There’s little doubt that Google+ has had a phenomenal start with over 90 million members and it looks like it’s set to stay. With the launch of Google+ business profile pages, all companies from small start-ups to large corporations will be utilising these profiles to build their online connections. The latest social media contender gives companies a platform to share and connect with  existing and potential customers in more creative ways such as photo and video sharing, blogging as well as status updates.

Circles

Google + provides you with ‘Circles’ to help group together people to share content and engage with based on common interests.  This has a huge benefit for the user as they can divide content between personal and professional interests. From a brand perspective, this is an incredible opportunity — the more specific you tailor your message to a group, the more likely that group will respond and engage with you.

Host a ‘Hangout’ session

Google + allows you to host a ‘hangout’ session in which you can connect with a group via a webcam for feedback or conversations. This interactive option gives you an opportunity to reach your connections on a more personal level.

1+ button

The 1+ button can be added to your websites and blog and is excellent for increasing your ranking in Google search. It is similar to the ‘like’ button in Facebook but with the added benefit that this Google plus one button will help your articles and blogs to rank and come top in the search engine results.

Maximise sharing

Sharing is easier in Google+ so you need to share good quality content in your profile in order to thrive in this social networking site. Share news and information about your company through videos and photos and other engaging formats.

Engaging

Unlike Facebook, Google has prohibited the use of contests or promotions on its business pages resulting in the need for a higher level of engagement. This adds even more value to engagement with your connections, so make sure you interact with your groups.

If you want to appear in searches, be accepted as a group member or connection then an incomplete profile is not the answer! It’s that simple.  Take for instance a group. You find one, it has people in it that you want to connect and discuss industry topics with. You request permission to join.  You’re not accepted. More often than not it’s because the moderator can’t see who you are, and what you do from your profile headline. They don’t want to have to click on every potential member’s profile to see this so they don’t accept you and move on to the next person.

So what’s the answer? Here are a few tips to make sure your profile is optimised:

• Make sure your headline includes your specialism.  Tell people what you do, and for whom – it is this information that someone will initially see, so make sure it persuades them to connect with you! And remember, your job title is not necessarily the best option. Here’s an example.

►Specialist in PR and communications for the recruitment sector ► social media for recruiters ►stephanie@bluesky-pr.net

• Use keywords in your summary and specialities section – think about what words people will use when searching and include these. This also a good place to really sell yourself as an individual or business so add as much information as you can.
• Use your status update regularly. These are very search engine friendly and will also appear on the news feed of your connections, as well as second and third tier connections if others ‘like’ it. This will highlight your profile amongst many industry professionals.
• Use the website area. Link to different areas of your website, this might be testimonials or a case study section.
• Photo – add a picture of yourself. People like connecting with a person, not a logo or a blank space.

Follow these simple steps and you’ll be in a much better position. You’ll show up more often in searches, you’re more likely to be accepted as a group member, and you will help link up all aspects of yourself or business.

• When setting up your Facebook page, make sure that you create a company page rather than a group. This will allow you to gain likes for your page and more importantly a page enables greater interaction with your followers, and the ability to add applications (jobs and Twitter feed for example) that a group cannot.

• Populate your page with all your company’s relevant information as it is important to say who you are and what you do. Add links to your website, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles in order to instantly drive traffic there.

• Use a mixture of media to brighten up your profile. This almost goes without saying, but adding multimedia makes your Facebook profile interesting and attractive. Add photos and videos as well as text to showcase what you have been up to.

• Promote your Facebook account by including it in your email signature and adding a Facebook button to your website as well as adding links on your other social media sites such as LinkedIn pages or Twitter. That way current clients and candidates can find you at the click of a button.

• Don’t simply feed jobs into your page; add content that is engaging and relevant to your audience. Followers will find it off-putting to have their news feeds clogged up with information that doesn’t interest them so make sure your updates are appealing and significant.

• Encourage participation. Facebook is a two way platform so encourage people to talk to you too. Post questions or competitions which are of interest to your followers.

• Monitor the account and respond to any queries quickly. If you ignore a comment or question for too long your audience are unlikely to stay engaged.

• Pick the name of the page carefully. The company name isn’t always relevant, instead consider the search terms people might use to find you, for example, Construction Recruitment UK.

To find the answer to this question I turned to Twitter itself and less than a minute later I had found the Twitter silence hashtag along with various supporting account profiles. Reading through the discussions I found people across the UK pledging a Twitter silence, and the BlueSky PR team did the same.

I was amazed when I logged back into Twitter to find that the silence really had happened online too, and it really made me think about the power of the online world. We are now more connected than ever and the majority of the population are never far from a tool to access the digital community. As people use new technology to be more social, I find it truly inspiring that it is also being used to unite people across the nation.

