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Trending on YouTube is becoming something of a goal for brands and individuals alike. The celebrity craving in the modern era is beaten only by corporate ad teams striving to prove their worth and have a little fun alongside it.

This week saw the latest of these with Three Mobile releasing their TV campaign of a dancing Shetland Pony coupled with Fleetwood Mac’s song Everywhere. The promoted tweet hashtag #DancePonyDance trended on Twitter and the video
trended on YouTube almost immediately and thousands flocked to the ‘make your own’ micro-site and shared their own versions of the dancing pony. People certainly know about the campaign – although how many actually know the precise brand it is related to will be much in debate. Maybe it was an oversight or perhaps a double bluff but the lyrics of the well known song used in the ad include#; “Can you hear me calling out your name?” not exactly a great message for a mobile service. The lyrics also go on to repeat the catchy line “I wanna be with you everywhere”. A strange choice for mobile operator Three, when their nearest rivals recently re-branded to Everything Everywhere. So perhaps brand awareness / brand association isn’t as important as many of us think. Virality is the key and from there, you get more hits, more backlinks, better SEO and hopefully better paying traffic too.

So making a viral video is the thing to do, but how do you do it and what works? Here’s 6 styles of viral videos that seem to get results.

1. Celebrity

If your budget can stretch to it, just like in a glossy print ad, having a known-name – preferably with their own big social media following – either presenting or just appearing as a cameo in your video is a sure fire win to see it become highly shareable. At the turn of the year David & Victoria Beckham – no strangers to being the celebrities in a viral video themselves – saw their 10-year-old son Romeo enter the viral charts as the star of this ad for Burberry.

2. Gadgets and technology

We all remember the Honday car advert “The Cog” from TV with the chain reaction of the car parts. Well the longer online version of that machinery domino effect still racks up regular new hits in YouTube too. Maybe it is just a male thing, or perhaps the geeks who drive the internet forward, but engineering, gadgets and demonstration of technology are regular winners in the viral video world. Frequently shared with simple one sentence comments such as “Amazing”, “OMG” and “Love this”, bits of metal turning and whirring is a proven crowd-pleaser, like this Oreo separator machine video.

3. Surprise

Not necessarily for the viewer but for the people in the video. Using real people as the stars, T-mobile have pretty much owned the flash-mob video in recent years – train stations, airport arrivals lounges etc. The art of using actors and a scripted scene but in a public place where the surprise on those not in on the concept is a sure-fire way to engage with your audience and grab those watching it. Coca-Cola did a similar candid-camera style viral with this Happiness Machine.

4. Cute and heart-warming

Dogs, cats and now tiny horses appear to be able to do no wrong. While the old adage in entertainment is never to work with children or animals, you only have to flick through viral video charts, YouTube listings or even watch TV to see that the reverse is true in the advertising world. Bottled water manufacturers Evian gave us dancing babies a couple of years ago and cute kids, or tots being mischevious are a regular engagement tool both online and in the traditional media. The Three Mobile #danceponydance video campaign is not the first and surely won’t be last of cute animals and CGI technology being blended to push a brand.

5. The story

This approach is nothing new to advertising. The OXO family and the Nescafe Gold Blend ads on TV, outlived some real soap operas. Heineken’s “The Candidate” is already well past 2.4 million views in just under two weeks and while it has relevance to the brand’s sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League, it’s appeal is more comedy and the story of living your dreams than the sale of beer. It has no doubt had a big impact on brand awareness and association of this brand with one of football’s biggest competitions too, so as a return on investment it has probably more than done its job.

6. Piggy-backing a trend / Meme

The concept of the Meme also is not new. The idea that a behavior or style can spread from person to person within a culture was previously used mainly as a reference to religion, then came the viral internet. Now internet memes are cultural phenomena that spread beyond even the online world. The YouTube sensation to re-create Harlem Shake has done more for Trap Music than any TV appearance ever could, sparking over 100,000 imitations, totalling a billion views – all inside a single month. New York DJ Baauer’s song Harlem Shake has reached audiences he could never have expected. Memes take virality a step further, than just liking or sharing, they need actual creation of an imitating product (such as a video, picture, song, etc). While a few touched on Psy’s Gangnam Style, Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe and Gotye’s Somebody I Used to Know last year, in 2013 Harlem Shake has gripped a wider cross-section of people and begun impacting on the corporate world too. The ability to copy the concept quickly and simply has helped, with Manchester City FC even launching their own version.

