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miercuri, 11 aprilie 2012

5 Tips for Managing Your Community on Google+

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 04:01 PM PDT

The day Google+ opened up brand pages, I anxiously refreshed my Gmail inbox all day long until I finally got the email inviting me to create a company page. I knew that by creating the page under my personal account that I’d be the only one able to manage it for the near future. But I really didn’t care; I was just so giddy to get the page set up.

Remember that feeling? I bet you ran out and did the same thing, right? But then what happened? Are you still as excited about it as you were back then, or do you now dread having to go in there? I mean not only do you have to keep up with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Quora, HackerNews, and [insert social platform here], but you have to have a strategy for Google+ as well. Calgon, take me away!

Ok, so we know that having a Google Plus strategy is important and we know all the ways that we should optimize our brand page for SEO purposes, but are we managing our G+ community? Here at SEOmoz, we’ve been working hard on making sure that Google+ isn’t thought of as just a third sock, but as an important part of our social (and search) strategy.

Today I want to show you five ways you can use Google+ to engage more with you community, all the while helping your site and brand page show up more in searches. Sound good? Now, let’s walk through some of these tactics. One thing to remember is that with any kind of social strategy, what works great for us, may not be the best for you. So test things out and see if they work. Now, on with the tips!

1. Check your notifications & respond

You probably want to slap me in the face right now, right? I mean come on, OF COURSE you check your notifications… but do you respond? Every single morning when I log into Google+ the very first thing I do is check notifications. I start with the oldest and work my way forward and I respond to as many of them as possible.

Don’t miss this opportunity to let people know you’re out there and that you care about what they’re saying. Here are a few examples you can take advantage of:

Someone shares your post. Take the opportunity to thank them!
Someone shares a post with you. They probably did it for a reason, look at the post and respond if it makes sense.
Someone mentions you in the comments. Read the post and jump into the comments as well. (Sometimes people freak out when you actually respond, that always makes my day.)
Someone adds you to a circle. Take this time to go through your new adds and add people them to circles if it makes sense. (When the next notification you get is someone excited that you’ve added them to a circle, you’ll enjoy that smile it puts on your face.)

But don’t end your interactions with notifications, as these only show up when someone specifically adds the +brand in a post. What about those mentions that weren’t direct?

2. Search for your brand/name/keywords & respond

The next step in making sure you’re interacting with the community is to see what people are saying about you. Running a search will show you people, pages, posts, hangouts, etc. But I usually filter to only show me Google+ posts so I can see what people are talking about.

SEO Tools Search on Google+

Bingo! I ran a simple search for “seo tools” and the very first post to come up is a big ol’ Open Site Explorer logo as part of a post called 31 Essential SEO Tools and Resources and they were nice enough to mention us. This is a great example of when you can reach out and thank someone for sharing a post.

Another example is to simply search for your brand name. If you watched my recent webinar or follow me on Twitter, you likely know that I have a small obsession with cupcakes (ok it’s a big obsession… moving right along). Let’s use a local cupcake shop as an example.

Sadly, they don’t have a Google+ page but lots of people are talking about them here. This is such an awesome opportunity to reach out to your community.

What is your community saying about you that you didn’t even realize was happening?

3. Check the Ripples for your latest content

When Ripples first came out, Casey Henry wrote a great post about using Ripples to connect with influencers. This still holds true today, but the even better part is that Google has added some upgrades to Ripples since then. Now you see all the shares for the specific page you shared, not just the individual share’s Ripples.

These are the Ripples for a post from The Next Web that SEOmoz shared.

So let’s say you see that you have 26 Google+ shares but you only have three shares from your own post, you simply check the Ripples on your post and voila, you can see them all. Additionally, you can add any URL to check and see the Ripples.

From there, the sky is the limit. You could track your posts' Ripples to see who your consistent influencers are. On the Ripples page you can see the top influencers for each post.

These are influencers and stats from three different posts, as you can see, that Rand Fishkin guy is fairly influential. :) I may want to reach out to him more!

But seriously, this is a really great way to see who's sharing your content (or your competitor's content!) and gives you easy access to reach out to them and make content. You can use this information for link building, for community management, for brand management, so. much. win.

4. Mention other brands and people directly

Just as you're looking for posts mentioning your brand, other companies are doing the same thing. So if you want to be noticed, you need to do it as well. The same goes for people, be sure to link directly to blog authors, community members, speakers at events, etc. When someone gets a personal notification that they've been mentioned, how much do you want to bet that they'll reshare the post, or comment or +1 it or take some sort of action? I'd bet a lot! We recently linked to all of our speakers for MozCon and many of the direct shares, comments and +1's came from the speakers themselves.

