the company is dedicated to Google+ and succeeding in the social space.

“Google has not said this is a fully baked product,” said Rubel. “They’ve said it’s a field trial patience is a virtue.”

More WebProNews Videos

If you’re worried about doing social media, you’re probably doing it wrong. Social media is not a goal. It’s a means to achieving goals you have probably always had as a business. 

WebProNews recently spoke with Lee Odden of Top Rank Online Marketing about effectively utilizing channels that are available to you, and simply being social, rather than just doing social. 

"Consumers expect more in the buying cycle," says Odden. "It’s no longer a matter of just checking inventory and going, ‘Ok, I’ll take one.’ They’re searching. They’re asking recommendations of friends and reading reviews, and maybe they finally buy, and maybe they share the fact that they bought with their friends."

"So customers are expecting more, but as a marketer, giving more isn’t better," he says. "Being better is better – meaning a better experience. The idea is a better experience. It’s not a matter of quantity. It’s a matter of quality. Enhancing the customer experience and how they discover you, how they interact with you, making it easy for them to share that whole thing…"

"And then post customer marketing also," he adds. "Using social media is pretty critical I think, and a lot of folks aren’t doing that. They’re all focused on the top of the funnel, but they’re not focused on creating relationships and community and after-the-sale kinds of engagement, which is all content that can be optimized for search."

If you’re trying to find ways to use social media, perhaps you should look at the ways you’re using other channels, and go from there. At least see which of these things are working, and which are not, and which of those that are can be accomplished at the same level, or probably a greater level using social channels. 

"People understand things in terms of what they already know," explains Odden. "So we look at social media channels, and we go, ‘Wow, that’s just like other marketing channels.’ So they look at it purely as marketing. One of the things I like to tell people asking about measuring ROI of social media is how do you measure ROI having a phone system in your company?"

"A communication platform is what it is, and it can accomplish many different objectives," he continues. "Social media is no different. If you have a situation where you want to use social channels to facilitate sales, then yeah, you could do that, but you can also engage customers in terms of a customer service situation or you can use it for public relations/media relations purposes."

"Anything, when you’re talking about word-of-mouth, when you can use technology to facilitate word-of-mouth, that’s essentially what social media is," he adds.

Businesses are constantly trying to measure the ROI of social media, but the ROI will come from the products that being social brings your business – not necessarily just from the social channel itself. 

"As more companies shift from doing social to being social, we’ll see a lot more ROI," says Odden. "We’ll actually see a lot more business outcomes achieved vs. folks just counting fans/friends/followers and so forth."

Odden talked a bit about some things companies are missing the mark on – mistake that are being made. "Not listening, not paying attention, not monitoring brand terms, not monitoring for what employees are doing that sort of thing. Certainly not monitoring for customer service issues. Those are all opportunities."

"IBM had a case study in eMarketer that cited they are uncovering millions of dollars in leads simply by having volunteers they call seekers that are using clever search queries on social sites, looking for people talking about their products or even competitors, and then jumping in and engaging in conversation. I think that’s low-hanging fruit really…just the notion of listening."

"Through that listening, you can identify where people are talking about stuff that’s important to your buying cycle..that’s important to your prospects that you’re looking for," says Odden. 

"I think another no-no is the notion of fragmented or disconnected or siloed social media efforts within a company," he adds. "This is more common in a large company where let’s say marketing goes and starts a blog, and they start a Facebook Page. Then Public Relations goes and starts one too, and they never talk to each other."

"It’s confusing in that one brand interaction is a particular way," he continues. "Or when fans create a social destination about a brand and the brand doesn’t recognize that or participate. Especially if they go in and go, ‘look, you’re not official, so we’re going to shut you down.’ No. No. No. Why would you do that? Be like Coke and go, ‘Wow, you guys are doing a fantastic job. Rock on. Here’s more resources for you to keep doing what you’re doing.’"

There’s nothing social about treating your fans like crap. If anything, that’s antisocial. 