Have you tried to create a viral video? How do you create a viral success? Let us know.

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According to a January 2013 Global Web Index report, Google+ overtook Twitter to become the second most used social platform globally. The report concluded that not only has Google+ risen to become the second most used platform but Google’s social networking platform has also surpassed Twitter in terms of social share.

When Google launched its social networking site in June 2011, the platform very quickly gained a stigma, that until very recently it was unable to shake. The feeling in many circles was that nobody was really using the platform and many didn’t see its potential to compete against Facebook and Twitter. Fast forward to 2013 and Google+ is fast becoming a crucial tool for small business in the UK.

If you haven’t got on board with Google+, now is the time before it is too late. Here are 5 features of Google + to help you get started.

Google Hangouts are bridging the gap between businesses and customer: Never before has a business been able to directly connect with its customer base for free. Google Hangouts allow businesses to hold webinars, question and answer sessions and even provide sales and customer support. By using Hangouts, businesses are able to share their expertise and become authorative sources to their customers. Hangouts can also be used as part of a greater content drive to build loyalty and trust of brands; in a cost effective and interactive away.

G+ Communities allow SME’s to drive and participate in conversation: Google+ Communities are much like Facebook groups. Users can create public or private communities on specific topics. Any business can set up a community and can begin delivering conversation of any specific topic. For other public communities, businesses can participate in others conversations, connecting directly with existing and new customers.

Google+ can help you with an SEO stamp of approval: For businesses that rely on Google for referrals and sales conversions, the social networking platform is becoming a source that can no longer be ignored. The Google +1 button is different to the Facebook like button as it helps businesses discover and share relevant content from users they know and trust. Such a recommendation for a small business is vital. Businesses that use Google+ effectively will enhance their search performance.

Content is King: A business can never have enough content but if you are just using a small number of platforms you may find that you are saturating your fan base. Not only is Google+ another platform to seed content to your customers but it also offers you the chance to interact in different ways. Google has placed an emphasis on interactive content, with pictures and videos getting more space than on other platforms. Building an effective social media strategy will allow you to manage all of your content and distribute it to the right platform.

Segmentation of audiences: What social media has shown marketers is not everyone interacts with a brand in the same way. Having any kind of social media presence presents itself with a number of issues. Firstly, who is the businesses audience and what content makes them tick? Google+ allows users to organise their following and then add them to ‘circles’ – essentially segmenting customers. From here a business can feed certain content to these specific lists based on the users’ perceptions of what they will like. This is a crucial step for businesses with broad audiences.

There is an ever increasing pressure for businesses to have a presence on social media. Where Google+ differs to other social networking sites is in the way it allows businesses to harness the relationship between itself and the customer. Google+ is becoming more popular but the opportunities on the platform continue to be considerable for the reason that it hasn’t become saturated. Key influencers in business sectors are actively using the platform – don’t miss out on the conversation.

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If you don’t know what Vine is, then you’d better read this post because you’re probably going to use it plenty to promote your brand on Twitter.

Twitter recently launched a video app called Vine that enables Twitter users to share super-short videos of six seconds or less with their followers. This hot new social app for iOS users allows people to create and share their own videos via Twitter.

There’s already a lot of buzz around the new Vine, especially because of the short length of the videos which, some say, can’t allow for anything meaningful to be created. Then again, that’s also what they said about Twitter which allows updates of only 140 characters or less.

When it comes to videos, there’s one thing people are missing: attention spans are shorter than ever. No matter where you share a video, if it’s too long, people won’t watch it in its full length. So, when you share a short video, chances are people will watch it from start to end. Now the thing you need to figure out is how to convey your entire message and get your audience to act and convert in just six seconds.

If you ask me, this is a fantastic tool for advertisers to promote their brand and have fun doing it. Sure, six seconds is not a lot of time but if you put your mind to it, you can create very cool videos that can encourage people to follow you on Twitter, retweet your videos and get everyone talking about your brand. Or you can get them to do all the work and create their own videos about your brand.