Ten years ago I stood with a few friends to observe the Armistice Day silence; today I did the same with thousands across the UK through Twitter. If that doesn’t show how much our lives are affected by social media, just watch the Twittersphere next week to see how it is used to support Children In Need.

I have attended two recruitment in social media events recently and although I thought I was fairly social media savvy – I definitely learned some interesting new stuff showing that you can indeed teach an old dog new tricks!

The first was the UK Recruiter and  HB RIDA Directors’ Networking Event. The first presentation was from Sophie Relf the Head of Marketing Strategy at Guardian Jobs.  While I didn’t actually agree with a lot of her comments (‘social media is a walled garden, for example’ – don’t get Andy Headworth started on that!), there was one phrase she did use which really struck a chord and that was “mobile is the remote control of people’s lives.”
This was a theme that Andy Headworth of Sirona Consulting picked up when he asked “How many of you have a mobile website”? The answer of course was everyone– it’s just that most look crap!  Andy then went on to (in his own words) take down the wall brick by brick and gave some great examples of how powerful the platforms have become.

Next up was Steve Evans of NetNatives who gave some really interesting insights into how Facebook pages are changing.  Likes will no longer be the be all and endall – but visitors will able to ‘recommend’ or say ‘I work here’ – think aboutthe potential branding for a temps recruiter around that!

Will Winch of Mishcon de Reya scared everyone to death (only joking Will) by giving the legal perspectives around data protection, data theft and cyber bullying

The other event was #RTSM11 run hosted by Recruitment International.  Andy Headworth (yes him again) talked about how Facebook is a content management platform – not a social network and so your content has to be relevant interactive and interesting – not just a page of jobs!  He also told us that Google+ is now the fastest growing social network in history and there are certainly some really interesting applications for recruiters.

Patrick Traynor from LinkedIn highlighted the new company status update function and pointed out how few organisations were using the free
products and services tab on company profiles. And a really interesting nugget – mobile searching on Linked In is up 400% year on year!!

Jorgen Sundberg from Link Humans gave his top five tips on putting together a strategy for your content marketing while Dave Martin from Brave New
Talent told us that mobile will overtake desktops and laptops by 2013 and gave us a brand new buzzword – SoLoMo ( Social, Local Mobile).

Steve Ward from Cloud Nine shared a great story about his social media journey and then Oracle occupied the graveyard slot by aptly telling all
the recruiters how they recruit everything in house through social media !

All in all two great events – and I learned a lot !

On my way on to the plane, I was forced to prove that my hand luggage bag was the right dimension – fair enough. But it didn’t end there. I was then told I was delaying the flight. Why?  Because I couldn’t get my case out of the baggage size checker. My bag may well have been on the large size but it did fit – I had measured it beforehand! I was then subject to a rant from a representative of Ryanair saying I was delaying the flight (the flight was not due to take off for another 20 minutes) and they would close the doors if I didn’t get on the flight immediately. No offer to help remove my bag which, of course, would have sped up the process – just a barrage of abuse.  Of course I made the flight – in fact we didn’t take off until the scheduled departure time!

It’s experiences like this that make examples of good customer service that much nicer, and surprising.  But should you be shocked when you receive a good service? No, but it appears that in a society where poor customer experiences are rife, to feel surprised is somewhat common.  I shop at Sainsbury’s each week, I like the produce, the staff are helpful and it is convenient.  However, like most organisations they make mistakes – but it is how they are dealt with that is important.

And in an age where the likes of Facebook and Twitter are regularly used to voice grievances about bad experiences, it is even more important for brands to deal with complaints properly. Following a recent complaint, not only did I receive a call immediately from head office, but I was sent a gift voucher and a letter apologising about it. Well done Sainsbury’s – customer service does still exist.  I tweeted Sainsbury’s thanking them for the good experience, and again got an immediate response acknowledging it. But it could have been very different. If I had not heard anything I may very well have taken to Twitter or Facebook but with a different, more hostile message.

This got me thinking about how other businesses have dealt with negative comments posted online.  The very fact that these complaints are in the public domain should, you would imagine, prompt a brand to acknowledge them and act accordingly. But it appears that this is not the case in many instances. Instead the ‘ignore it’ or ‘delete it’ approach seems to be favoured.

The decision to do so speaks volumes about a brands customer service policy. By doing this rather than acknowledging and rectifying the mistake goes to show how ill informed and unorganised a business can be. Take the recent Blackberry fiasco – poor customer service at its best. By not responding to comments on social media made the negative feeling towards the brand that much worse.

So is customer service dead and buried? And has social media made businesses change their policies? It appears some have, but for those who have chosen to ignore it – the decision may well prove costly.