Brand awareness goes beyond just having a random customer find your site in a set of search results or through a link from their Facebook news feed. Have you considered how channels like search and social media are used by media outlets and journalists? The fact of the matter is that journalists and bloggers alike utilize both to a great extent while covering their beats.

Do you take press coverage into consideration? Comment here.

Search and social both play significant roles in PR. This is a topic that WebProNews recently discussed with TopRank Online Marketing CEO Lee Odden. Odden calls journalists customers, and in many ways they should be treated as such when it comes to getting your product or site in front of their eyeballs.

Odden says to look at what it is you can do as a marketer to make it easier for the journalist to do their job. Optimize your content for what a journalist is looking for. This is one way you can potentially increase your media coverage, which can obviously increase brand awareness.

Odden makes a great point online journalists often having tighter deadlines, and turning to blogs and social networks for sources and quotes. For example, the real-time nature of a Twitter search might be just what a journalist or blogger need to find someone who’s talking about the subject they’re writing about, at nearly the moment they’re looking for it.

For that matter, Google’s real-time search can help for the same reason, and most journalists and bloggers frequently use Google to search for what they’re looking for. If what they’re looking for happens to be related to a newsy topic, they just might see Google’s real-time results literally before anything else. If that topic happens to be related to something you’re talking about, you just might end up in those results too. Google is also indexing updates from Facebook Pages here now, by the way.

The point is, if you are looking for increased media coverage, there are ways to increase your chances of getting in front of the right people, and it is certainly not limited to real-time search. Sometimes journalists/bloggers will simply tap their contacts within their social networks (or email of course) to find sources. This is as good a reason as any to engage in social media on a regular basis and network with lots of relevant people.

If attracting media attention is what you’re after, consider these five tips I offered in a SmallBusinessNewz article last year:

1. Do something that’s different – Simply do something that makes you stand out: something that gets people talking. If it creates enough buzz, the media coverage will likely follow.

2. Look for niche publications – the more niche the publication, the more likely they probably are to cover you.

3. Personalize your message – When you’re writing an email to a publication to talk about your business, for example, personalize the message for the specific person you’re contacting, so they know it’s not just a manufactured piece that you’re sending all over the web. Journalists like exclusivity.

4. Find multiple contacts – If you can find more than one contact for a particular publication, it may be wise to send your story pitch to them. This will increase the potential visibility among the publication’s staff.

5. Provide plenty of details – When sending such a pitch, it’s a good idea to include as many details about the product/story as possible. The more details available, the less research is required, and time is more valuable than ever, especially for a journalist.

Another piece of advice I would give is to not let your press center hold back your marketing opportunities. I’ve seen a lot of companies fail to keep their own press centers up to date with the latest news, even as big announcements are made, and even if they have issued press releases. Often times, these releases won’t even be available on the site until later. If you want to increase your chances of more media coverage, you should always have your latest news readily available in your press center, or via your blog – wherever you make announcements. And always provide contact info.

Share your tips for increasing press coverage.

A lot of Internet users spend a great deal of their time socializing or using social media sites in one way or another, whether that is to connect with others or simply to obtain information. Information is a key component of social media that often takes a backseat to communication in discussion of social media tools.

The fact of the matter is that more and more people are getting more and more of their information from social sites. That could be in the form of following a news publication on Twitter, following company updates on a blog or a Facebook page, or something as simple as a friend sharing a link.

Given that people are getting more info from social media sites, of course search engines want a piece of that, because their whole reason for existence is naturally to help users find what they are looking for on the web.

So, it stands to reason that if you want people to find information that you are producing, it can help a great deal to publish information and participate in conversations on social media sites. Never mind that users of those particular sites will have access to it. The general public will as well by way of search, regardless of whether or not they are a part of any particular community.

In an interview with WebProNews, Vanessa Fox, who used to work for Google, talked about reasons that businesses should be thinking about social media with regards to search. It’s about visibility. If you are having discussions out there about relevant topics, they could appear in search results not only in real-time search, but further down the road as well.