‘Show’ your brand’s story

Gap, the popular clothing brand, is already using Vine and it’s doing a great job with it. They’ve used it to create a video that takes their fans through their entire advertising history. MSNBC also showed users what’s happening in its newsroom. These are just a few ways you can use Vine but if you can also create a video to introduce your employees, a history of your products and so on. You can create any kind of interesting content that you believe can generate shares and tweets among your followers.

Get them behind-the-scenes

A great way to use Vine to promote your products is to take your audience behind the scenes and show them how your products are actually made or what’s going on it the office. For example, a coffee shop in Virginia Beach showed their fans how they make an awesome latte. BuzzFeed even took a video of its employees dancing. That looks like a fun atmosphere at the office, doesn’t it?

Have people promote your brand for you

This is an effective strategy no matter what social network you’re using, whether it’s Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest. Now you can use Vine not only to show how people can use your product but also to have them demonstrate it and do the work for you. This will show your audience that people love your brand enough to create and share videos about it which can raise your brand awareness and ultimately send some new customers your way.

You can download Vine on the App Store here.

What do you think about Twitter’s new Vine? Are you planning to use it to promote your business?

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If you spend time on Facebook, you’ve probably noticed a lot of Page owners are gnashing their teeth because they’re now reaching less than half of their fanbase with each post.

Facebook has changed its reach algorithm a couple of months ago but most Page owners are just starting to notice that their posts are only reaching a small per cent of their audience. In other words, page owners are forced to pay to ‘Promote’ posts if they want to reach their own audience as they did before. For a business with a huge Facebook fanbase, this can cost tens of thousands of pounds a year as promoting a single posts starts at £4.

Is this bad? Yes, it is, but as a business you should’ve seen it coming. Facebook was never supposed to be free for businesses. They showed you what you can achieve with their social platform, now it’s time to pay up.

Things are worse for businesses who have been putting all their eggs in Facebook’s basket. Social networks are great tools for businesses looking to expand and connect with their audience but your entire social strategy shouldn’t be built entirely on someone else’s platform.

So, what’s a brand to do? They can either pay for it or earn it by creating social content that’s engaging enough to get shared, clicked, liked, commented on, or both. Here are a few tips you can use:

Find out when is the best time to post

Image via http://mashable.com/2012/09/28/marketers-facebook-wrong/

If you want to reach more of your audience, then you need to update your Page at specific hours of the day. A study from Buddy Media called “Strategies for Effective Wall Posts: A Timeline Analysis” has found that off-hours are the best time to post. Brand posts between 8pm and 7am got 14% higher interaction than those published between 8am and 7am when everyone’s at work.

At the same time, the study shows that Wednesday is the worst day to post as interactions are 7.4% lower than average. Saturday and Sunday is when the audience appears to be primed for interaction.

Vary the post type

If you regularly post links, you might want to take a break. Mix it up by adding images, videos, polls, infographics or just plain text messages to engage with your audience.

Geo-target your posts

Add your location when you post an update. This will help you target your posts so that they reach fans in your specific location.

Keep it short and conversational

Write short posts if you want to engage more with your audience. A study by BuddyMedia revealed that posts of about 80 characters and less had 27% higher engagement rate than longer posts. Also, try to turn your posts into a two-way conversation by asking questions.

Remember to always measure you results. Use Facebook’s analytics tool to see which posts worked best and which didn’t get any likes at all.

The latest Facebook algorithm change proves that no advertising is free. So, instead of focusing all your social activity into Facebook, try other social platforms as well, such as Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and Google Plus, depending on where you audience is spending its time online.

Got any other tips on how to reach more fans on Facebook?

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Facebook has struck again. Yesterday it has launched a new search functionality called Graph Search and some say it’ll be better than Google’s search engine. That would be correct if Google’s results were personalised to a user and his connections. You can sign-up here to get on the waiting list and in a couple of days you should get your chance to take it for a spin.

How does it work?

Unlike Google, Graph Search is actually a social search engine that shows results based on the users’ “Likes” and their connections, thus personalising the search results to what it believes to be the most relevant for each user. So, it performs a search based on the vast user information that Facebook has in its database.

Running a search on Facebook is a completely new experience. Not only is the old-style search box ancient history, but you’ll also be able to search for specific things like “games my friends play”, “restaurants in London my friends like”, “people who went to the University of Toronto in 1985”, “books read by people who read Truman Capote” and so on.

