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BIG BRANDS ON GOOGLE+ BUSINESS (Hot & Heavy, Ghost Town, or Afterthought)

PREPARED FOR: THE BULLDOG REPORTER/PR UNIVERSITY

MARCH 22, 2013

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ABOUT CHRIS (The Next Panel Member)

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BIO

Chris Abraham, Director, Social Media

Chris Abraham is director of social media at Unison Agency, a branding and digital agency based in Georgetown, Washington, DC.

Chris is a leading expert in digital: online reputation management (ORM), Internet privacy, social media marketing and digital PR with a focus on blogger outreach, blogger engagement and Internet crisis response.

A pioneer in online social networks and publishing, with a natural facility for anticipating the next big thing, Chris is an Internet analyst, web strategy consultant and advisor to the industries’ leading companies. Chris is based in Arlington, VA.

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Chris Abraham, Director, Social Media

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ABOUT UNISON Agency Overview

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Behind every great brand there is a compelling story. Unique. Inspiring. Unprecedented. Iconic. Defining. Enduring. Unison’s business is getting to the heart of human behavior and creating compelling stories through user-centered, integrated experiences. In doing so, our brands cut through the noise of our information-overloaded, 21st century lives to create recognition, stimulate action and build loyalty.

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OUR GOAL: BUILDING MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES

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Unison serves clients in 35+ countries across government, not-for-profit, retail, hospitality, financial services, and energy sectors.

GLOBAL EXPERIENCE ALLIANCES/PARTNERS

2003 Founded

3 Offices

6 Industry segments

11+ Languages

25+ Employees

11 Disciplines

35+ Countries

1 Global network

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AGENCY SNAPSHOT

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BRAND: What we need customers to think and feel to achieve the goals of a business at every interaction (decision point) with a brand

PRODUCT/EXPERIENCE DESIGN: How we increase value through innovation

OMNI-CHANNEL EXPERIENCES: How we engage customers across all channels in alignment with the brand

CAMPAIGNS & STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: How we drive customers to take action in alignment with the business goals

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

KEY SERVICES

OUR CAPABILITIES

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GOOGLE+ BRANDS What’s Up With That?

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THREE WAYS GOOGLE+ ARE EMBRACED BY BRANDS

• Hot & Heavy • Fully-embracing and implementing G+ features • Keeping content updated and fresh

• Responding quickly to queries

• Afterthought • Cross-posting content prepared for Facebook • Auto-posting content via HootSuite

• Not cross-promoting Page (low follower count)

• Zombie Ghost Town • Hot & heavy initially but inconsistent posting or abandonment • Squandering hundreds-of-thousands of active followers • Not updating G+ profile to current look/feel

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HOT & HEAVY: HUGO BOSS

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HOT & HEAVY: ALLSTATE INSURANCE

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HOT & HEAVY: MASHABLE

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HOT 7 HEAVY: ANGRY BIRDS

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HOT & HEAVY: VIRGIN

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HOT & HEAVY: STARBUCKS

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HOT & HEAVY (CHAUD ET LOURD): CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

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HOT AND HEAVY: THE NEW YORK TIMES

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HOT & HEAVY: BAYERISCHE MOTOREN WERKE AG

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HOT & HEAVY: BRITNEY SPEARS

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HOT & HEAVY: MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT

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HOT & HEAVY: NASA

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TIPS: HOT & HEAVY DEMANDS SEPARATE AND EQUAL

• Google+ should be a child not a cousin • Repurposing from Facebook is fine but G+ is separate but equal

• G+ offers hashtags, “+” tagging, galleries, albums

• Promote & cross-promote G+ equally as Twitter & FB

• All the cool kids are doing G+ by hand • Leading with full-sized images • Following with short URLs to content • Adding tags and hashes when needed

• Post every single (week) day (forever)

• Your followers are your friends • Don’t just preach at them, chat with them!

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HOT & HEAVY & AFTERTHOUGHT: TOYOTA & TOYOTA USA

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HOT & HEAVY AFTERTHOUGHT: FOX NEWS

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AFTERTHOUGHT: ZAPPOS.COM HAS FEWER THAN 5K FOLLOWS

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TIPS: AFTERTHOUGHTS MAY BE GOOD-FOR-NOW

• Sometimes some G+ is better than no G+ • Cross-posting or auto-posting is a good start

• While not a community, it may help SEO • At least your G+ profile isn’t a ghost town • At least you’re moving forward

•  Testing the waters is fine for a while

• HootSuite allows bulk-upload auto-posting • Cannot use the photo upload + tiny URL strategy • Cannot “+” tagging strategy to include others • Auto-posting puts brand page out of mind

• If you don’t tend your garden, it’ll never grow • Just ask Chauncey Gardiner of Being There

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ZOMBIE GHOST TOWN: PEPSI

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ZOMBIE GHOST TOWN: YAHOO!

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ZOMBIE GHOST TOWN FAIL: “O” BY CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

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ZOMBIE GHOST TOWN: MACY’S

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ZOMBIE GHOST TOWN: THE MUPPETS

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TIPS: ZOMBIE GHOST TOWNS HURT MORE THAN HELP

• Squandering hundreds-of-thousands of followers

• Cross-posting or auto-posting is a good start

• Broken windows theory of online community • The theory states that maintaining and monitoring urban environments in a well-ordered condition may stop further vandalism and escalation into more serious. • A blog, site, or social media profile that is poorly maintained telegraphs a lack of brand esprit de corps

• Better to take down/delete zombie ghost towns • Better yet to get the lead out and at least upgrade to making Google+ Brands pages an afterthought • Visitors respond more to your voice than what you say

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Waterfront Center 1010 Wisconsin Avenue, NW Suite 405 Washington, DC 20007 USA

202.337.7887 202.466.6235

Tribeca Film Center 375 Greenwich Street New York, NY 10013 USA

212.941.3990 212.777.0907

West Coast Office 1035 South Grand Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90015 USA

213.744.7900 213.744.7901

THANK YOU! ANY QUESTIONS? YES, YOU CAN START WITH ME:

myTWITTER: @chrisabraham

myFACEBOOK: /chrisabraham

myLINKEDIN: /in/chrisabraham

myEMAIL: chris@unisonagency.com

myBLOG: chrisabraham.com

myG+/Talk: cabraham@gmail.com

unTWITTER: @UnisonAgency

unFACEBOOK: /UnisonAgency

unLINKEDIN: /company/unison-agency

unEMAIL: chris@unisonagency.com