In other words, if you have a conversation with a peer on Twitter about some topic related to your niche, there is a good chance the resulting tweets of that conversation could appear in search results for that topic on Google, even a year from now, if that tweet happens to be relevant enough. That’s just an example (note: it’s hard to say at this point, just how tweets will impact search once the Google-Twitter deal starts showing results).

There are a variety of ways in which a social campaign can contribute to your performance in search engines, regardless of what these recent deals might produce. Like Lee Odden of Top Rank Online Marketing recently discussed with WebProNews, you can optimize your social content.

The web went blog crazy a few years back. Marketers found out that blogs were great for achieving search engine visibility because of the content and links that can come from them. It’s not that different with social media now. The web has largely moved into a social media-heavy phase, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. Search engines obviously know this and care about it.

As Fox says in her interview, it’s getting to the point where more businesses are starting to realize that they need to be involved with social media. However, surveys still frequently suggest that many are reluctant, and even if they do engage to some extent, they are still holding back, and not reaching the potential they could be.

You know search is important to marketing on the web. Really, it’s important to marketing, period. If you operate on the web or off, your customers are on still online, as Fox noted. Social media is growing increasingly important to search. And search is only one aspect of online marketing. There are many more benefits to social media than that.

How important is social media to search? Share your thoughts.

Related Articles:

> Facebook/Twitter Use May Now Mean More for Google/Bing Rankings

> Social is Only Going to Become More Important to Search

> Where Social Media Fits Into the SEO Equation

Right now, online reputation management is critical, and social media has certainly made this both easier to manage, but also easier to dismantle at the same time. A question that has bounced around in my mind on occasion for quite some time has been – will we ever get to a point when reputation management actually becomes less of an issue, simply because the web is so saturated with everybody’s dealings (many of which are bound to be negative by today’s standards)?

I’m thinking about this more from the perspective of the individual rather than the brand. I think about kids in particular that don’t necessarily consider the potential consequences of posting questionable things online. At what point (if any) will employers, schools, etc. accept the fact that questionable material is simply the norm, and let it have less of an impact on decisions like hiring and admission? What is more likely – this kind of tolerance, or an increased sense of responsibility among people (especially the young)?

I thought it would be interesting to find out what some of the experts in the field think about the subject, so I got in touch with Andy Beal, creator of one of the most popular online reputation management tools – Trackur, as well as Greg Jarboe from SEO-PR, Lee Odden from TopRank Online Marketing, and search marketer Dave Naylor.

Following are some thoughts they shared with me, some of which are actually pretty amusing.

Andy Beal: While I continue to see evidence that any negative Google result can hurt your career prospects, at some point employers may find that every candidate has some kind of skeleton in their closet. If this starts to happen, then we’ll likely see employers shrugging-off minor infractions and instead only worrying about those negative events that provide a significant reflection on the candidate’s suitability.

Greg Jarboe: We are all living in a digital fish bowl.  Anybody and everybody can see what we’re doing, or they can find out with a little bit of searching.  So, we’re had better be doing things that we can explain to our family and friends. It’s like living in a small community, where everyone knows who you are.  If you rent a video at Blockbuster, your neighbor’s kid is working behind the counter and the town gossip is standing behind you in line.  So, I’d recommend watching a comedy.

On Kids:

Yes, but they learn about the dangers of that just as quickly as the other dangers that we had to learn about growing up.  I’m more concerned with the business executives who don’t know what is being said about their company online.  Just because they don’t know about it doesn’t mean it isn’t hurting their business.

On Employers/schools/etc.

Maybe a generation from now they [will] be more forgiving, but for the next 20 years, the first thing someone will do is Google you.

It may take a generation before those who are making hiring or admissions decisions remember what was posted about them on Facebook or YouTube when they were younger.  In the meantime, imagine that your mother is reading every post you write and watching every move you make.  By the way, she already is.