How cool is that? This new feature takes the search functionality to a whole new level and, to be honest, we all knew it was coming, didn’t we? Come to think of it, it’s a bit of Google, LinkedIn, Yelp, iTunes rolled into one.

When Zuckerberg was asked about users’ desire to use a social search engine, he said the product was actually created as a result of users’ requests to find out more about their friends and places nearby.

“I don’t know that anyone was asking for us to combine this all into one thing,” he said, “but I think that it is very useful because people only have to learn one interface.”

How to use Graph Search for your business

The new search functionality is great for making new connections, but it’s also an invaluable tool for businesses to get found on Facebook.

Facebook’s new search allows users to run specific searches such as “restaurants in London that my friends have been to” or “doctors that my friends recommended” or local searches like “spa near London Bridge”.

So, if you want to take advantage of the new search functionality, Facebook published some great tips for business owners focused on optimising a Page for the new Graph Search:

• Make sure the About section of your page is up to date as the name, category, vanity URL and other information you’ve included can help people find your business.
• If you have a local place Page, make sure the address is accurate as this will show up in search results when someone is looking for a specific location.
• Focus on attracting the right fans to your Page and on giving your fans a reason to interact with your content on an ongoing basis.

Bing has also written a post about how the search engine’s results will be used when Facebook needs to show additional information so be sure to give it a read if you want to find out more about it.

What do you think about Facebook’s new search functionality? Have you joined the waiting list?

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Nick Leech started his career in the magazine publishing industry, joining Future Publishing as an Advertising Manager. Leech began selling advertising space for companies in publications including .Net, Internetworks and Business 2.0. In 2000, Leech recognised an opportunity in the market and along with a colleague set up Euston Digital, an agency specialising in search engine marketing. In 2012, Leech was headhunted by the Host Europe Group as its new Group Marketing Director.

Nick Leech sat down with 123-reg to offer his personal experience and give his advice to young entrepreneurs in 2012.

So how did Leech go from selling advertising to running his own successful search marketing business? Leech began with an initial belief that he could do things better, a thought many people in business hold. ‘Euston Digital wasn’t about creating a unique product but more about providing a service that was better than the competition. This was my true inspiration – I knew I could do it better than others.’

Nick Leech is an entrepreneur, despite his own modesty. Realising ones potential is sometimes the main stumbling block, something anyone who wants to start their own business can learn from. While Leech may be somewhat embarrassed to be described as an entrepreneur, his non-traditional path into the business world and story of success should be inspirational to those who might one day takes the plunge. ‘I wouldn’t describe myself as a typical entrepreneur, because I have always seen my investment as low risk. Added to that, the economic environment was better in 2000. Maybe where I am different is I have always seen commercial potential in an idea.’

When you have a great idea and can compete with the competition, there is no need to borrow vast sums of money. ‘When we created Euston Digital there were a lot of people doing things badly, a lot of money was around at the time and there was a serious opportunity if we did it correctly.’

What makes Leech’s story so relevant is that it was not a unique idea, in many ways this is what sets him apart. Leech’s story is one for the masses, an individual who was good at something and had the passion and determination to make it a success. ‘That eureka moment normally costs a great deal of money. What people can take from my experience is to do what you are good at and do it well. The only real cost should be your time and passion.’

It is the Marketing Director’s belief that commitment, passion and skill are essential ingredients for anyone wanting to set their own business up. ‘Working within the service industry, what set us apart was the effort we put in for our clients. Clients saw the passion and the extra effort we were putting in for them. That goes a long way.’

So what advice would Leech offer those wanting to gain a presence on search engines? ‘When you start a business you need to be thinking about how you can rank well on Google. The sooner you do it, the better for your business. There is a perception that this opportunity has been taken by big corporations. However, upstarts are constantly finding way to challenge and even beat large competitors.

‘Do not feel like the ship has sailed. There is still so much potential online.’

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2012 continues to be a year of great excitement for 123-reg. We are thrilled to announce the release of Site Scanner, powered by Stop the Hacker.

For those not in the know, Site Scanner is a SaaS based malware monitoring tool that scrutinises a user’s website, notifying the customer when malicious code/viruses are found via email and in the 123-reg control panel. Furthermore, the software provides the user information on where the damaging code is located (the line of code it starts and ends on) and provides steps on how to eradicate it.