It's nice to see your name "in lights" and the more you link out, the more they link in. Google+ makes this so easy to do since you don't have to be in circles with people or brands in order to link to them (unlike Facebook). You can do this when you post or even when you comment on someone else's post. So what are you waiting for?

5. Start a chat or Hangout

One thing that I love about Google+ is that interacting with other people is quick and easy since they make it so simple to link directly to someone (see above). In turn, this makes it a great place to start a chat or something along those lines. I love what SEER has been doing with their page, they've been having Q&A sessions on Google+ and their team jumps in and answers questions.

GENIUS! Believe me, we'll be stealing that one soon enough for the SEOmoz page. :)

In addition to using chats/Q&A sessions to reach out to your customers/community, you can always hold a hangout. We have attempted it several times but unfortunately the limit of 10 people has made it pretty difficult for us as we get too many people trying to jump in. However, check out what My Community Manager is doing with hangouts.

First, they hold the Hangout every week at the same time so people know when to expect it.

After the Hangout, they write a post talking about the main topics.

How do you think you could leverage Hangouts and other kinds of chats with your community in Google+?

Your Turn!

I've given you five great tactics to help you manage your Google+ community and interact with your clients, audience, fans, etc. I know there are a ton of other things you can do, but I really wanted to focus on ways to keep your community motivated and engaged (the dreaded word.. ENGAGE). I see lots of people doing similar things on Twitter and Facebook but Google+ is getting somewhat ignored. With its importance in search, it's important to know how to use it to your advantage.

Now it's your turn. Have any questions or additions you'd like to make to this list?

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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Watch: White House White Board

In this new White House White Board, Brian Deese, the Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, explains why the Buffett Rule is necessary to restore fairness to the American tax system -- and ensure that everyone plays by the same set of rules.

Watch the Buffet Rule White Board:

Seth's Blog : Don't give up (you're on the right track)

Don't give up (you're on the right track)

Wrestling with a puzzle, a project or a problem, the likeliest reason to give up is the belief that it can't be done. What's the point of persevering if it's actually impossible to succeed?

"It can't be done," we say, throwing up our hands. Not "I can't do it," or "It's not worth my time," but "It can't be done."

In the year after Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute mile, the record was broken again and again. Once people realized it could be done, it wasn't an impossible task any longer. And that's why there's a flood of tablets on the market, many from companies that had what they needed to build the first one, but didn't until Apple showed them the way.

Two things you might take away from this: First, there's solace in finding someone who has done it before, whatever "it" is you're trying to do. Knowing that it's possible and studying how it was done can't help but increase the chances you'll stick it out.

Second: huge value accrues to the few able to actually do a thing for the very first time.

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marți, 10 aprilie 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Lollipops and Tantrums; Is the Fed Promoting Recovery or Desperation? QE "Appears" to Works Until It's Obvious it Never Did
Spanish 10-Year Bond Yield Hits 5.99% as Official Denials in Spain Escalate; "Bailout" on the Way
Inconsistencies in Spain's Budget Suggest Deficit will be 7% not 5.3%; Andalucia Regional Government Will Not Agree to Deficit Targets; Only 26% Trust Prime Minister to Overcome Crisis

Lollipops and Tantrums; Is the Fed Promoting Recovery or Desperation? QE "Appears" to Works Until It's Obvious it Never Did

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 12:35 PM PDT

Lollipops and Tantrums

The Fed is much like a rotten mother who throws her spoiled brat a lollipop as a reward for a temper tantrum says John Hussman in yet another excellent missive: Is the Fed Promoting Recovery or Desperation?

On Friday, the Department of Labor reported that March non-farm payrolls increased by 120,000, falling well short of consensus expectations in excess of 200,000. For our part, we continue to expect a deterioration in observable economic variables, with weakness that emerges gradually and then accelerates toward mid-year. On the payroll front, our present expectation is that April job creation will deteriorate toward zero or negative levels.

Immediately after the payroll number was released, CNBC shot out a news story titled "Disappointing Jobs Report Revives Talk of Fed Easing." Of course it does, because this remains a market dependent on sugar. And with little doubt the Fed will eventually deliver it - perhaps following a market plunge of 25% or more - but with little doubt nonetheless, because like the indulgent parent of a spoiled toddler, the FOMC can't stand to see Wall Street throw a tantrum without reaching for a lollipop.

