Why is Google+ a Winner? (Hint: it has nothing to do with features, functionality or users.)

Thanks to an invite from long-standing client (and friend) Leif Ulstrup at Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) my profile on Google+ is now live.  I’ll poke around the community later this week to assess its viability and potential applications for Strategic Communications Group’s (Strategic) clients.

My time this morning in Google+ land got me thinking about the company’s multiple forays into social networking.  A lot has been bantered about by journalists, analysts and bloggers about how Google has struggled to define its social play.

The company’s chairman acknowledged earlier this year that the responsibility for Google’s social failure resides with him.  Plus, CEO Larry Page clearly articulated social’s importance to the company’s health by tying employee bonuses to defining and executing a successful strategy.

Yet, even though social-oriented services like Google Wave failed to attract much in the way of interest or adoption, I believe the time and resources the company has put behind these ill-fated efforts was well invested.

Why?

Because these initiatives serve as a distraction for swiftly moving competitors like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

As my colleague and partner Chris Parente recently pointed out to me, Google is entrenched against well heeled competitors in a multi-front war in social, mobile, browser, enterprise, local and, of course, search.

Regardless of the technical smarts and dollars Google can put forth to fund its growth, it is simply unrealistic to believe the company can achieve a leadership position in all of these areas.  In many instances, Google should be thrilled with any offering that delays and distracts its competitors from effectively executing their plan.

Google+ is bound to be a winner regardless of how many users sign up.

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UPDATE:  Just came across this article in Computerworld that validates my view:


Google+ May be Making Facebook Nervous

A Holiday Reminder About Social Connections

Friends...fans...followers...tweets...updates...check-ins...hashtags...it's all meaningless without the personal bond forged in a true relationship.

I was reminded of that today at my neighborhood's holiday parade and cook-out. 

Sure, I'm connected with many of my neighbors in online communities.  Yet, that doesn't replace catching up live and in-person for even 15 minutes.

Happy 4th of July!

Each block in our neighborhood creates a float to drive in a parade.

Neighbors working together to add signs and streamers.  That's social, right?

Many floats had a theme...like pirates or Harry Potter.  A reminder that content must be entertaining.

3 Cheers for Technical Innovation

The root of my love affair with technology is innovation and its positive impact on our personal and professional lives.

That's why it so encouraging that social media companies and online communities continue to invest resources to enhance the value they provide to users.  For instance, Facebook recently unveiled enhanced group functionality for better management of information sharing with friends.

And last month Twitter rolled out a revamped user interface to deliver to users an "easier, faster, and richer experience."

Innovation in the areas of platform development and related functionality is not limited to the broader horizontal social communities.  This week govWin - a 16,000 member social network for government contractors -- introduced an expanded version of its platform with added functionality and a portfolio of original content.

Through its parent company Deltek, govWin employs more than 40 full-time software, technical, editorial and marketing staffers who are charged with assessing, evaluating and enhancing the platform based on user feedback and market trends.

Innovation takes investment and must be a priority for companies in the technology markets.  The outcome benefits customers, investors, shareholders and employees, while ensuring we as a society remain ultra-competitive. 


(Full disclosure:  govWin is a Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) client.  My colleagues Shany Seawright and Matt Langan work closely with their marketing team on external communications activities, including public relations and social media marketing.)

Managing the 3Cs of Social Participation

In a professional environment, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the three "Cs" of social media engagement -- contacts, content and connections.

There are blogs to read. Tweets to follow. LinkedIn updates to evaluate. Trends, chats and discussions to monitor. And, of course, you still have to find time to perform the responsibilities of your job.

Dawn Foster recently penned an excellent post for WebWorkerDaily that presents a series of best practices she employs to manage this information overload.

Personally, I rely on a number of Web 2.0 tools to help bring structure to the social chaos. For instance, I've been a long time user of Google Reader and Social Mention.

This weekend I spent a few hours exploring a couple of other applications that I'm now trying out:

1. NutShellMail from Constant Contact consolidates the updates from your social networks and delivers them to your Email inbox in a single message.

2. Lazyfeed helps you monitor channels of content on the Web by topic to identify content to blog about, tweet, share with others, etc.

3. Sprouter is an online community of entrepreneurs organized by topic, event and activity.

Social Strategy…In a Sentence

The marketing and public relations communities have long yearned and pushed for a seat at the corporate board room citing the ability to think “strategically” about the direction of the business.