Lee Odden: On the one hand, I do think some of what we consider gray area behavior documented in photos, status updates and even video will not be seen as so controversial as far as personal content on the social web. It makes me think of the contrast of how bands like the Clash or even Elvis seemed so controversial long ago and are quite tame by today’s standards.

That is not to say people won’t need to mind their social Ps and Qs. Blatant, overt and inappropriate behavior is timeless when there’s context. Sticking a French fry in your nose and farting on pepperoni before serving them to a customer, for example, is inappropriate in a timeless sort of way. Holding a drink at a party or mentioning generalities about a wild weekend are not as much of an issue.

Competition to get into a great school or a great job should motivate active social web participants to manage their online reputation in whatever way that will give them an advantage. Those that don’t pay attention may find themselves in a timeless search for something better despite loosening standards or more liberal perspectives about what’s ok and what crosses the line.

Dave Naylor: I think it could be an issue. I had a parent call me once to see if I could help get her son’s comments removed from a public forum. In the heat of a flame war, he left a very out of character comment, which in turn ended up ranking for his name. The kid was about to start looking at which university he was going to apply for, when he had some quite major panic attacks and came clean to his mum.

When I spoke to the kid’s mum it was only too evident that both where mortified by one heat of the moment. We all make mistakes in real life but on the net they can stick around forever. Of course these comments didn’t after a few emails backwards and forwards.

I tell my kids and other younger family member that once you hit that send button or that picture gets online it’s damn hard to remove, so just don’t do it. The last thing you need if you are a 16 year girl is appearing on exgfs.com (nsfw) or another site like that. Kids are kids and will make many mistakes! The Internet is not designed to protect them.

It took me weeks to clean up the naked bull riding I did in New Orleans at a conference

Wrapping up

There you have it. While nobody can be certain of how the future will go, all we can do is pretty much be careful and educate our children on how to handle themselves online. As for those looking to be the next generation’s Elvis, you can probably let the times dictate just how far you can appropriately push the envelope.

I’d like to thank Beal, Jarboe, Odden, and Naylor for their contributions to this article. What do you think about the matter? Do you think employers and schools will become more open-minded about what is considered tolerable online behavior in the future? Discuss this here.

Perhaps this is indicative of social media marketing in general. In the same session, or "Super Session," if you will, Wayne Sutton of Social Wayne said, "social media is the online way of doing it the offline way." That’s an interesting way of putting it. As Odden says, it’s not direct marketing. It influences purchases down the line. Following are some various thoughts from speakers at the session, Odden, Sutton, Social Media Wiz Chris Brogan, and Reem Abeidoh of Social Impressions:

Chris Brogan: If it’s just transactional sales, Twitter might not be best thing, but if you’re building relationships or multiple transactions, you need that relationship.

Reem Abeidoh: Professional perspective may not directly bring in dollars, but can build awareness.

Reem Abeidoh: Identify where your customers are at, and that’s what social media really is.

Reem Abeidoh: It’s about being social – you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.

Reem Abeidoh: Facebook is a great resource because you can have both personal and public relationships

On the Biggest Risks of social media for small businesses:

Lee Odden: Businesses need to have a strategy before going into it

Reem Abeidoh: You have to kinda avoid making mistakes online because it’s there forever.

On the Skittles Episode:

Reem Abeidoh: Almost genius… brave; started new trend and expects other companies to do it

Lee Odden: As a PR stunt, successful, but not in value; believes consumers want value

Wayne Sutton: It’s creative, but Pepsi is doing it better like what they’re doing for SXSW — they bring it to their own site.

Abby Johnson contributed to this report. Read more from PubCon South and stay tuned to the WebProNews Video Blog for exclusive interviews with marketing experts.

Online PR is a perfect solution for a topic that shines less light on tactics du jour, althought linkbaiting still works well, and more on leveraging the media and centers of influence online. I’ve written about how SEO and Online PR can work together in the past, but in this presentation I’ll be focusing on the Do’s and Don’ts of media relations and blogger relations.

