Tech Corner Post: Google+

Written by Kelsey Garrison

Google+

            Google+ is a social media network that allows you to connect with friends, family, and acquaintances, while also keeping you up to speed on what’s trending in the Google+ world. Created by Google, it was launched in June 2011 in an “invitation only/testing” stage. By September 2011, it was completely open to the public. Today, Google+ has about 400 million users, 100 million of which are active members on a monthly basis.

As I explored Google+, I took a look at the similarities and differences between this social media network and others, like Facebook and Twitter. Along with all of the essential applications to connect you to the world around you (such as text chat, creating events, photo uploading, and status updates), there are several new features in Google+ that we have not seen in other social media networks before. One example of this is the Hangouts feature. This feature allows the user to video chat with multiple people at a time. For a company, this could be very helpful for use in conference calls and meetings where long distances might be a factor. Another example of a feature that Google+ offers that other social media network sites do not is the Circles feature. Although this feature is a little similar to Facebook “lists” , the Circles feature on Google+ is much more user friendly. Circles allows you to create groups to separate the people you are connected with. This allows you to decide who is able to see what information you post on your page. For example, if you have pictures from a fun weekend in Vegas that you don’t necessarily want your boss and co-workers to see, you can make it visible to only your circle of friends. This feature makes privacy much more accessible and user friendly than on Facebook. This feature could also be very helpful in a workplace environment. For example, the General Manager of a company could utilize this feature when working with committees and delegating tasks. It is an easy way to communicate within the different groups. It also makes it very easy to share information between each other, without other companies (that you are connected with) being able to see the shared information.

Although Google+ has very many features that could be beneficial to a company, I do not believe it is a necessary social media network to a business. Externally, a company’s Google+ profile page is no different than a company’s Facebook page. To the consumer, there is no difference. However, I do believe that companies could really benefit from utilizing Google+ internally in the work place by using applications such as Circles, Hangouts, and several other features offered by Google+.

                                                  

Tech Corner Post: More about Pinterest

Written by Amanda Brodzik

 

Gone are the days of physical thumb tacks and bulletin boards.  These tactile objects have made way for Pinterest, the virtual pinboard.

Launched in 2010, Pinterest became the fastest-growing site ever and has since attracted over 32 million members.  These members use the site to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, hobbies and more.  Users can browse other pinboards for inspiration, re-pin images to their own collections or like photos.  Pinterest users are overwhelmingly female and young to middle-adged.  Women represent 72% of Pinterest, while males only account for 28%.

PR professionals can use Pinterest in both promotional and inspirational ways.  An obvious use of Pinterest is that companies/brands can visually represent and promote their products on the Internet.  Pinterest can also take this a step further by showing ways you can use a product or brand.  For instance, if your company sells grills, you can create pinboards to not only display your products, but show how to use them with different recipes, techniques and tools and accessories.  Someone on the other end of Pinterest may have never thought that they needed to buy a grill, but when they see your company's mouthwatering recipes and fun tips, they may be inclined to purchase one.  A great example of this is IKEA UK’s Pinterest boards; the company has boards filled with images, but not a single one is for a product of theirs.  Companies can also use Pinterest as a storefront to drive sales.  Besides using Pinterest to reach others, a PR professional can use it to inspire themselves.  Decorating a venue, designing a website or looking for typography, Pinterest can serve as a never-ending inspiration for any PR initiative.

Tech Corner Post: Instagram

Written by Katie LeVan

Instagram Delivers Instant Gratification

Welcome to the world of Instagram, a nontraditional social media platform that is a free application which can be downloaded by Android, iPhone and iPad users.  Instagram launched in October 2010 and is a great interactive social media tool used by millions across the globe, including a variety of companies and organizations.  In the past seven months, Instagram has experienced a 400 percent increase and now has over 80 million users.

Although the notion “a picture speaks 1,000 words” is a bit cliché, it hits the nail on the head when applied to the general concept and objectives of Instagram.  This is a platform that produces visual stimulus via a photograph with just a click of a button, it’s highly interactive and is very beneficial to many companies and organizations.  Research shows that Instagram proves to be a successful promotional tool to create product and brand awareness.  To further the reach among an audience, it is important to consider sharing the Instagrammed image on other social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook.  Another key tactic to note is the use of hash tagging as a means of driving traffic to a specific photo and ultimatelty the Instagram account for a specific company or organization.

 Yes, it is about constant content when it comes to the social media realm in order to keep an audience engaged, but there is a lot more than constantly posting images that goes into the strategic methods behind Instagramming.  In the end, businesses and organizations are using Instagram as a platform to create brand and product awareness.  The ultimate goal is to develop brand loyalty through the promotional efforts of posting images that are most relevant to the target audience a specific company or organization is trying to reach.  Statigram, which is considered a web-based third party Instagram management site, is a great tool to use in order to track and monitor statistics.   

