The Last of the ABCs of Google+ HOA
In what is the last of the ABCs of Google+ I had the pleasure of finally meeting Sandra Watson and Delilah Taylor and the always redoubtable Dennis N. Duce as we covered some of the questions regarding the value of Google+.
As always in a Hangout on Air (HOA) the real value comes not from the topic or the guest (though they help) but from the chemistry of the synthesis of guest, topic, hosts and audience. This makes each HOA unique and the spontaneity that each produces also brings out fresh insights and unique ideas.
Google+ Business Spotlight HOA
Ben Fisher and Stephan Hovnavian have done some incredible work in branding and marketing right across the web.
In this Spotlight HOA we got to discuss G+ connectivity, the way content can be curated for greater ease and the way Google+ Hangouts link up to semantic search, Google’s voice recognition technology and YouTube.
Both Ben and Stephan are experienced marketers who have seen G+ evolve over the past eighteen months. This was an awesome Hangout amongst peers with some excellent, well-informed questions.
Business Culture, Hangouts and Google Plus
In the social network world it often is easier to be prescriptive and analytical than accepting and holistic. How we establish “safe zones” for contact in a social media network, how we create comfort zones and yet how we avoid growing stale, was the subject of an open on-air discussion with Eric Enge and Mark Traphagen, both of Stone Temple Consulting.
The amazing thing about this is that while we are all working within the relatively ‘hard’ concepts of search and metric-driven marketing and brand values, we also are all aware how the true impact and touchpoints are being generated by the softer, human attributes.
This was definitely a touchy-feely HOA and we covered some pretty interesting ground.
Semantic Search, Small Businesses and Hypnotists
an on-the-road performance of hypnotism and how it can be used to unlock our potential.
If you find this fascinating consider the fact that Paul also helps small businesses and professionals, like himself, understand what it is that they need to do in the age of semantic search and the semantic web.
While Paul focuses a lot on what those active in his profession should do the value of what we discussed transcends business verticals. In the semantic web we see transparency, connectivity and authenticity as key. Each of these changes what we do and how we do it and, in the process, it changes everything else.
Check out the video for some of the insights that came out as a result of the Q & A session.
Successful Online Marketing in the Age of Semantic Search
The value of Hangouts on Air (HOAs) really shows itself when you get a HOA like this where Carlos Fernandes, Bill Slawski, Ammon Johns and yours truly got together to discuss semantic search.
What was different in this HOA is that we’re all living and breathing in this space and have been for a long time. Bill Slawski runs the SEO By The Sea website where he has exhaustively covered almost every Google patent there is to know about. Ammon Johns has been involved with search ever since there was search worth talking about and Carlos Fernandes is one of the founders of the ISOOSI research engine.
The traditional rule of thumb goes that when you have a lot of wattage in a room everyone tries to outshine everyone else so friction increases and the value of the insights correspondingly drops, unless, that is, you get something like this. Having never physically met each other before, being in different countries and timezones but having interacted with or come across each other’s posts in Google+ many times, the synch was such that the friction was zero. When that happens (and it’s unique to the Google+ culture in my experience) the value of the insights increase exponentially.
Whether we talked about branding and marketing and semantic search or Ammon John’s incredibly accurate assessment of Google’s vision and the direction it is taking the conversation veered seamlessly from practical and actionable to conceptual and strategic and back again.
Watch it. Enjoy.
Influencer Marketing and the HOA Connection
Can Hangouts on Air (HOAs) help you increase your influence? Can they help you reach more influencers? Is influencer marketing something you should be pursuing? Is there really such a thing as an “influencer”? These are just some of the questions that we addressed as Christine DeGraff and Ronnie Bincer took us through a lightening-fast, rapid-fire half-hour Hangout On Air.
The question of how influencers affect search, how they can be approached and how they fit in the overall relationship marketing that is in play now is far from solved, but this HOA definitely tackles the issues, heads on.
SEO Challenges Lawyers Face – HOA on Legally Speaking
Legally Speaking is a regular Hangout on Air (HOA) hosted by Tina Willis and Stephan Futeral aimed at helping those in the legal profession get a better handle on search, marketing, search marketing and a whole lot of issues related to lawyers working online.
Search is now a constant in the life of every working professional who needs to be found through search. Although a lot of this HOA is focused on lawyers and the legal profession it is widely applicable and well worth catching.
Talking Semantic Search, Content Marketing and Keeping it Real
Ryan Hanley is part of the new breed of content marketers who “get it”. He knows Google is changing. He has seen search change first hand. He knows content marketing and he sees the challenge that businesses face as they transition into the new web of semantic search.
Hangouts on Air are awesome because you never really know quite what you will be asked. This one was no exception. Ryan is a very focused, intelligent interviewer and many of his questions built upon previous interviews he has done which can be seen at his website RyanHanley.com.
True to form, in this HOA he asks some pretty tough questions as well as the a number of less unexpected ones. As always what makes a Hangout On Air is the participation of the audience and the energy they bring to the live event. This one was truly awesome. Check it out:
Marketing Lessons Taught by The Walking Dead
In a Hangout On Air where I agreed not to discuss marketing, SEO, semantic search or branding, we ended up having what is perhaps one of the most poignant HOAs of the year where we ended up talking Walking Dead.
The Hangout on Air was organized by Carolyn Capern and Greg Trujillo and it was attended by Mia Voss amongst others. The discussion was light but inevitably very real. You just can’t talk Zombie Apocalypse and the world ending without getting into relationship building, authenticity, trust and what is it that ultimately makes us human.
All the things, in short, that on the social media stage go into branding, marketing, relationship building and entity creation in semantic search. I can’t remember the last time a TV show touched upon points that affect sociology, psychology and semantic search. That this one has is not just an indication of how TV programming is getting better, it is also an indication of how search is now way more than just what happens on the web. Art, life and one imitating the other and the reverse, are now very much part of our reality. Online and offline are fusing. The imaginary and the real are edging closer.
Catch the video for the full Hangout On Air experience.
G+ Hangouts for Business – The Book
A book is nothing but a launching platform. It’s there to answer some questions, ask some fresh questions and by its having been written (and read) provide new answers that will lead to new questions.
If all that sounds like an exercise in futility rest assured it isn’t. It’s a madcap dance of backwards and forwards steps that ultimately drive us forward. Writing Google+ Hangouts for Business I had to take all this into consideration as I put the book together.
My recent Hangout on Air (HOA) with Eric Enge and Mark Traphagen both of Stone Temple Consulting and Ronnie Bincer did not just talk about my book, it focused on many of the reasons why we use Hangouts as a communication tool.
We are at the beginning of a communication revolution. If you consider the telephone made skyscrapers viable by freeing up interior space that would have been taken up by elevator shafts for commercial use, there is no telling what impact HOAs will have on the real world. It may be that airlines will see a dramatic drop in business bookings. We might communicate more and more and more, making instantaneous video connection a norm that will undermine the telephone itself.
Whichever way it goes it certainly is very exciting to be diving in at this very early stage. The Hangout below covers a lot of ground and as usual, Eric, Mark and Ronnie bring an incredibly well-informed perspective to bear.