Here’s a highlight to give you a taste of what I’ll be talking about and may be helpful as an outline for any bloggers that might be covering the session.

When working with online public relations programs, we typically distinguish PR activities into “push” tactics, which are methods of reaching out such as by sending out press released through a wire service, pitching journalists and bloggers via email and phone, distributing news information through RSS and a few clever uses of PPC. Alternatively, “pull” tactics are centered around optimizing content so it is easy for journalists and bloggers doing research to find.

The fundamentals that make blogger relations and media relations efforts successful center on relevance and relationships. One of the biggest complaints both journalists and bloggers have in regard to news stories that are pitched to them is that the stories are simply not relevant. More on how to fix that in a bit.

The other fundamental, relationships, is very key because credible, trustworthy and sound-bite savvy expers and resources are good/difficult to come by. Too many SEOs trying to pitch blogs or even mainstream media approach it like typical link building – a one time event. The reality is, that publication or blog would love to find a great resource they can cite and link to over and over again. While the SEO value of links from the same domain name diminishes with frequency, they are still traffic driving opportunities.

Here is a summary of the DO’s:

• Do your homework
• Be relevant
• Understand the difference: journalists vs bloggers
• Make it easy
• Publicize your publicity

And here are the DON’Ts:

• Don’t be sloppy or spammy
• Don’t be a one trick pony
• Don’t be arrogant
• Don’t ignore multiple promotion channels
• Don’t forget to say thank you

There’s a tremendous amount of opportunity for companies to develop win-win-win relationships with the media and bloggers. The readership of those web sites get useful content. Bloggers and journalists develop a relationship with a credible source that will help them write better stories and blog posts. The company wins by being mentioned authoritatively on a regular basis.

Key points: Do your homework, be personal and relevant in your pitching. Make it easy for the journalist or blogger to use you as an expert or content source and by all means, develop a relationship that results in a win for everyone involved.

The “Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Mentions Online” session is this Thursday 3/20 at the NY Hilton, Sutton South room at 11:15 am. The panel and I hope to see you there!

Comments

A while back, I had a search marketing job candidate answer the, “Where would you like to be in 2-3 years?” question with, “I want to be a famous SEO”. “Why?” I would ask. “Because that’s my goal”. Fair enough, but it’ll be tough to pay the bills with a wallet full of famous.

An amazing number of people seem to think becoming well known in the search marketing business is an end in and of itself. Not seeing the forest for the trees, these folks put vast amounts of time into link bait ridden blogs, networking up and getting addicted to the rush of ego that comes from being recognized. Is it because they misunderstand reputation marketing or are they really thinking being a “SEO celebrity” is a bankable goal?

The reality is, the benefit of getting a brand out there, whether it’s a personal brand or a company brand, is to establish credibility and confidence in abilities to the target market. Becoming known is a stepping stone to achieving other goals like new clients, speaking gigs (especially paid speaking gigs), connections with marketing partners, talented employees and other activities that generate business.

Earning that business, delivering and being successful because of providing value is what earns a reputation. Establishing a well known brand and reputation in an industry is only worthwhile if there’s something to back it up. Otherwise, all that is achieved is a hollow online existence requiring the constant feeding of “notoriety crack”.

I personally network enthusiastically and our blogging team has been known to write a few compelling blog posts from time to time. But there is a reason for it, a goal. It’s not to be well known, it is to open doors for potential clients, employees or marketing partners to do business.

Writing blog posts for the benefit of the industry and getting links from other SEO blogs is fine, but being able to write blog posts that consider the needs and pain points of your target audience and giving enough information to demonstrate your expertise while not completely giving the goods away to competitors is a skill worth developing.