How QE "works"

Keep in mind that the U.S. banking system has trillions of dollars sitting in idle deposits with the Fed already. Quantitative easing simply does not relieve any constraint that is binding on the economy. Rather, QE is a method by which the Fed hoards longer-duration, higher-yielding securities like U.S. Treasury bonds and replaces them with cash that bears zero interest. At every moment in time, somebody has to hold that paper. The only way for the holder to seek a higher return is to trade it for a more speculative asset, in which case whoever sells the speculative asset then has to hold the cash. The process stops when all speculative assets are finally priced so richly and precariously that the people holding the cash have no further incentive to chase the speculative assets, and are simply willing to hold idle, zero-interest cash balances.

Why does the Fed want this? Simple. Chairman Bernanke believes that by creating a bubble in speculative assets, people will "feel" wealthier and keep consuming - regardless of the fact that real incomes are stagnant and debt burdens are already intolerable, and despite the fact that there is extremely weak evidence for any such "wealth effect" in the historical record. Undoubtedly, it would be difficult for Bernanke to refrain from these reckless policies when everyone is crying "do something!" But the willingness to tolerate short-term criticism in the interest of long-term benefit is part of what separates leadership from cowardice.

In my view, individuals like Sheila Bair - the former head of the FDIC, Paul Volcker - the former Fed Chairman, and Elizabeth Warren - the former head of the Congressional oversight panel for TARP, demonstrated leadership in elevating the interests of the public over the interests of bank bondholders and entrenched interests. Unfortunately, all of their voices were stifled during the credit crisis - though hopefully some provisions of the Volcker Rule will survive, particularly those related to bank restructuring. We would be far along the road to economic recovery had we dealt with our crisis the way Sweden durably dealt with its own a decade ago (essentially taking a large portion of the banking industry into receivership, wiping out existing shareholders, writing down bad assets, and then taking the banks public to recapitalize them under new owners). Bernanke, in contrast, has been at the forefront of the kick-the-can strategy of bailouts, accounting changes, customizable stress tests, and helicopter money.

Given the bubbling concerns among various FOMC members about inflation risk, the next round of QE is likely to be "sterilized." Essentially, the Fed would buy Treasury bonds from banks, and would pay for them with newly created cash, but the Fed would then borrow those funds back from banks, holding them as idle deposits with the Federal Reserve. By definition, the additional "liquidity" created by a sterilized round of QE would not be available for new lending (as if there aren't enough idle reserves in the banking system already). So again, the main goal is to increase the outstanding stock of zero- and low-interest assets in the economy, in order to lower the yields and increase the prices of more speculative investments.

The reason for doing QE through the Fed (rather than simply changing the maturity profile of the new Treasury debt) is that Wall Street - at least - believes that the Emperor is actually wearing clothes. Despite the fact that the main effect of QE is to boost speculation and release brief bursts of pent-up demand, both which immediately soften when the policies are suspended, this recurring pattern is still unclear to many investors and analysts. As long as that delusion persists, we can expect the Fed to periodically exploit it.

Ignore that the side-effect of this delusion is the misallocation of capital toward speculative assets in the belief that the Fed has set a "put option" under the markets. Forget that savings are discouraged, bad lending decisions are rescued, incentives and economic signals are distorted, and the accumulation of productive capital is disabled. We have the most creative, entrepreneurial nation on the planet, but our policy makers are intent on preventing debt restructuring and misallocating scarce capital. As a result, they continue to compromise long-term growth in favor of temporary bouts of short-term speculation.

QE "Appears" to Works Until It's Obvious it Never Did

Hussman goes on to challenge the notion the Fed's policies are actually "working". Certainly the Fed and probably more so the ECB's LTRO program lifted financial markets, but Bernanke wants consumers to spend more and banks to lend more.

From that aspect, his policies have already clearly failed as I explained in The Real Consumer Credit Story: Virtually No Recovery in Revolving Credit, No Recovery in Non-Revolving Credit.

Strip out student loans and there is absolutely no recovery in either revolving or non-revolving credit.

Non-Revolving Credit

Non-Revolving Credit Detail

Revolving Credit

Revolving Credit Detail

What's the Measure of Success?

If the Fed's sole intent is to bail out Wall Street, then its policies have been a spectacular success. If the Fed's mandate is to get the economy back on track, spur lending, stabilize housing, and increase jobs it has failed.

Please note that multiple mandates are sheer nonsense as discussed in Dual Mandates, the Price of Gold, and Tinfoil Hats.

Unfortunately, dual mandates give the Fed all the leeway in the world to take whatever nonsensical actions it wants.

So, in spite of the fact his policies clearly are not working, Bernanke sticks with them. He is a one-trick pony with no common sense and no real-world experience, living in academic wonderland.

