MARGAUX ZION

My friend @teewilts inspired me to tweet this just now:

She mentioned that she had an interview for an administrative position with a certain global brand and was drilled: “HOW MANY TWITTER FOLLOWERS DO YOU HAVE???!?!?!” I totally LOLcanoed at that one. What are you (brand) actually going to do with her followers? They don’t love you. They love her.

Follow my metaphorically abstract example: If you are (brand) you should really be more into working the crowd of your own digital party. In life, you may have thousands (or millions!) of admirers yet never one relationship, and that still leaves you alone. That might work for you, (brand) and you can sit in the corner and be antisocial, but no one at the party (mass market) will want to talk to you or hang out with you.

So come on now. We’re at the stage in new media strategy where we can turn down the corporate and let on with transparency in connecting with our communities of fans. Behave in a way that your fans would connect with or relate to, and watch your community grow of truly engaged people who LOVE you. Whether you are Bieber or batteries, these people will buy from you first.

I’ve been getting TONS of tweets/FB messages/emails in the last few days asking for feedback on the new G+ product and I am ready to rock with my [scathing] commentary! I will try to provide a basic outline of what it is, how it works, and then get real with you on what to do with it. 

1. What is Google+ in one sentence?

Facebook in the style of the Googleverse. 

2. What makes it different than Facebook?

Google+ has a few added features. Read on:

CIRCLES:

This feature is similar to Facebook Privacy lists, but is more prominent in the Google+ platform. With G+, you don’t actually send friend requests as you do with Facebook, you may simply add users to customizable circles, essentially assigning them to friendship and/or security levels. This helps you set up your own database of friends, segmenting them for different content access. (Big shoutouts to Professors Slusarek and Monaco at FIT for making me think about my social networks as Social CRM.)

BROADCAST CONTROL:

Every time you post a status update on Google+, You may reserve the update to be viewed only by certain Circles, all Circles, or the Public. This is a white list approach as compared to the restrictive blacklisting enabled by Facebook security settings.

You can also add location tags to status updates in addition to [Facebook standard] photos, videos, and links. You may designate the update to be seen by your entire network, or specify visibility to subsets of friends. [Circles] Location-based services on Facebook are currently limited to checkins, a feature I personally reserve exclusively to Foursquare.

CHAT:

People have been raving about the “Hangouts” feature. This is essentially a video chat room. I do say that it sounds cool, and with a similar announcement from Facebook earlier this week, the match is pretty even. Personally, I look like a trainwreck 98% of the time I am social networking for personal use and avoid the use of any live video for this reason. If I worked in an office at a tech company and needed to video conference with my team in San Francisco, this would of course be a useful feature. Then again, I wouldn’t be doing it through my personal network. [ZING!]

FAQ:

Q: What is a +1?

A: A +1 is the equivalent of a Facebook “Like.” There is a feed in your G+ profile where you can refer back to any content you have +1’ed, to reference later or add comments to. I like this because you can’t really refer back to historical Facebook Likes. I have to remember to bookmark content with my browser or social bookmarking site when otherwise using Facebook.

Q: Margaux, do you like Google+?

A: Ehh. Not yet. This is why:

1. It is a first party platform. This means I HAVE to be a Google subscriber to use the service. I am only able to assign one Gmail account per G+ profile, and cannot feed in my contacts from other email addresses aside from Yahoo! and Hotmail. (Can’t link other Gmails, AOL, corporate, private domain ESPs, etc… yet, hopefully.) I have 7 active email addresses, and need to have the availability to “be” each of them on my personal networking profile. If I can’t link all into one greater social network, and broadcast content out through filters of circles, then the product is not useful to me as a media manager.

For most users though, this is not the case. If you are a Google fanboy/girl, and all of your friends are as well, (and already use Gmail, Picasa, and other Google products…) then rock on. This is Zion for you.

2.  I cannot invite contacts from Facebook. (Of COURSE, as this is the competition.) I have heard of a Google Chrome browser plugin, but I do not use Chrome at this time, (and personally prefer tech product diversity for security reasons) so I will not be testing this patch.

3. Understanding online behavior is the key to strengthening your network. With every new platform comes a new community. You cannot perfectly convert your Facebook friends to G+ without any losses. Actually, if you are lucky, you will only be able to convert 10%-20% of your social community to the new network. Your Facebook will NOT be your Google+, and if you want to hang onto the contacts and content of your Facebook life, then you need to stay there for now. Moving to G+ is exploring a new land for now, and you will not have the reach or influence on G+ until more people adapt. Add content now as you feel compelled, so that IF and WHEN the mass market transitions, you will already be the G+ super star.