What I hadn’t thought about until recently though was how my social media footprint may affect my opportunity at a first impression. During a social media marketing course earlier this year my lecturer said 5 simple words which drew a chorus of nervous laughter around the room; “Anything uttered online stays online.” Ultimately once you post something online whether it be a comment to a blog, a photo from a company party or a video of you doing karaoke at your 21^st birthday party, that information will always be available somewhere on the web.

With business social networking sites such as LinkedIn, it is possible to know the full career, education, skills and network of a person without having met them. A quick Google search can give you access to photos from FLickr, YouTube videos or personal blogs. Ten minutes of simple searching and it’s possible to make a judgement on a person without giving them the opportunity of a face to face first impression.

My advice then? Before you react to anything online, pause before you click ‘publish’ or ‘post’ and think, “Would I say this to my ideal client?” If the answer is no don’t post it – it could come back to haunt you otherwise.

• Fill out your Twitter bio and upload a picture. A profile with no information can put off potential followers. People like to know they’re communicating with a human being, so it’s important to say who you are and what you do. It also helps to link to your website in order to instantly build traffic there.

• Twitter is about engagement and adding value to your community or followers. Therefore it’s wise to have a separate account for a jobs feed. It’s hard to interact with clients and candidates when they have to scroll through hundreds of jobs to find your last “proper” tweet. Clients might also find it off-putting to have their feeds clogged up with information that isn’t relevant to them. Regularly mention your jobs feed to give candidates the option to follow that account too.

• Don’t follow hundreds of people before you’ve built up a proper following or people might think you’re a spammer. Twitter is about conversation, so listen as much as you talk and build up relationships as you go.

• Promote your Twitter account by including it in your email signature and adding a Twitter button to your website as well as adding links on your other social media sites such as Facebook pages or LinkedIn. That way current clients and candidates can find you at the click of a button.

• Populate you page with a few inspirational tweets before you start following people. You only get one chance to make an impression on new followers so two or three tweets showcasing your knowledge is an advantage. BUT, don’t post these all in one day – spread them out over a week or to minimise suspicion!

The successful social media campaign

The company

Handle Recruitment is the leading recruitment consultancy for the media and entertainment industries. With more than 30 years’ experience, Handle has grown to encompass the wider demands of the increasingly complex media and entertainment arena. It is the only consultancy to have divisions dedicated to providing permanent, temporary, contract and interim solutions across all core business functions.

The challenge

BlueSky PR started work with Handle in 2010 with the brief of providing PR and communications support. Following the successful creation of multiple Twitter accounts for each division within Handle, there was a clear need to increase the follower numbers to heighten brand awareness. Handle set BlueSky the task of devising a social media campaign that would increase followers in the long run and highlight Handle to both job seekers and potential clients.

The solution

After an initial brainstorming session, BlueSky decided that a competition was the best option. However, the real issue would be how to get the information to the correct people, who would then follow them on Twitter. It was decided that the competition would be announced via email to Handle’s contacts and posted on its blog.

While Handle decided on what the competition prizes were to be, BlueSky came up with the questions. The competition details were hosted on a hidden page of the Handle website with a few questions about the company. The answers to all the questions were scattered throughout the site to encourage entrants to have a good look at the whole website and learn more about the business. In order to be sent the link to the hidden page, entrants had to follow one of the Handle Twitter accounts. They were then sent the unique website link to enter the competition.

The competition ran for two weeks, by which point the number of followers across the eight Twitter accounts had increased by over 800. Furthermore, the number of candidates that registered for jobs during the competition and in the following two weeks increased by 20%.

What they say

“We knew we had to increase our social media following but were unsure how to go about this. Once we had decided on what sort of prizes we would give away, BlueSky handled all aspects of the competition and came up with some great ideas. Following the competition, we have maintained our high Twitter following and have noticed a significant increase in candidates approaching us about opportunities. ”

Gill Bell, HR Director of Handle. 

Now don’t get me wrong – I am a huge fan of social media and you’ll regularly find me tweeting away, ‘working’ LinkedIn and checking in on Foursquare.  But just recently I have begun to think about all the ‘noise’ and how incredibly disciplined you have to be. If I log onto Twitter, there are so many genuinely interesting articles/links that people are sharing that are relevant to my world that I could spend literally all day reading them.  I get weekly LinkedIn group updates in my in box – sometimes I just have to grit my teeth and ignore them – and then stress in case I have missed anything  important. And, because we are in the PR business and need to keep abreast of all new developments, I have also been playing around with Google +. 

So now I have the drumming back inside my head – what have I missed, what have I missed, what have I missed.

I think it’s time to go and have a drink and try to forget. But obviously I’ll check in on Foursquare in case you want to join me