Monthly Archives: August 2017

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Expand Your Reach with New Linked In Feature “What People Are Talking About”

LinkedIn’s got a new extensive update to its feature-news feed. It now
allows users to expand their reach and influence on the platform. You can see a box
appearing on the right-hand side of your page that says “What People Are Talking About”
and some trending and breaking news stories.

The stories that appear here are, top professional news and conversations of the day.
These stories are selected by LinkedIn’s news editors, leveraging data on and off
LinkedIn. With the help of this new feature, you can increase your online presence.

 

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Here is how you can use it for your benefit

Use it to Generate Sales Leads – If you see that the news feed has a topic or news that
interests your business or your expertise, you can join the discussion. Click on the story
and then share your views and perceptions on it as your status update. You can even add
a link to a video, or a blog post, or any other material in connection with the topic.

LinkedIn gives your status an appropriate hashtag and adds it to the other similar posts,
which are being shared or created. It is a great way to share your expertise and views on a
trending topic with people, to grab their attention and increase your presence.

Use it for 1-on-1 Personalized Marketing on LinkedIn – With this new update you can
directly interact with your target audience and showcase your thoughts and influence them
with the value and services you offer. You can even share your own content, a related
article or podcast, and by focusing on your specific niche, you can offer some value to the
platform.

Get New Business – This feature gives you the opportunity to build connections with
professionals in your industry. As people start noticing your industry expertise, they will look for your profile to find more about you. Make sure your profile is appealing enough.

 

Google’s New Local Search Filters

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Google’s New Local Search Filters Are Shaking Things Up! In a Good Way.

Google’s paramount goal is to provide its users with the best possible search experience and they leave no stone unturned to ensure that. In early 2017, Google introduced local search filters that allowed the users to sort results based on price, ratings and hours of operation. Taking this one step further, they are now automatically applying those filters.

It is user convenient for obvious reasons. They get the best possible relevant results for their search queries, on the go, THAT TOO without applying any filters.

However, it’s a big blow to business owners who have failed to maintain a good online
reputation. When Google automatically filters local businesses for those with 4-star ratings and higher, it places a lot of businesses at risk of losing online visibility. It’s quite common for users to search terms like “Best Plumber”, “Best Thai Restaurant” and “Best Roofing Contractor” when they are looking for a local business. Such businesses, if they do not have more than a 4-star rating, will find it extremely difficult to keep a measurable presence on local search.

Nonetheless, it’s a golden opportunity for the less popular businesses. By inviting reviews & keeping the information consistent and updated, one can share the spotlight with those who are already at the top.

The New Google Search Filters

The best of everything: Users can now filter the results automatically, by just adding “best” to the keyword. If you search “best plumber”, Google will show only 4-Star+ rated plumbers. This filter will drastically influence the way businesses are ranked. Check out below how the results differ.

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Open now: A closed Truck Repair store is of no use to a user who wants to get his truck repaired ASAP. So when a user types “truck repair store open now”, Google will show only those stores that are currently open and can offer help on an immediate basis. Check out below.

Hours-of-Operation-Search-Filter

Enjoy Fine dining: Want to go to an upscale restaurant for your first date? Just type “fancy
restaurant” & Google will show you the most expensive restaurants nearby. Or if you just want to fill your tummy without burning a hole in your pocket, type “cheap restaurants” or “budget restaurants” and you will get the list.

restaurants-search-filter

If you see the bigger picture here, you will realize that Google is heading towards providing a more advanced search experience where users will get results based on their actual intent. Local searches have grown to 46% of all searches on Google and will continue to rise. So, Google is doing everything it can to enhance the local search experience for its users.

What’s our take on this

Businesses that fail to manage their reputation and update their listings with the most accurate, detailed and consistent information now run the risk of not ranking in searches when they would have in the past.

To help you get more reviews for your business, we highly recommend our review widget. It’s a small piece of code which is placed on your website and helps you get positive reviews on Google, Yelp, and Facebook. In addition, it helps to filter out negative reviews too thus ensuring a positive experience to website users. Need more details? Please connect with our sales rep.

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Top 3 Latest Facebook Updates 2017

Facebook is continuously trying to bring new updates to its users for a better experience and
let advertisers gain more benefits from it. Recently, Facebook has rolled out some really
interesting and useful updates. Here are the top 3 latest Facebook updates for 2017.

Check them out below:

1. Facebook Has Come Up With Video-Format Cover Images

Facebook has brought an amazing update to help business to catch attention of users with
video-format cover images. The update has been rolled out world wide now.

Steps To Create Cover Video:

  • The cover video has to be not more than, 90 seconds and less than 20 seconds.
  • The crop size of the video has to be 820 pixels by 462 pixels.
  • It should auto-play and auto-loop.
  • It is simple to upload cover video same as you upload cover photos, group admin can
    do it.

2. With Audience Optimization Control Who Can See Your Posts

Yes, you can optimize your viewer’s list by using the tool audience optimization. You can select
a preferred audience who can see your post and can also you audience restriction if, you don’t
want certain viewer’s view your post.

In this way you can reach out to your target audience, just select the interest and business and
industry that interests your post. The audience optimization automatically gets activated when,
your page crosses more than 5,000 likes but, if you have fewer likes you need to manually
activate the tool.

Follow This Steps To Activate The Tool

  • Go to “Settings” in the top at the right corner of the Facebook page and click on
    “General”.
  • In the “General” tab you will see the option for “Audience Optimization for Post”
  • Click on “Edit” and check the box to activate the tool.
  • Now, save the changes by clicking on Save button.

3. Ask Questions To The New Entry In Your Facebook Group

There is some good news for the admins of Facebook groups, now the admin can equip up to
three questions, for the users to answer who are willing join the group. It will help the admin in
identifying potential members for the group and ensure they are not spammers and are
genuine and correct fit for the group.

Only, admin and the moderator can see the questions and answers and no answers will be
posted to the group.

It is a real help to the people who are managing a popular and reputed business group. With
this you will also get an opportunity to know the member’s interest and expectations, so you
can discuss on matters which they are interested in.