Yet, in many instances communications programs revert to what I commonly refer to as a “bag of tactics” with little consideration or regard for an overarching strategy and related measurable benchmarks.

I’ve found this tactical regression to be particularly true when it comes to the adoption of social media.

-How should we be using Twitter?
-What about our Facebook fan page?
-What are the new Web 2.0 tools?

Social media is merely another channel to engage stakeholders. It doesn’t replace traditional forms of communication (i.e. advertising, public relations, direct marketing, etc.), yet in a social environment your audience has already self-identified and organized into groups based on interest.

This makes the outcome of social media engagement significantly more measurable.

It also demands a strategy; one that is aligned with the key drivers of success in business – sales, profitability and valuation.

Here are three examples of new social media campaigns recently launched by Strategic:

1. Merchant Link’s Security Cents helps the company solidify a more credible position in the information security market, leveraging its participation at the HITEC industry conference.

2. Appian’s BetterGov is integrated with a sales and marketing initiative designed to more rapidly increase the company’s business in the federal government market.

3. The new version of British Telecom’s (BT) CSR Perspective promotes the company’s leadership in environmental sustainability, while creating a more intimate connection with executive level decision-makers.

There’s a cliché in the entertainment field that for a movie production to get funded a summary of the idea has to fit on the back of a business card.

It’s true for social media as well. Before hacking away at the tactics, develop a strategy that can be articulated in a single sentence.

The Many Lenses of Social Media

Thanksgiving is one of my favorites. It’s all things I love -- family, friends, food, football and…yes…social media.

That’s right – you know a topic has gotten big when it successfully competes with Brangelina and the woes of the Washington Redskins for discussion time at the Thanksgiving dinner table.

How many friends do you have on Facebook? Who are they – co-workers, high school classmates, neighbors? What is the fascination with this Twitter thing?

After taking this Web 2.0 banter in for about 15 minutes, it dawned on me how different each person’s experience is with social media.

For the over 50 set, participation in social networks is an unobtrusive daily connection to loved ones. I guess checking out photos of a recent vacation on Facebook or Flickr is a better than phoning your daughter one too many times.

Then there is the still single crowd who taps into online communities as a source of relationship intelligence.

“There is no such thing as a blind date,” one cousin explained.

Of course, there are also a host of unwritten rules that guide interaction on Facebook among prospective romantic interests.

“Friending someone you have just started dating is a major decision,” my cousin said. “You are sending a signal to her. It’s OK for you to be part of my online life and to know my friends.”

And to think my world of social media is primarily viewed through a business lens with a focus on lead generation, sales cultivation, search engine optimization and awareness building.

This year Thanksgiving served is a reminder that social media – like most things in life – is all about objectives and expectations.

Credibility in Numbers

Britain Got Talent’s Susan Boyle belting out “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserable garners more than 50 million views on YouTube. Ashton Kutcher’s entourage of Twitter followers tops a million. And Burger King’s quirky “Whopper Sacrifice” promotion on Facebook leads to nearly 250 million people being defriended for a free burger.

When it comes to consumer applications of social media it’s apparent that success is typically judged based on the number of exposures. That’s because the need for brand reputation and awareness has long driven how consumer-oriented marketers allocate their resources.

Does the same hold true in a business-to-business environment where purchase decisions are made by a select few? Surprisingly, the answer is “yes,” however for reasons other than the value of broad market visibility.

At Strategic Communications Group (Strategic), we’ve found that attracting a balance of quantity and quality of readership is the formula for achieving measurable benchmarks in areas such as lead generation, enterprise sales support, search engine optimization (SEO) and executive visibility.

There are a couple of contributing factors at work here. For starters, a large, diverse and engaged readership confers credibility on the ideas, thoughts and views expressed via social media tactics.

For instance, the impact of a blog is typically evaluated based on its readership, number of comments and authority. A strong showing in these areas enhances how a highly placed, executive-level reader may view the quality of the blog and the expertise of its author.

Second, a sizeable and expanding community of followers and/or readers allows a company to create the perception of tremendous momentum for and interest in its solutions. Geoffrey Moore’s classic book “Crossing the Chasm” outlined the positive sales impact that occurs when a company creates a bandwagon effect, establishing its products as the de facto standard.

Strategic’s promotional approach when it comes to social media content is to caste a wide net through participation in broad-based online networks and social bookmark communities, while working closely with the client’s sales organization to laser-target on specific customers and prospects.

Quantity and quality of readers…that’s ultimately the result.