Technology

Google+ Pages for Business Launches: First Thoughts

November 8, 2011 by Kari Rippetoe

Since Google+ first launched in June, the question on the minds of many people (especially those of us in the social media “biz”) was when they would launch a platform for businesses to compete with Facebook pages. Google sure didn’t wait long. Less than 2 weeks after announcing that Google+ Pages would be launched in November, they rolled it out in rather quick fashion – within just a day. Sure, it was slightly haphazard (this page led many to believe they could create their page, when in fact it hadn’t been rolled out to them yet); but Google really didn’t muck around.

We’ve created a Google+ Page for Tuvel Communications, so I’ll be playing around with it a bit more in the coming days. I talked about Google+ as a big social media trend to watch in 2012 at a recent seminar we gave, and even though it’s still early days, I’m excited to see what the future will bring for business pages. Google still has some work to do, though.

I really like the idea of being able to share content with targeted Circles of people, which really brings content and marketing relevancy to a new level in social media. If you were able to get your customers on Google+ and then add them to Circles based on their purchases, interests, industry, etc., you’d have a strong content delivery platform at your fingertips. Not to mention the ability to create Hangouts (basically live video chats) with your circles.

I’ve noticed that a business cannot add people to a Circle until they’ve added the business first, which I think is a bit of a speedbump. The Google+ crowd is still very much comprised of early adopters, so businesses have to clear two hurdles in order to deliver content to their customers – first, getting them on Google+, and second, getting them to add the business to a Circle. A third potential hurdle is getting people to actually use Google+ once they’re on it. Social media fatigue might cause many to wonder why they need to join yet another social network, and it won’t be just so a business can bombard them with more marketing messages. As Google+ grows, marketers will begin to figure out how to best utilize Google+ Pages and deliver value to their customers in a new way.

What are your thoughts? Do you think Google+ Pages will become the next big social network that brands and businesses must be a part of, or is Facebook too much to compete with?

Do Virtual and Hybrid Events Cannibalize F2F Events?

September 21, 2010 by Kari Rippetoe

I recently had the pleasure of attending EventCamp Twin Cities – without leaving my office. How? I attended the virtual event, held in tandem with the live, face-to-face (F2F) event in the Twin Cities. I was extremely impressed by the entire event and particularly the virtual side. Thanks to technology partners like Intefy and Sonic Foundry, as well as awesome organizers like Samuel J. Smith of Interactive Meeting Technology, Ray Hansen of Appevision and EventCamp Twin Cities virtual host Emilie Barta, my experience as a virtual attendee was as if I were right there in the room, participating with everyone else. I came away from EventCamp Twin Cities filled with excitement to attend (in person) the upcoming EventCamp East Coast in Philadelphia.
I even tweeted during the event about my excitement…

2 Event-Friendly Location-Based Apps that Go Beyond “Checking In”

July 14, 2010 by Kari Rippetoe

Location-based services are the newest trend in social networking, and as such the big players in the space (Foursquare and Gowalla) are getting all sorts of attention and scrutiny. While many users of such services love broadcasting their whereabouts to their online friends and earning badges and titles of distinction in the process (Player Please badge, anyone?), others are a bit wary of them and their usefulness – and are especially concerned with potential privacy issues.
Businesses, on the other hand, are starting to find value of their own in using location-based services as a marketing tool. Even event marketers are starting to experiment with location-based social networking to promote a conference, specific exhibitor, or special sessions – something we did for this year’s NAB Show.
The only problem is when it comes to events and conferences, services like Foursquare and Gowalla aren’t quite ready for prime time. While the concept of checking in to an event or exhibitor booth in order to drive traffic and generate interest is definitely cool, the functionality is not conducive to a conference setting due to two big issues:

A venue page is built based on a single address – where several different events may take place over time.
Lack of interactivity and ability for attendees to do what they would be naturally inclined to do at a conference – network with each other.

Recently, I had conversations with folks from two different location-based apps that have set out to change all of that.