Google Wave: It’s The Next Huge Opportunity For Business Marketing

Anticipation and excitement is building about the official launch of the Google Wave. Trust me this will bring social media marketing to the next level.  Like all new applications, it’s hard to predict exactly how, but it will. If you have not heard about Gwave yet here are the basics:

• Google Wave is a real-time communications platform. It facilitates the use of email, instant messaging, wikis, web chat, social networking and project management (incorporating any media) in one easy-to-use interface.
• Like many Web 2.0 applications, the Wave is build on the cloud computing framework so it should be inexpensive and available for just about any Internet connected devise.
• Google’s Wave technology is based on the HTML 5.0 toolkit, which allows it to exist as a natural element of HTML coding for supporting browsers. Among other things, this enables email content to be hosted on a Wave.
• Wiki functionality is built in so a Wave can be edited by other users that share the platform withing a designated “Gwave community”.
• Key features of Google Wave is real time communication, Waves can be embedded in any website or blog and it is open source so developers (and marketers) can innovate new applications.

The opportunities to use Google Wave for business marketing are powerful and endless.

Think about Gwave this way.  It’s like message boards with the ability to be real time.  Moreover, you will be able to move a Wave anywhere you want on the Internet (blogs, websites) and add any kind of media with drag and drop functionality.

Imagine, a retail store email could direct customers and prospects to a Wave where they are viewing the merchandise in real time with hundreds, or thousands, of other potential customers. Here they can comment (or buy) on the email and special offers, and engage in discussions. As they get customer feedback, retail marketers can update, in real time, the merchandise assortment customers are most interested in. New merchandise is brought back to customers in real time.  Retailer could provide better service to customer by showing new merchandise ideas based on feedback.  Kind of like the person in the store handing new clothes over the stall while you are in the dressing room trying things on.

In this case, customers opening email multiple times in a day would see various merchandise assortments based on how the wave is evolving. Gwave takes targeting and customization to a new level, with content immediately tailored to each individual customer based on their feedback within the Wave.

Google Wave is still in it’s early stages and you can’t get it unless invited in. The key learning for you as a businesses owner or marketing exec is that you need to be in the game learning now.  With the tools and applications we have now.  Chances are Gwave builds on what we have, not replaces it.  Its a new world of marketing, and success will go to those that know how to thrive with new technology.

You can learn more at http://wave.google.com

Business Marketing Services for the Social Web: Tools That Save You Time and Make Your Competitors’ Heads Spin

Are you looking for ways to increase your presence online? Try out the business marketing tools listed below in order to guarantee more website traffic.

There are certain tools that you can use for marketing your products and services. These tools are great time savers and will push you ahead of your competitors on the Internet front. Your business marketing plan should be to expand your target audience through the use of these tools. Listed below are ten different useful sites.

Twitter: One of the top five business marketing tools, Twitter is used by companies across the world to promote their business, share information, and give free products and services to encourage trust in their followers. Don’t know what to tweet about? Find significant URL’s from the other sites below that give value to your dialogues and posts.

Tweetadder: You will need a Twitter account, but once you have one, this is a great way to get a quick following online. You can market your business through tweetadder by targeting people by geography or keyword in order to identify interested parties. Then invite them to follow you. Typically, you’ll get a 20-40% response rate of those you ask to follow you.

Facebook/Linkedin: Start a local group for your niche. This will allow users to get to know you and your company online, while allowing offline networking. If you start the group as the administrator, then you will be perceived as the leader. Invite your competitors and other industry people to join. Remember, you are the leader and now have a group of names you are collecting and the promotional vehicle you now have for free. This is a great way to get exposure for your business.

Social Poster: A fast way to get instant exposure over a wide variety of sites is Social Poster. This web bases application allows you to post anything from articles to media on over 160 different social and bookmarking sites. By simply submitting your website regularly, you will get more traffic and a better page rank.

Ping.FM: This social network and micro-blogging service allows you to simultaneously post to multiple social networks. With just one update on Ping.FM, it sends the update to several different social sites at once, making your job a whole lot easier. Rather than spending time updating each social site individually, Ping.FM does the footwork for you.

Friend Feed: With this tool, you can consolidate the updates from social media and networking sites, blogs, micro-blogs, bookmarking sites and any other type of RSS feed—all in real-time. By using this information stream, you can customize feeds to share with prospective customers as well as create new discussions and micro-blogs to share.

If you are looking for a way to better market your business, all of the sites referenced above are relevant sources for helping you to connect with prospective customers with ease and in a format that is appealing to them. One aspect of your product marketing plan should be to follow the customers where they are, and these sites can keep you relevant and in-touch on a daily basis.

Chris Marentis is a serial entrepreneur and recognized Internet Marketing expert having served as SVP at AOL and CEO of Clearspring Technologies. For more information on Lead Generation Marketing, go to http://www.surefiresocial.com today.

Marketing In The New Normal

Is marketing in the new normal easy?  In a word, no.

When I started my marketing career in 1981 at Y&R in nyc I remember what media planning was like.  In those days we had a “computer room” where we all had to go (b/c we did not have computers on our desks) and “run the numbers”.  That was, keep running reach and frequency reports till the cows came home and/or you finally discovered the optimal mix (theoretically) of media to maximize your reach, frequency and effective reach.

Remember effective reach?  How many times you clobbered your prospect over the head with your message till you thought it finally registered?  Well, 28 years later the customer somehow got control.  And they do not like getting interrupted very much. They like to learn about new products and services that might fit their needs, but they want those messages delivered to them when they are seeking answers…by people they trust and know. Read more

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