Make no mistake, if a potential SEO client has heard of a SEO consultant or agency from several credible source(s), then it can shorten the sales cycle to next to nothing. It can attract more desirable clients at better market rates. But there is a difference between being “that” guy or gal everybody knows but with little to back up the notoriety – ie clients/income and being the well known person/company that got there by consistently doing great work and attracting a premium client roster.

Maybe it’s really an issue of the “chicken or the egg” coming first. How is a new person/agency going to get clients if no one knows about them? Alternatively, how will anyone know about them unless they have some impressive clients to brag about? If that’s the case, then I say blog on, network like crazy and get some business going.

I’m curious if any readers have noticed the “need to be SEO famous” thing lately? Is it an issue or is it a good thing that gets more good content published and networking going on than otherwise would happen?

Comments

From what I can tell they have been live for over 1 month now, it is possible I received invites before and didn’t respond to them, along with the other 20+ invites I seem to receive to every new social networking platform.

I thought it would be worth writing a few tips, just as I did for Gooruze as there are a few gotchas, and ways to increase your benefit of using and contributing to the new Fast company site.

This isn’t a site that would interest many niche bloggers, though I dare say many of my readers who blog in related niches such as social media, technology or various forms of online marketing might benefit from using it. Think of it very much as a niched LinkedIn.

Adding Your Blog

There is the opportunity to add your blog to their list of optional feeds to include in their feed reader and have listed on profile pages.

Whatever you do, take your time when creating the description, as it supports HTML, and there doesn’t seem to be a method of editing it afterwards, at least I haven’t found one.

The first 2 or 3 lines seem to show up in general feed subscription areas, so make sure there is enough information to encourage a few clicks from potential interested users.

In addition you should include an extended profile with a few links This is important because a full description is displayed on the profile page of any person who decides to display it and sign up to your feed within Fastcompany.

From what I can see those links are search engine friendly, as you will see on my Andy Beard – Niche Marketing profile page.

You will also notice that feed descriptions are viral – everyone who adds you will also provide links from their profiles.

Fastcompany Bio and Profile

There is plenty of opportunity to get creative with your bios on Fastcompany and an opportunity for highly relevant links.

Links with anchor text can be added in the Bio section, a link without anchor text to a personal website, and even a link with anchor text to any company that you have worked for, using the company name.

Blogging Opportunity

Aaron Wall has just joined as well, not sure whether that was via an invite from Lee, or if Aaron invited Lee, and has taken the opportunity to test out the blogging system which uses Drupal.

Apparently there is the opportunity to have content promoted to the front page, though I am not sure whether that applies to the front page of "beta" or the front page of Fast Company itself.

Is there an opportunity in this?

Possibly – guest blogging has benefits if you are writing on a blog in the same or similar niche, and Fastcompany has a lot of subscribers if your content gets promoted to the front page and their RSS feeds. This might be worthwhile if you cover a particular topic in great depth on your own blog, and wish to also introduce the topic with a lighter post to a slightly wider audience.

Groups

Fastcompany has groups – to be honest doesn’t everywhere? Unless they provide an easy way to track group discussions, I am just going to ignore it for now, just like I generally end up not taking part in Facebook groups as much as I should… or maybe shouldn’t, again that is a time factor and opportunity cost.

The Scoble Effect

With Robert Scoble now working for Fastcompany, you can be sure that the site will attract a little more attention, though he will be concentrating on video content.

Fast Company Beta Conclusions

For me creating a FastCompany profile was worth a couple of hours work, and may bring some benefits in the future. I will probably add a few blog posts of a more general marketing or technology nature and see what benefit can be gained.

I am not sure if it is invite only, but if you want an invite, just ask in the comments and make sure you comment with an email address suitable for the invite to be received.

I would like to emphasise not abusing Fast Company with lots of spam links, I am sure they have some moderation in place and most of these tips will have little use if your blog doesn’t represent content they think the Fast Company readership will enjoy.

Update

Thanks to Jim from Seo Wrench as he has confirmed you can sign up without an invite.

*Originally published at AndyBeard.eu