Google have now published a new initiative called “Search, Plus Your World”, which aims to bring you more personalised search results.  Now, when you search for anything in particular, you have the option to include related data from your Google+ profile as well as those privately shared with you.

The change will also provide auto complete results from your contacts, so if you begin typing their name into a search field, Google will automatically recommend their Google+ profile.

These changes have now come into practice, and you should be able to see two small icons on the top right of your search page that lets you toggle between two types of results – a globe (which offers the standard results) and a human icon – which will display related data form Google+.

But is this a good thing, or a bad thing?

The simple answer is, if you are a Google user then this is fantastic news- bad if you are a direct competitor.  If you have a Google+ profile and depending on the various circles you are a part of, you have the chance to gain personal, unrivalled information that can only be beneficial when you make a search. However, if you are a rival to Google, in what is now becoming a social media world, then it’s not so good – just as Twitter found out! 

Social Media is where you want to be when it comes to helping your business expand, as it is a priceless asset in the marketing world. Social media channels like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin attract so much continual attention from Internet users, it has become a phenomenal and powerful venue for advertisers to create interest and traffic. Here are five reasons to use social media for business.

1. Help Increased Search Engine Rankings:  Social media profiles frequently rank highly with major search engines. Using brand names and keywords in your profiles can help you to generate traffic for your social media sites and company homepage.
2. Generate Site Traffic:  By updating regularly on sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn with posts that link back to your site, you can create additional traffic to your site.
3. Find New Customers Through a Company Profile:  Your company profile is a great opportunity for you to post regular updates on your activities, but also about important news and trends in your industry. It’s critical to post regularly if you want to increase your followers or fans and convert them to potential leads.
4. Brand Monitoring:  Having a social media presence allows you to better understand what current and potential customers are saying about your product or services.
5. Networking:  Through social media you can quickly build a network of core supporters, which is essential for any up and coming business to keep growing and expanding. It is that group of loyal followers that will keep bringing your company business and referring it to others if they are pleased with what they are finding.

Following on from this, here is a little bit of ‘New News’ - Introducing Tokkster, a new type of chat room.

Tokkster is a new type of Internet chat room, which enables users to chat with other people over the same webpage. Pretty Unique.

All you need to do is sign up with a Tokkster account (and yes, it’s free). And that’s it. Once signed up, you browse websites like usual. What you will notice is a Tokkster Status bar in which you are able to see other peoples faces that are browsing the same page at the same time. Of course, if you don’t feel like chatting, either minimize the app (to become invisible) or don’t log in.

Only available in Internet Explorer version 7.0 and above (other version coming out soon).

With so much focus on social media and the need to embrace it to improve and increase business the same hesitation continues to raise its head; “my customers don’t use Facebook”.

You know what? They are probably right, because those potential customers who do use Facebook are shopping somewhere else, Somewhere that does embrace social media. Lets look into who is using social media.

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Did you know the computer company Dell announced it made £6.5 million US dollars in revenues from their involvement with Twitter.

Dell uses Twitter to “listen and learn” from their customers directly. The number of customers following Dell online has increased considerably, with “11,844” people following them on Twitter @DellOutLet.

Those “11,844” customers receive special discounted offers exclusively as a reward for following the company on Twitter. This is a clear indication that Twitter and other social media networking sites are a very powerful marketing tool. 

Are you social?

Here at AsOne, we are social. You can find us on, 

http://www.facebook.com/asonedesign
http://twitter.com/asone
http://uk.linkedin.com/companies/asone-design
http://weareasone.com

We tie all online and digital marketing together so it works, AsOne.

Make sure your company gets “social” today.

Give us a call for more information on 0161 368 9100 or email us at: here@asone.co.uk.