In closing:

Your Google+ will not replace Facebook. Google+ will be its own, new community with different behavior and activity. You will probably get there eventually, but there is no need to rush. Play with it, add me right away at MargauxZ@gmail.com, and feel free to add to the FAQ by leaving a comment here, or on my G+ feed. See you there!

FullyFollow.me is a simple, useful utility that provides a one-stop, opt-in follow across several social networks. It currently supports Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and according to the company’s Facebook Page, more connections will be added shortly.

The orange background hurts my eyes, but I wouldn’t not throw this link in my email signature or link to a button on my Web site:

http://www.fullyfollow.me/margauxz

The winners of NYC BigApps 2.0 have just been announced, and I would encourage EVERY NEW YORKER WITH A SMARTPHONE to check out these utilities. Thank you to the great tech teams for helping to make our city a better [more navigable] place!

I just downloaded NextStop, CultureNow, an DontEat.At and can’t wait to get started!

The NY Times paywall is UP beginning today. Access serviced through social media links will be honored, and content beyond the paywall will be free through this reach. Otherwise, it costs about the same to subscribe digitally as it does to buy the print version.

Readers will pay $15/mo. for unlimited online and smartphone content, $20 for online access and the iPad tablet app, or $35 for the full digital package (Print subscribers will receive unlimited access across all platforms.)

Remember back in college when you had to chase down your professor, advisor, counselor, registrar, etc, for office hours to get the time of day in to work through issues with your program? (I KNOW I DID/DO/WILL AGAIN SOON IN THE FUTURE!)

There is a new tech startup in the virtual space that structures this type of meeting without having to go through the email battle it takes to actually make plans:

Ohours. Right now, it looks like a channel for early adapters, VC’s, BizDev types, and consultants to meet with eachother/startups/clients to talk shop or to pitch “try before you buy” services to clients. Perhaps it would service the MediaBistro, or TalentZoo freelance crawlers as an unorthodox interview platform. Ohours is great for several reasons: 

1. It is a chance for people who are otherwise not connected to a target member to meet without making unsolicited cold calls or emails. It is not an awkward introduction at all. A meeting is a welcome invitation for anyone to acquaint themselves.

2. The allotted times are usually 30 minutes or less. (No pitch should ever be longer than 20-30 minutes anyway!) This allows each meeting to get straight to the point without any erroneous chit chat. Office hours are not for banter or “hanging out-” that is what friends are for. ;)

3. The platform allows users to specify exactly what they are available to talk about, and allows restrictions for what not to mention during a meeting. For example, if a Strategic Partnerships Manager wants to take pitches from startup companies, but does NOT want it to turn into a feedback forum where they receive no benefit/insight from the meeting, then that rule may be outlined in the fine print prior to the meeting.

I hope to see this company expand! This is a very exciting opportunity!

I attended a career panel hosed by the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation yesterday at the SES New York Expo moderated by Matt Mc Gowan. (Managing Director, Incisive Media) On the panel were 4 acclaimed guests; Chris Boggs, (Director, SEO, Rosetta) Michael DeHaven, (SEO Product Manager, Bazaarvoice) Bryan Eisenberg, (NYT Bestselling Author) and Noran El-Shinnawy (Internet Marketing Manager, Aquisio). They shared a lot of great insight on the Search Marketing Industry, and a few personal stories of how they found love in the business. Here is my take on the generous career advice they shared with the attendees:

A LinkedIn network presence is very important for young professionals to establish. This is a great way to be seen by recruiters, and to show passion for your career. Here are some tips to get involved:

1. Join groups. Find groups with interests that match your own, and sign up for the email digest. This is a great way to learn “shop talk” amongst established industry members, and will give you an idea of the current events in light. Join the discussion every so often, and post a helpful insight or ask a question. You are more memorable than you think.

2. Follow companies. Not only do companies post jobs regularly on LinkedIn, but you will be able to follow the vein of your own connections to people in the company. If you don’t know anyone who works for a specific employer, follow the company anyway. You may find that you have second or third degree connections to employees on the inside. Ask your connections to introduce you to company employees.

3. Try to go for a 100% profile completeness score. Ask for recommendations, and recommend others. Also be sure to fill out your skills summary with keywords applicable to the kid of job or industry you are interested in. Robust profiles match recruiters’ search queries much better than weak profiles, and rank you most favorably. Add apps like Events and Reading List to show your personality, and to give prospects a better feel for the kind of person they would be hiring!

4. Feel free to do a little stalking of your own! It gives you a friendly advantage when you know a thing or two about the person interviewing you, and helps break the ice if anything! Steer clear of Facebook stalking, it is just a bit too personal. Try and keep the conversation to professional topics sourced from LinkedIn.

I hope that this is helpful! Best of luck everyone!