Above all, the Fed desperately wants to stabilize housing. The market has other ideas, proving once again the Fed can provide liquidity, but it cannot determine where it goes, or if it goes anywhere at all.

The ECB is in essentially the same boat, desperate to do something except the one thing that makes the most sense: writeoff banking sector losses.

One Lollipop Too Many

One of these times, and I have to admit I expected it long ago, the market will not be satisfied with another lollipop. At that point, instead of cheering another lollipop, the market will throw up like a child who has eaten three donuts and five lollipops too many.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Spanish 10-Year Bond Yield Hits 5.99% as Official Denials in Spain Escalate; "Bailout" on the Way

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 09:07 AM PDT

10-Year Spanish Government Bond Yield

Official Denials in Spain Escalate

From Iibre Mercado with an assist from Google translate, please consider Fear pervades the Government: "We do not need a bailout"

Fear among members of the Government. Featured Rajoy government ministers and Governor of the Bank of Spain have ruled on Tuesday block the possibility that Spain required some kind of international rescue.

The Minister of Finance and Public Administration, Cristobal Montoro, has said that the Government did not seek help from European Rescue Fund to clean up the Spanish banks have a liquidity cushion "considerable" after having gone to the European Central Bank auction (ECB) held in December and February.

In this sense, told RNE by Europa Press, the finance minister denied that the government will opt for this possibility to help Spanish banks, as is exploring other. "We are studying the possibilities we have in hand as a government, "he assured Montoro, who has stressed that we must go" faster "in restructuring the banking sector, because you need credit to flow to achieve economic growth and job creation.

"We have to obtain and circulate the money, we are already exploring ways to accelerate the restructuring of banks in our country," said Montoro, while predicted changes in terms of bank mergers "increasingly committed to the supply of credit" .

For his part, Minister of Economy and Competitiveness, Luis de Guindos, has said that Spain does not need a bailout right now because it has a government "absolutely clear-minded" and a coordinated economic policy with European partners.

"Obviously you do not need a bailout right now," said De Guindos in statements to the media after participating in the Forum Europe, which has ensured that you have to do is implement the reforms and carry out the adjustment. In Guindos has also highlighted the need to also implement the outstanding reforms and continue with the process of austerity and reforms to ensure a fair distribution of efforts and a return to growth and job creation.

Finally, the Bank of Spain Governor Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez has said that the European Central Bank (ECB) has not addressed the possibility that Spain needs to be rescued by Europe, while highlighting the recent progress with reform labor.

"Bailout" of Spain on the Way

There you have it, three official denials in a single day by the Minister of Finance, the Minister of the Economy, and the Bank of Spain.

Translation: "we need a bailout and fast, but politically we do not want one".

This bailout is going to be far more painful economically speaking than was Greece.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Inconsistencies in Spain's Budget Suggest Deficit will be 7% not 5.3%; Andalucia Regional Government Will Not Agree to Deficit Targets; Only 26% Trust Prime Minister to Overcome Crisis

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 11:53 PM PDT

Courtesy of Google translate, please consider The inconsistencies of the State Budget for 2012

Much is written these days about the budget submitted by the Government for 2012, which proposes that the deficit be lowered to 5.3% of GDP. In this article we focus not on a comprehensive analysis of these items but in both revenue and expenditure forecasts which seem less realistic.

The first of these items is to transfer the SPEE (State Employment Service, former INEM). The government budgeted a reduction of 15.6% (2,464,000), arguing that many are unemployed benefits are ending.

Since the Government is assuming that unemployment will increase this year over 600,000 people, there is no reason for us to see a turnaround, quite the contrary. In view of the numbers a reasonable assumption would be a 10% increase in unemployment benefits starting in 2012. This means a delay of nearly 4,500 million from the budget, ie 0.4% of GDP.

A second item of expenditure in which there are serious inconsistencies is Social Security. In the Budget is expected to increase costs (which are mainly pensions) of 0.9%. This assumption might have been possible if the pension had not been updated with the CPI, but in current circumstances is totally unworkable. In fact, the costs to February are up 3.7%. This would lead to a lag in the game cost about 3,300 million.

Noninterest income on Social Security, the Budget provided for 119.884 million euros. However, revenues in 2011 were 118.436 million, down 0.5% compared to 2010. This projected increase is totally impossible with the dynamics of job destruction to which we have referred. Since July we have seen that affiliations have fallen to an average of 50,000 per month (corrected for seasonality), which would lead to a decrease of 3.6% at the end of the year, unless economic recovery unlikely. As wage increases are below 2% on average, this would be a scenario of falling revenues or more than 1%, which is, a lag of about 2,600 million between government forecasts and estimates more reasonable.