Protecting your online business against malicious code couldn’t be more important in 2012. This year has seen the issue of internet security rise to the front pages of the national newspapers. Whilst events such as the Linkedin security breach are unfortunate, they are helpful in educating the market.

123-reg spoke to Anirban Banerjee, Co-Founder of StopTheHacker Inc., in a bid to help inform website owners of the growing threat of malware and detail how purchasing Site Scanner can give you peace of mind. A blacklisted website can have serious implications for any online business in terms of lost revenue, potential customers and credibility. We asked Banerjee about the threats to 123-reg customers who run websites with little or no malware detection service. ‘Malicious hackers are targeting websites in order to compromise them. If your website gets compromised and is misused to distribute malware to innocent visitors, the infected website is put on a blacklist by Google and other search engines.’

The potentially spiralling affects could be disastrous for your online business as Banerjee explains. ‘If your website is blacklisted, users will be blocked from coming to your website. This could lead to a loss of revenue. Moreover, this could result in an irreparable loss to the reputation of your website and business.’

The threat of being blacklisted by Google is one that is not only very real but one that every website owner needs to protect against. Once malware infects a website, it harms both the company and its customers. Website owners typically have no idea they have been infected, and many do believe that anti-virus protection software is enough. However, it is not.

‘9,500 websites get added to the Google blacklist every single day. Given the UK market is quite big; this represents a substantial number of UK businesses. It takes 7-10 days for a blacklisted website to clean up its act, on average, this process can cost thousands of pounds in lost revenue before even considering the potential revenue lost from your brands’ reputation being tarnished.’

Prevention is better than cure, but having said that, Site Scanner also acts as a quick reaction, something users can take heart from. If malicious code is found on the user’s website at any time, they are sent an email detailing exactly where the code is, and just as importantly, how to delete it.

‘Site Scanner incorporates the best of breed technology when it comes to malware detection, Antivirus engines, signature databases and reputation monitoring. It will help 123-reg customers by providing them with peace of mind. Together, we will help fight the battle for them!’

Central to seeking a partnership, 123-reg looked-for a provider with a real passion for the online security industry. What 123-reg customers should also take from the partnership is Banerjee’s passion for helping people secure their websites as well as the quality of product that his company provides. ‘Our goal is to make website security ubiquitous. Having a secure website and not worrying about hackers installing malware on your site and getting blacklisted shouldn’t be a luxury, everyone should have access to a high quality, reliable and accurate malware detection prevention like Site Scanner.’

Releasing a product like Site Scanner highlights 123-reg’s commitment to helping its customers secure their websites. 123-reg is working with everyone involved with Site Scanner to bring website security to millions of users.

Remember, you don’t have to be a high traffic website to be targeted. Even if you see yourself as a small site, you are attractive to hackers because your site will have more vulnerable openings for hackers.

For more information on Site Scanner please visit http://www.123-reg.co.uk/security/site-scanner/

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What a year or so ago was a photo-collecting site adored by millions of US-based women is now being cited by some experts as a rival to Facebook in terms of business-usage. Yet, while the buzz about Pinterest is relatively new, only really registering on Google Trends midway through last year , it has actually been going since 2009. However, even it’s founders admit that even then when first shown to friends and family, people didn’t really get it.

I think the same is true today for many in the business world and social media sphere, myself included. I can see some of its worthy qualities and some of the reasons for its success but I am yet to be convinced that Pinterest is ever really going to be more than a secondary social network. Effectively it encourages visual search instead of text based search.

For certain businesses that could be a big benefit. Many designers, architects, photographers, cake-bakers, etc are using Instagram to great effect to show off their skills. But is that new? Haven’t they been able to do that with Flickr, Picasa even the 123-app Gallery, for many years? A gallery of your portfolio? I for one can’t see it changing the way we search.  People surf looking for solutions and Pinterest doesn’t really solve problems. It’s like an art gallery or large scale portfolio. It has a place but that isn’t the forefront of the internet in my opinion.

The other big noose hanging over Pinterest is intellectual property rights. From what I have seen too many small businesses are using it as a sounding board for creatives . Great to get feedback and act upon what your customers want but, it is a public forum and it is a nasty world out there. Once you have shared your concept or idea in the public ether you open it up for people to copy it and potentially steal your thunder. There’s also the issue of what rights Pinterest can claim in anything posted up using there service. It probably won’t be long before all of this ends up having to be tested in a court of law.

