What is it?

Of course I can explain to you what this search plus your world is, but that would be like reinventing the wheel. I’m not really the one to do things others already have, so check out the video below (from Google). It will explain how search plus your world works and what it does.

So basically all the results from your network are shown among the normal search results. You can quickly switch back to the standard search mode by the icon on the top right.

Good usage examples

So how is search plus your world useful? Good question, but I already figured that part out. I’ll show an example:

You want to watch a movie or buy a new tablet. The first thing you probably do is check out Google and do a decent search on what you want. With the social integration you can easily spot reviews or recommendations from the people in your network.

So people you know and interact with are giving you some advice through search! I think that’s really convenient as I value the opinions from the people I follow and most likely will act on their reasoning more than standard search results. Keep in mind though that “good” usage will be only as good as your network, but I’ll explain that a bit more below.

Pros and cons….

When a new feature gets introduced, people get annoyed. Probably not so much from that new feature but more because of the change of something they’ve known for a long time. That’s stuff I won’t discuss here though. Another post of mine covers that . There are a few pros and cons with this new feature however. At least in my opinion!

Firstly the new social search is as good as your network. When you’re following people of interest with a lot of experience and skill it will be more likely they generate relevant search results for you. With a less skilled or non-interesting network, for example when you just follow for the follower count’s sake, you won’t get that relevant results you’re looking for.

Secondly, people without Google+ won’t see social integration in their searches. As far as I can see it’s only G+ that gets integrated. Twitter and Facebook are holding off the boat unfortunately. Social search could be far more useful when these networks are integrated too!

As you can see these aren’t really big cons, for me personally at least. But it can make a difference for other users.

Something I consider a pro is the ability to select what sort of search you want to use default. By clicking on the settings icon you can choose search settings and select to show personal results or not. This way people who don’t like it can easily turn off the service.

Like I stated above, there’s a lot of skepticism around about this new feature. Mostly people that don’t seem to understand what it does. By checking it out a bit more, reading the official blog post I linked above and set the search settings you want, it can easily be modified to your likings. This way it can’t possibly bother you…at least in my eyes.

What do you mean? Too spoiled?

Well, people are being served better and better on the Internet. Mail services are getting more efficient, searching is easier and social media gives people a lot of freedom! All different kinds of things are getting more and more integrated into one big mash-up where people can “live” online. A good example of that is the newly introduced Search, plus Your World. It’s Google’s search engine with G+ results integrated. See photos and videos from your circles and pages they liked! Of course (and luckily) there’s also the “old” Google search. These sort of mash-ups are getting common more and more. It gives people easy to use tools to do what they want to do or in this case, find what they want to find and from who they want to find it.

See what I mean? People are getting used to these easy ways to get what they want. We all know what happens when something we want is easily available…we want more! We’re getting so freakin’ lazy and used to these easy ways that sometimes we demand even more! And that’s where I think we’re doing it wrong.

+1 on Common Sense

We’re getting so lazy and demanding that we forget what it’s really about. Finding challenges and conquering them! Finding new stuff, learn new stuff and excel yourself to a new level of knowledge! Stay down to earth and look what you’re doing before demanding something or whining about something.

Don’t get lazy but active and explorative. Keep your common sense at the highest level possible. Think logically and be a critic at times when you know it makes sense. You’ll be far more content with what you achieve!

This is something I need to get out of my mind. It’s all the damn whining about change that happens in for example software. When something new rolls out, a lot of people seem to take that chance to whine about everything they can imagine…it seems a forum is the perfect place to do it in an unhealthy way.

SCREAMING is a common thing, just like blaming everybody instead their selves. Come on people, are you really that stupid? Can’t it come to your minds that maybe you should spend some time learning and exploring new stuff, just like at school and at work? That would get you more satisfied too!

It will probably get you noticed on the fact that sometimes it pays off and things are working better. If after exploring things aren’t to your liking…okay! Then complain, but not immediately without even trying to use something.

And why not just ask or explain nicely? You think by responding and posting anonymously you’re getting a free pass to do it? Not really, you just won’t get any normal help or responses which will make you even more pissed.

People are expecting something different than with other social networks or think it fails because Google “failed” with everything social like Buzz and Wave. Pretty stupid isn’t it? In my opinion it is! I’ll try to explain my problems with the five most heard reasons.

Reason #1: It’s exactly the same as Facebook

For a part yes, but someone who says this hasn’t used G+ for more than 15 minutes…I think even less than that! If you’re really using G+ you’ll find out that it works differently, better and more clearly than Facebook. You’re in control here!

Reason #2: Nobody is on it

Define nobody please. 50 million people are on it right now I think, so there are definitely interesting people available. I agree there aren’t lots of people like on Facebook, but hey! Facebook had nobody on it in it’s younger years, just like Twitter and other social networks. So saying something like this without proper reasoning is a #fail. You’re just bitching!

Reason #3: Yet another social network?

I agree! Yet another one, but one that gives you the control of what you do and share unlike other social networks. But this is an interesting reason…when you’re on a certain number of social networks it’s frustrating to see another one come up again.

But think of it this way. New ones come and others die. I’m seeing it right now with Hyves in the Netherlands. People are migrating to Facebook more and more…

Reason #4: My friends aren’t using it

Well get them the heck on Google+ . No just kidding of course. In my opinion this is one of the most important reasons for people to not migrate. It’s similar to the second reason but adds the magic of friends.

Try this: Use the social network which contains your friends for your social posts and use Google+ to follow interesting people (you don’t have to know) and engage! It’s not an easy step to do, but it’ll add so much value.

