I’ve been thinking a lot about Google+ since they launched their business pages last week.

You see, it was announced at the same time that Joe Thornley, Martin Waxman, and I were recording Inside PR. So we all happened to be on the page watching it happen in real-time.

Google+ announced at 1 p.m. CT and, by 1:11 (yes, just 11 minutes later), Toyota already had more than 3,000 followers.

We asked one another the question, “How is that possible?” Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Paul Sutton.

How long do you think you could go without using an Internet search engine?

I asked my friends and networks the question, and two thirds of the people I asked said that, on average, they use a search engine more than 10 times per day. They don’t think about it, they just do it. And they have total faith in the results they receive. Think about the power and influence this gives search engines over the way we see the world.

I wanted to find out just how vital search engines have become to our everyday lives, so I decided to give up Yahoo! and Bing for two entire months.

I quit Google cold turkey. Continue Reading »

Sean McGinnis consults with small to mid-size customers about DCAL – Digital Customer Acquisition and Loyalty. He blogs about SEO, Internet marketing, social  media, leadership and a variety of other topics at 312 Digital.

At face value, the new Google +1 seems like their latest foray into the world of “social” but it’s really much more than that.

The +1 button is an incredibly important play for Google, one that will help build the future of their algorithm if widely adopted by Internet users.

Let’s step back for a minute and then I’ll explain.

Search Engine Progress

Search engines got their start by returning the most relevant documents to a search query. But relevance is a very easy thing to spoof, and search engine spam became rampant. So, search engines developed a method of calculating authority by looking at the number and quality of inbound links to your site. Today, essentially search engines return sites that are both relevant and authoritative. But authority can be manipulated and gamed too, so spam continues to be a problem for search engines. Continue Reading »

As the top online websites all try to tap more into the fashion social commerce world, Google has launched Boutiques.com, an online fashion search site, (not to be confused with Boutique.com). Google’s new fashion search site lets the user go into the “boutiques” and find items of fashion based on their searches, likes, and follows.  You can even go through and create your own boutique, which garners suggestions for you to add based on your searches.

The idea is pretty cool.  You take a six-step survey to find out what style you are, and then, based on Google algorithms, the fashionistas find similar items for you to view, like, and possibly buy.  You can create your own personal storefront in less than 10 minutes.  I’ve already changed my likes twice, based on my mood.  Then you can keep going through to create more in-depth searches by liking or hating each item that is recommended to you.

Continue Reading »

Dear LinkedIn programmers,

We all know the purpose of LinkedIn is for business connections, either client prospects or job referrals, but I have an idea that can help boost LinkedIn to become more of an interactive Rolodex. Continue Reading »

On this week’s InsidePR, our co-host, Joe Thornley, was on his way to Regina for CPRS and was unable to make the recording time. So you get Martin Waxman and me this week while we discuss five social media trends. Martin and Joe spoke at the conference on Monday about the same topic so, if you happened to see them (neither one of them in jeans, I hope!), this may be repetitive. Or, perhaps, I add a different slant that wasn’t covered during their presentation.

Regardless, I know a lot of you are not in Canada so you can listen to the podcast here (make sure you hit the June 16 version). The following five social media trends are what we discussed, but is not a regurgitation of the podcast, as these are solely my views on the trends. Continue Reading »

Out of all the speakers I’ve seen this week, Gini is definitely at the top.  (And I’m only half saying that because she is my boss and I’m sucking up.)

Quote of the day: “You only have the perception of control.

YAY! She talked about our response campaign!  Be out there. Be commenting on articles, regardless if you are in them.  You can now do your own media relations.

Social media gives you a seat at the proverbial table.  You can now track PR and you can tell your bosses what kind of effect your work has on sales. Continue Reading »

As Wednesday was winding down, the last session I attended was about story telling.  Although it ran an hour and 15 minutes, I found only four overarching finds from the panel.

1. According to this panel, what makes a good story is shock, humor, and emotional elements.

2. No matter how you tell your story, you MUST know your audience or your risk alienating them.

3. B2B does not have to be boring.  Have fun with it. Continue Reading »

Wow.  What a popular session this one turned out to be (and my first panel with women).  Good thing I cut in line so I didn’t have to sit on the floor; the room was overflowing!

“Everyone treats social media as a unicorn, but maybe it’s just a horse.”  This was not an opening statement, but something small that was on a slide and it stuck with me.  So I decided to use that as my trend for this post. Continue Reading »

Editor’s note: Molli was really looking forward to this session because she wanted to better understand how fashion bloggers maintain an audience (and the pace) when things change so quickly.

Why fashion? Because everyone wears clothes. Continue Reading »