I am not adverse to Pinterest. Indeed I even have my own account. Mainly I use it as a visual bookmarking tool, for nice things I see and may want to refer back to. In terms of my own account, I have found it useful to tag infographics I quite like.

What do you think? How do you use Pinterest? Is it changing the way you do business?

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Tim Fuell is a former investigative journalist and qualified lawyer, turned social media fanatic who now oversees the 123-reg blog. After writing his Masters thesis on the topic of cybersquatting back in 1998, he has seen the internet develop before his eyes from dial-up bulletin boards to the beast it is today.

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I have had a very busy few weeks. Monday saw the launch of my new company, 3 Door Digital, a digital marketing agency that specialises in WordPress and Creative Content amongst other things. The company was formed through many hours of videoconferencing, most of it being done through Google+ Hangouts (you can read more about our launch here). Forming a company with 4 directors, 2 of which reside in the UK and the other 2 in Israel is a hard task but this made the process a lot smoother.

We chose Google+ as our choice of videoconferencing. In this post I will write about the features we used that can also help you with your business.

Starting a Google+ Hangout

That’s easy enough – simply go to https://plus.google.com/hangouts and click on “start hangout”:

This will open a new window. You can choose from quite a few options. The top option lets you choose people you want to hang out with. You can make it public for all to join (limited to 10 people at a time) or just invite fellow colleagues into a private hangout:

There is also another cool feature here – enabling hangouts on air. This option lets your hangout become a live feed within your YouTube channel (you will need to authorise the connection to your YouTube account). This feature is great if you want to, for example, have you and 2 other people broadcast a live videocast for everyone to see without the need for a Google+ account or the need to join the hangout itself. With this, unlimited people can tune in!

The Hangout Window

Once you’ve set up your hangout you will be welcomed with this screen as you wait for others to join:

Once someone has joined you will see the other person appear in the main window, as well as all the other people who join in. Say hello to Anna!

Once more people join the hangout they will appear alongside the bottom. Whoever is speaking (or outputting the most noise) will appear in the main area, swapping as people speak so that you don’t have to worry about finding which person is speaking. This can be changed by simply clicking one of the invitee thumbnails.

You can also mute yourself by audio or video should you need to.

Screensharing

Screensharing can be enabled by clicking the button within the top navigation menu of the hangout itself. You can select the specific window you want to share from a list. Once you do this your webcam will turn off and be replaced by the window you selected. Here Anna has shared the 123 Blog on her screen:

This feature was fantastic when we shared web design concepts, presentations and reports and other things that were inconvenient to share between a few people in real time.

Google Docs

This was amazing for us. Once we were really getting serious and working on how 2 companies would merge we needed to be able to, between the 4 of us, separately edit one spreadsheet without overlap or losing any data. This would have been an extremely hard task if done through any other means. Google Docs (which is currently turning into a product called “Google Drive”) has been around for a while but with the Google Docs functionality within the hangout itself (also in the top navigation menu) it made life a lot easier.

You can select a number of documents from within your Google Docs account which will appear in the left sidebar.  Once the documents were open it was output into the main window and all 4 of us could edit the document as we saw fit whilst all being able to chat to each other at the same time:

Here you will notice on the left (next to row 2) that there are 2 documents in the list and the spreadsheet is open with a text document underneath. All 4 of us edited the 2 documents in real time as we chatted to each other about what we were doing. This simplified so many things for us so that collaborative working such as this became a doddle, and we didn’t have to send each other annoying revisions of the same document.

One last thing – Google Effects

If you’ve been in the hangout for an hour or two you may want to make it a little more humourous. In this case, click the Google Effects button in the top navigation menu.

This feature is a fun addition to hangouts.  You can choose from a selection of different headgear, glass and facial hair. Once you add them they stick to your face! For me this is fantastic technology as the effects follow you as you move around. Here I am wearing some geeky specs and a Google headband while Anna tries on some devil horns for size:

Google hangouts have many options, and there are more you can use within Google Apps. Why not start a hangout now!

Alex Moss is the co-founder and technical director at 3 Door Digital, a company specialising in Digital Consultancy, WordPress Development and Creative Content Solutions. As well as this he is known for developing WordPress plugins.