Reason #5: Yet another account I have to create

Sorry, I think this is complete bull. Are you that lazy that you can’t create an account that takes only a few minutes of your time? Come on, that’s not the main reason is it?

So you see, most of these reasons are not really supported by a decent opinion. Sounds like bashing to me. On the other hand, maybe people are getting used to the phenomenon and expect a large user base from the beginning, which isn’t logical to be honest.

Social media is pretty young and it’s evolving so fast that no one…read NO ONE can keep up with all the stuff happening. Sure it’s possible to learn a lot, but does that make someone an expert? No, just a heavy user I think.

Most of the time they’ve pretty good knowledge on how to start with social media and can advise a few things on a business strategy…on the other hand, so can I. I’m a heavy user and reading everything I can find about social media strategies, tricks and new stuff that’s launched.
A social media strategy however, is something that can’t be copy / pasted on every company or business. People are using social differently in every corner you might imagine! That makes it hard to be an expert on this, because you’ll need to be very creative to fix a perfect strategy for every kind of company. In my eyes that’s impossible.

So you’re a social media expert?

Why don’t find out! On Conversation Marketing there’s a nice list that you can use to check if you’re a social media expert. It’s a pretty old list (2009) but it gets a lot of things right. Just ask yourself these questions and look at the article for an explanation.

The questions are:

1. Do you have a blog?
2. When did you start in social media?
3. What is social media?
4. What’s a social media campaign?
5. How do you monitor social media for a client?
6. How do you measure ROI?
7. How do you build an audience?
8. Do you offer a guarantee?
9. How did you learn all this stuff?
10. How does social media impact SEO?
11. Bonus question: How often do you write?

So I’m an expert?

Kind of a rhetorical question, but nice to check out. I’ve posted my answers on the questions below. Do you think that makes me a social media expert? I certainly don’t…but hey, opinions differ.

The answers:

Do you have a blog?
Yes, you’re reading it!

When did you start in social media?
Pfew, I really don’t know…a few years now. Three to four I guess.

What is social media?
A lot of definitions you can find through a Google or Wikipedia search. My answer though is:
The media that gives people the ability to socialize with each other.

What’s a social media campaign?
Good one. A social media campaign is something that starts on social media and goes viral! If not…it’s a social media fail.

How do you monitor social media for a client?
I don’t right now, but I would use Retweets, Analytics, Share of voice and similar stuff. It would be a combination of Seesmic, Tweetdeck or Hootsuite with Google Analytics and the analytics from the addthis share buttons for example.

How do you measure ROI?
There’s not really anything I could answer on this one. Is it even possible right now to measure?

How do you build an audience?
I look into the target audience and find the top contributors there. Then I would look into what’s trending within that audience and figure out a campaign for that.

Do you offer a guarantee?
Nope, it’s social media…different every time.

How did you learn all this stuff?
I read a lot and look at social fails and victory’s. I also try out a few things in my spare time

How does social media impact SEO?
Well, this is where my social SEO stuff comes in.

Bonus question: How often do you write?
I try to write something once a week and post some inspiration once a week.

I think these answers give the answer to the above question “Am I an expert?” I wonder what you think about this…how well do you score on this list? If it’s positive all the way, you can call your self a social media veteran.

Strategies are available in many, many forms. Each company has and needs its’ own strategy. Every company is unique in it’s own way and so is the appropriate social media strategy. Every strategy should have the same basis though. Why? Because any social strategy should have these things in it. That basis is what I call RODEO.

What is RODEO?

RODEO is an easy way to remind you what you should do when getting into social media with your company. In my opinion it should be at the basis of your strategy. RODEO consists of five important actions you have to do! I’ll explain them below.

Read

When starting with social media and even when already participating in social, you need to read! Yup, just read what people have to say about your company and products. While reading you’ll find out what’s doing well as a product but also what needs some attention!

Observe

When reading you need to observe what’s happening too! Where is it happening? Why is it happening? What are the issues? Where are most people talking? Etc. etc.
Basically you need to observe your target audience. Look at the people who bought your products or fit your customer profile. By reading you’ll find them.

Discuss

After you’ve observed and read the different social media you’ll know where your target audience is and what they’re discussing. It’s time to look up one of those discussions and start participating. It’s also possible to start your own discussion, but it has to be relevant enough so that your audience starts participating. In my opinion it’s wiser to choose an existing discussion. Let yourself be heard, say what you think and ask what the problem is in the first place!

Don’t be a salesman, discuss as you would with colleagues or friends. Just be personal! People appreciate it and are likely to interact more with someone who comes across as a real person.

Evaluate

After you’ve done some discussing here and there, it’s time to evaluate those discussions. Is there any discussion you can add value? By simply answering a question or solving a problem? Or maybe by introducing a product that would solve the problem? If yes, it’s time to go to the next step. If not, keep on discussing!

Offer

When you can add value to a discussion by offering you’re solution (in the form of a product) then do it! Don’t be a salesman here again. Show people you have a solution for their problem and make a decent offer to them with no strings attached. Not everyone will respond to this, but they’re likely to appreciate you helping them solving their problem.

This doesn’t have to be a product purely, you can also offer your knowledge to solve their problem. By helping them out for free, people will remember you! The amount of free knowledge you spend on that is something you’ll need to think about. Don’t do everything for free! Try to find a good balance.

Get on with it!

By using these steps I’m positive you’ll get something out of social media, so get on with it! Start implementing these simple steps into a strategy and see what works best.

These steps (RODEO) aren’t meant to do once. It’s a circle which you walk by every day and every time, but it’s worth it I think!