Revenue

On the revenue side, there are likewise transcendental inconsistencies in almost every game. Starting with the income tax, the government plans to enter under this heading 73.106 million compared to 69.803 million actually collected in 2011 (+4.7%). However, in the first two months of the year for income tax revenues fell by 2.8%.

In February, with the rise of income tax already in place, revenue rose only 1%. With the increase in unemployment that is occurring is expected that this increase of 1% will decline as the months pass and the collection ends, in a reasonable way, more in line with 2011.

Regarding indirect taxes, the picture is similar. The Government anticipates a reduction in revenue of 3%, but in the first two months of actual observed reduction is 8.4% (5.7% in February). In view of the data that come out of consumption and investment is likely that total revenue in 2012 falls into the environment seen in the month of February or possibly slightly less. This will yield a lag of about 1,500 to 2,000 million in revenue, that is, another 0.2% of GDP.

Add It Up

Adding all detected mismatches (focusing only on large items), 5.3% deficit forecast by the government would really be 7%. And even supposing that regional governments and municipalities comply scrupulously with the objectives of spending, which bodes extremely difficult, so the end result of the exercise would be even worse than the above 7%.

Regional Governments in Spotlight

I have been saying for what seems like forever that Spain would not makes its budget. It won't, and we have a starting point for how bad it might get.

Note that text above on regional governments.

My friend Bran who lives in Spain writes ...

Hello Mish

Andalucia is the only autonomous region (another abstained) not to agree to a 1.5% deficit this year. Andalucia criticizes government attempts to undermine its 2011 deficit figure, and argues that according to law the limits of ratio for state debt are 20% central , 75% regional , 5% private state partnership.

They also argue that the central government has not paid several billion due to them, and that it is unfair that the state deficit is to be 5.3% , and yet regions are to only be allowed 1.5% deficit. Andalucia being 'not PP' is taking its own stance hence.

Bran

No Trust in Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy

That comment about Andalucia being 'not PP' refers to the "People's Party" led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Speaking of which (and also via Google translate) Only 26% of voters trust Rajoy of the PP to overcome the crisis

The Prime Minister is seeing increasing pessimism among voters who supported him in November 2011. The CIS barometer of March concluded that only 26.7% of PP voters trust the new government to improve the scenario in the country.

The CIS survey also reveals that 35.7% of voters who supported Mariano Rajoy considers that the uncertainty will remain constant in Spain and 27% think worse.

These data reveal a growing tendency to pessimism by the voters themselves the Popular Party, and a bump in the strategy Rajoy, who from the campaign appealed to the confidence to regenerate the Spanish economy.

Growing pessimism in the first quarter

Increasing trend since January, when this same barometer revealed that 35% of PP voters believed that the government would achieve better Rajoy scenario in the country, representing a decrease of 10 points on the confidence generated in the last three months.

Pessimism is even higher among Socialist voters, UI and UPyD. In total, 37% opted for the situation worse, and 36% believe that there will be major changes.

Spain is already in an economic depression and the situation will become much worse.

Addendum:

Gonzalo Lira provided a better translation to the above article. He writes ...

Hello Mish,
You wrote: "Only 26% of voters trust Rajoy of the PP to overcome the crisis"

It's actually worse. The correct translation is: "Only 26% of PP voters trust Rajoy to overcome the crisis."

GL

Conclusion, even members of his own political party do not think Prime Minister Rajoy can solve the problem.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

miercuri, 11 aprilie 2012

5 Tips for Managing Your Community on Google+

5 Tips for Managing Your Community on Google+

1. Check your notifications & respond

2. Search for your brand/name/keywords & respond

3. Check the Ripples for your latest content

4. Mention other brands and people directly

5. Start a chat or Hangout

Your Turn!

Watch: White House White Board

Seth's Blog : Don't give up (you're on the right track)

Don't give up (you're on the right track)

More Recent Articles

marți, 10 aprilie 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Pagini

Persoane interesate

Arhivă blog

miercuri, 11 aprilie 2012

5 Tips for Managing Your Community on Google+

5 Tips for Managing Your Community on Google+

1. Check your notifications & respond

2. Search for your brand/name/keywords & respond

3. Check the Ripples for your latest content

4. Mention other brands and people directly

5. Start a chat or Hangout

Your Turn!

Watch: White House White Board

Seth's Blog : Don't give up (you're on the right track)

Don't give up (you're on the right track)

More Recent Articles

marți, 10 aprilie 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Pagini

Persoane interesate

Arhivă blog

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