Instagram is used more frequently among the “instant gratification generation,” because the visual stimulus is readily available with the clicks of a few buttons on a smart phone and not much reading is required.  With this said, Instagram will continue to gain more users and become a prominent platform for companies and organizations to promote products, establish brand awareness and share ideas.  Now, more than ever is the time to hop on the Instagram express, it’s the Polaroid of the web.

Tech Corner Post: SEO

Written by Morgan Andrews

            Search engine optimization is defined as the way to improve visibility of a website in a search engine’s ‘natural’ search results. When searching for anything through a search engine like Google, Bing, or Yahoo, the software pulls key information from a website’s HTML code. HTML code is what a website is made of and the information in the code helps categorize the pages in the indexes of the search engines. Search engine optimization has many parts to it such as hosting issues, content and structure of the site, and keyword search, which is most important. The main goal is ultimately to increase traffic and visibility to the specified website. The ability to manipulate and design ‘metadata’, which is how a website describes the content, organizes the information for search engines. The focus is primarily on how and what people are searching for using keywords. Not bringing a website to its full potential using search engine optimization will ultimately cause the website to be lost in a sea of information. An example would be if someone were searching for a motorcycle shop in Atlanta because they needed his or her bike repaired but did not know of a specific shop. By typing in ‘motorcycle’, ‘repair’ or ‘Atlanta’ the search engine the individual was using sorted through and picked the website with the most relevant information to the keywords. You want to optimize your site so that your website appears first in the search results. Anyone in the PR industry can utilize these search engine optimization tactics to increase recognition for the clients they are working with. Also, companies or organizations should update their sites frequently in order to keep the audience’s attention. However, search engine optimization can be used for your own personal digital presences. College graduates should be very involved in what they put on the Internet and through which sites they project content. In today’s digital world and with the numerous social media sites, an individual can promote themselves outside of their resume.

External Links:

http://searchengineland.com/seotable

http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en/us/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF515-0Tduk

Tech Corner Post: More on Twitter

Written by Jessica Hayman

            Jack Dorsey, an American web developer and businessman, created Twitter in March 2006. The program was launched in July 2006 and instantly gained worldwide popularity. By 2012, Twitter had reached well over 500 million active users who generated over 340 million tweets a day. It is not necessary to become a member to view twitter posts, however, to take part in this social media outlet, you must join the other 500 million users and become a Twitter bird.

            Twitter has been dubbed the “SMS” of the Internet. The messages are called “tweets” and are limited to just 140 words, forcing people to use shorthand and text language to communicate in few words.  Pear Analytics, a market-research firm based in San Antonio, analyzed 2,000 tweets over a two week period in August 2009 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and separated them into six categories: 40% of tweets were just pointless babble, 38% of tweets were conversational, 9% of tweets were of pass-along value, 6% of tweets were self-promotion, 4% of tweets were spam, and 4% were news.

            There are two unique devices used on Twitter unlike any other social media: hashtags and mentions. Hashtags are words or phrases used to group tweets by certain topics of discussion. They begin with the # symbol and are followed by the specific topic at hand. Mentions are used to reply to a fellow “tweep” (tweet + peep = friend) and can be used to hold Twitter conversations. Mentions begin with the @ symbol and are followed by the specific friend’s username.

            The Wikipedia definition of a “trending topic” is “a word, phrase, or topic that is tagged at a greater rate than other tags.” These topics are the most talked about subject matter on the Twitter universe. All users can access and follow different trends which appear on the left hand side of the Twitter homepage.

            Not only is Twitter an effective way to help communicate with friends, it is also used to share pictures. With the rising popularity of the Instagram app, more and more people are tweeting pictures of their daily life from what they eat, to the book they are reading, to some strange goings on in their immediate vicinity. Photo sharing is made easy with Twitter because with a touch of a button, pictures can be uploaded from cell phones and instantly published to your twitter feed to share with all of your followers.

            The most important social media use that Twitter provides is an emergency communication system. Whenever there is breaking news, whether it is a natural disaster, a medical epidemic, or a political debacle, Twitter representatives for every organization are there to provide information to the public in a quick, timely manner. Also, Twitter is used to make other media outlets more interactive and social. Television, for instances, is a great example of how Twitter can be used to make TV shows more interactive. The viewers have a chance to interact with the show and the actors and become important decision makers for the show. Competition shows like American Idol and The Voice are probably the best example of how the audience can actually affect the outcome of a show. By engaging their audience, shows such as this increase their viewing numbers.

How to Use Twitter (video)

The Voice Twitter Page

Choose the SNL Host