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You’ve heard all the furore about Google’s (relatively) new social platform, your online marketing manager or agency has explained the implications for search, and your business now has a page on the network; it’s time to start making the most of the features it offers.

One of these features is Google+ Local, a new combination of local and social search, and Google’s replacement for their old Places pages. If you haven’t already got a Google+ Local page, it’s a good time to get to grips with the service. If you have, now’s the time to revisit it and make sure you’re using it to its fullest potential.

Let’s start with the basics…

What is Google+ Local?

Google+ Local is the new name (and face) for Google’s location-based search service. Basically, it’s the page that appears when a user clicks on a Google Maps result for your business:

A user clicks on ‘more info’ and is greeted with:

 Key Features: What’s new?

Well, for a start Google+ Local pages are a lot more aesthetically pleasing than the old, static, Places pages. Google+ Local also brings us:

• The integration of local search and Google’s social hub:

• The introduction of the Zagat reviews system, meaning place scores are calculated on a 30-point scale based on user reviews.
• A new ‘circles’ feature, allowing you to filter out local reviews and recommendations from people in your circles.

Why is it important?

Aside from the obvious answer (this is a route to your business for potential customers and clients and therefore needs to be maintained), it’s important to have a Google+ Local page if you want to take advantage of local search.

As more and more people use smartphones and tablets to search on the go, which will typically share the user’s location with Google as standard, location-based search and the results it delivers will become increasingly important for businesses.

Statistics already show that smartphone sales overtook PC sales last year (two years earlier than expected) and forecasts predict that in three years time, tablet sales will be bigger than PC sales.

Your Google+ Local page offers a fantastic opportunity to capitalise on these drastic increases in mobile and location based searching. By combining a well maintained and optimised Google+ Local page with Google+ activity such as gaining recommendations for your business from members of the Google+ community, you’ll significantly increase your chances of converting local search users.

Here are three more reasons why it’s important to claim and maintain your Google+ Local page:

• Google+ Local pages will be indexed in Google’s organic search results;
• Google+ users can now use a special ‘Local’ tab to search for businesses in their area. If you’re not represented, or you are but your page is of a poor quality, you’re much less likely to convert potential customers;
• if you’re using Google+ as a business and users in your circles are commenting on your posts and sharing them with their friends, your business is much more likely to appear in their (and their friends’) local search results.

How do I claim my Google+ Local page?

If you’ve already claimed your Google maps listing, you should be able to log in with the relevant Google account and edit your business’s details. If you’re starting from scratch with Google+ Local, here’s how to claim your page:

1. You’ll need a Google+ personal account. This will be the account responsible for managing your Local page and your business page, so choose wisely.

2. Log in and select ‘Pages’ under ‘More’ in the left hand sidebar:

3. Create a new page

4. Select ‘Local Business or Place’

5. Type in your business’s phone number and click ‘Locate’. If Google already has details for your business it should appear; if this happens, you’ll simply be asked to verify the details it has are correct.

6. If your business doesn’t appear, click ‘Add your business to Google’ and enter the basic information requested.

7. Follow the on-screen prompts, including adding a category for your business and setting an age limit.

8. Click ‘Create’ and you’re done. You’ll now be able to optimise your page and add more details about your business.

Maintaining your Google+ Local page

Now that you understand what Google+ Local is, how it works, how to set it up and what the key features are, all you have to do is keep it relevant. Make sure you adjust business hours where necessary, keep an eye on any reviews published using the Zagat service, add photos, use the description tab to sell your business and its services, and add anything else you can think of that has the potential to build trust with Google+ users, such as videos.

The better the job your Google+ Local page does of selling your business, the more likely you are to capitalise on local search.

Google+ Local: Current Issues

As with many new services, Google+ Local still has a few issues that need ironing out. Firstly, there’s the fact that a business page, and therefore a local page as well, has to be attached to a personal account. That’s fine if you’re a local plumber, but not ideal if you’re a larger business. Be cautious which account you use to set up the page, or you could find yourself with no access to it should the employee you delegated the job to choose to move on.

Secondly, there is currently no verification process for Google+ Local pages, meaning anyone can either make up a business, or make fraudulent claims on your business’s address. This makes it even more important that you establish an official presence on the network.

James Roome is a Senior Social Media Consultant at I-COM, Manchester, creating social media strategies and providing training to clients.

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