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Google has finally unveiled brand page for  Google+ , allowing businesses and brands to join Google’s social network. Google has launched its first  Google+  feature for big-name brands and businesses to interact with customers, called Google+ Pages. Businesses will be able to set up their own Google+ accounts with the feature, which is the social network's first big venture into an area currently dominated by Facebook. “So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people,” Google SVP of Social Vic Gundotra said in a  blog post . “But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about—from local businesses to global brands—so today we’re rolling out Google+ Pages worldwide.” The new Google+ brand pages look similar to Google+ Profiles, except for the little square icon that designates that it’s a Page rather than a Profile. Users can add brands such as Fox News, the Dallas Cowboys and  Angry Birds  to their circles, chec

Social Media  is proving to be the most powerful substitute to  Market Research ! Brands, Individuals, Analysts, Researchers, and Products are taking the Social Media Route for insights. B2B companies, who may not benefit a lot with their Social Media Presense, are also venturing on the Web, creating properties that support their existence. Take for example the  PAL  property created by Suzlon in India. Its about Pure Air Lovers Society, where Suzlon will plant 1 tree for every member who joins this cause! Globally, there any hundreds of MNCs that have started such campaigns that works toward social good. There are a few initiatives started by students, youth, and organizations to spread awareness of a Safer, Sustainable Planet! Companies can benefit in many ways: Their goodwill increases, they start understanding the audience sentiments, they can spread awareness of a few causes, and in turn, get an idea of what the people want. In short, its a nice way to build a credible da

A Social Media User, in general, would be happy to share content, network with like minded people, and grow. A Social Media Enthusiast will try to be in as many networking sites as possible, share his content (most of the time the same content). A Social Media Newbie would try to analyze his/her scores, activity, and would always be on the lookout to improve scores. The most common example being  Klout  ,  HowSociable ,  Social Mention , and the like. A Social Media Expert will never analyze his score or check his online reputation. It is majorly done by those who think they are experts/specialists, but aren't. On Twitter, there are so many ways to increase followers, or post tweets with #hashtags to increase participation and improve scores, that there are thousands of users with 10,000+ followers, and come across as Experts. They automatically come across as credible, real specialists. But the reality is far from truth. They are Re-tweeters and content amplifiers, or search engi

Social Media: Videos on YouTube, Updates on Twitter, Sharing on Facebook, Networking on LinkedIn, Trying out Google+, Publishing on Blogger/Wordpress, Checking in through Foursquare, Chatting on Skype, Building Fan Pages, Spreading Brand Messages, and Interacting every bit of our time through the Digital Media.  Where is the real Life, our tangible world, family members, the neighbours, our friends, the sweetheart staying next to the locality, the food across the street, the parties by colleagues, birthday celebration of little niece, and funeral of an Old man. Are we too busy exploring this medium that we don't really have a Real Social Life? Most of our needs are fulfilled by social media. Chatting with friends, keeping in touch with family, friends, relatives, classmates, old acquaintances, and the rest of the world. Then why bother about the Real Social Life? We see products in a store, we can hold them, feel them, smell them, and taste them. But when we shop online, we can buy

Social Media is broad, wide, deep, and mostly free. You don't need friends to be a part of social media, you can make them here in this virtual world. You don't need ID Proof, SSN, Credit Card, or any other means of verification to be a part of Social Media, Networks. All you need is TIME, Login Username, Password, and a Valid E-Mail ID. Being a teenager, I started browsing the Net with Yahoo! The only way to go online was through the Internet Explorer. The only place to log in or use the Net was the Internet Cafe (Cyber Cafe). A Mobile Phone would just send SMS, make calls, and charge me for Incoming calls too. The best thing I could do with a Mobile Phone was Play Snake! An e-mail ID like Gmail was available only through an Invite. Today, I can have 5 e-mail IDs.  Yahoo !,  Gmai l,  Rediff ,  MSN , and more. Each has a different purpose. One would be for making Personal Profiles, one for professional use, one is for fake profiles, one is for subscribing to various online publ

Social Media Landscape is broad. Sharing, Discussions, Networking, Media, Blogging, Microbligging, Livestream, Livecast, Virtual World, Gaming, Multiplayer games, Music, Video, Podcast, Review, Social Bookmarking, and Wiki. This is just a list of the beginning of social media. What started as e-mails, groups, and messenger, has now widened its scope, reach, depth, richness, interactivity, and quality.  The most challenging aspect of Social Media today is the way participation needs to be moderated, and a promotion of better quality content. On Websites like  Twitter  the trends keep changing in a very unexpected way, and there is no sense, pattern, or predictability behind them. E.g Osama Bin Laden was killed, and we witnessed about 12.4Million Tweets an hour! Lady Gaga, Eminem have such an amazing fan following on Social Media, that other celebrities are clueless about the reasons behind such madness. The participation of users never portrays a pattern on Social media, nor it is time

Return on Investment! Returns.. Returns.. More returns..!! In our social life (offline) we have always interacted with people, spent time with like minded individuals, and maintained selfless relations. But, online world is a different ball game. We interact, mingle, network, and follow people with two motives: Returns, and Referrals!  A follower, friend, acquaintance, or a like-minded profile needs to be cared about, tolerated, conversed with, flattered, and greeted by automated responses until he/she adds value to this concept of RoI. On the other hand, we have people and profiles who would take the same actions, but, for a greater cause, i.e. Relationship building. A simple Hi, Hello, or Nice talking to you makes no harm. An automated response does. It is painful to follow or invite a well-known/knowledgeable person and get an inhuman/ impersonated reply. We still follow the profile, but I am unsure of the value created in such a relation, and the Return He/She would get in such an

Newbies in the world of Social Media face so many challenges, ranging from creating quality content, understanding of tools, analysis of market, identification of target segments, access to reliable data, networking with experts, idea generation, increasing relevant/organic follower base, and building a credible online presence. Though the online space is relatively new, there are thousands of Social Media Experts, Specialists already! A newbie gets confused as to who really is an expert, and who is posing to be one. If we consider the follower ratio, then we are certain to end up at the wrong expert. Startups, freelancers, and small enterprises thrive on the follower optimization scheme. They charge some cents per follower, and by investing a few hundred dollars, these good-for-nothing individuals get a better presence. Billion articles, million Websites, thousands of specialists/experts, and just a handful of real Champions in the online space, there has to be some way out to find o

Minutes of the meeting: OME Community meet-up December- 2010 Programme Outline: Introduction - attendees and members Introduction - OME Community (by Suresh Babu) Introduction - NSRCEL and the NextBigIdea concept (by Suresh Babu) Introduction to e-commerce (Suresh babu) Presentation on e-commerce (A Malve) Q & A Coffee, Networking, and Discussions Power Tips Photo Session Conclusion Sunday, the 18 th of December 2010 saw numerous new and most of the regular Online Marketing Enthusiasts get together for the tenth time, since the inception of OME in April 2010. From established brands to startups, from veterans to amateurs - the OME now boasts of members from several industrial sectors, who unite under the Central Pergola roof of IIMB to imbibe and share knowledge on topics of online marketing and most of all enjoy themselves immensely during the process. The start was as enthusiastic as the members on the floor; introductions revealed abundant inquis