LinkedIn recently added a new feature which allows companies to post updates on their LinkedIn company pages, much like individuals can post a status on Facebook.  The updates are located on the top of the company page and at the bottom with a running feed of recent status posts.  The posts will show up on followers ‘newsfeeds’ and give them the option to ‘like’, ‘comment’ or ‘share’. 

What This Means For Companies on LinkedIn

Despite the obvious Facebook knock-off, the new status updates on LinkedIn are a great way for companies to engage with their audience by sharing announcements, special offers, links, and job offers to followers.  LinkedIn users will also be able to share these updates, helping companies gain more visibility.

Once enabled, companies can post status updates up to 500 characters long that support multimedia links, so that companies may share articles and videos.

How To Get Started

In order to begin sharing company updates, you must be a ‘designated’ administrator for that page.  In order to set up administrators, the account holder must go to Admin Tools > Edit in the upper right-hand corner of the company page.

Once in edit mode, you must designate certain users in order to enable the feature.  By typing in a name, you can select which users can create status updates and changes to the company page.

Note: You must be connected to someone in order to make them an admin.

If you have any questions about this LinkedIn feature or ways you can use social networking to promote your business, we recommend contacting your SEO Agency.

Contributed by Erica Machin, Titan Growth, Inc

Last week Google+ made the jump from “by invitation only” to “open to the public”, and immediate growth was impressive. In the first two days after Google’s social network went live to the public, it saw a 30% growth or approximately 10 million new users. This equates to an estimated 43.3 million users worldwide, according to ancestry.com founder, Paul Allen.

Since its original launch about four months ago, online marketers have been taking note of Google+’s growth, and have been watching for any sign of a mass exodus from Facebook, which has not yet occurred. Although Google+’s user numbers fall well below Facebook’s estimated 800 million, one must take into account the fact that what Facebook did in terms of growth during its first three years, Google+ accomplished during their first month.

Can we attribute Google+ unprecedented rise to its stellar social networking features? Or is their success due to the fact social networking is much more commonplace now than it once was, and now considered acceptable in professional circles? Perhaps we can ascribe their growth to the many millions of people online “checking things out”. Whatever the cause, most people in the online marketing industry will keep Google+ on the radar even while most people continue to log into Facebook. For more information about how to get your business’ website active in the social marketing arena, talk to your SEO agency today.

Several apparently conflicting reports detailing Google+’s progress have recently been released, and speculation about the data has the online marketing industry buzzing. One report indicates Google+’s rise has been monumental and unprecedented in the world of social networking, even among sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. However, despite these great gains, some reports also denote the popularity of Google+ has been waning. What is the true story here?

The truth of the matter is Google+’s popularity does appear to have hit a plateau in the U.S. market after it hit its peak around July 20th. However, Google+ is still climbing dramatically worldwide, especially in India, Canada, the U.K., and Germany. This rise accounts for the unprecedented 25 million visitors to Google+ during the first month following its launch; Facebook, by comparison, took 3 years to accumulate that number of users. To bring us back down to earth, however, those “visitors” are not necessarily “users”; on the other hand, one should keep in mind Google+ is still in Beta, and still by invitation only. Furthermore, the data regarding the number of visitors does not take into account mobile users and those using the Google+ engagement bar (the new black navigation bar).

Regardless of the number of Google+ users in the U.S., it is still too early to determine how Google+ will progress as a major social network. What is interesting to note is Google+ users are predominantly male (about 71%), in the 25-34 age group, and typically considered tech-savvy, based on their age and gender and the fact most are using Google Chrome as their browser. These demographics are consistent with internet industry leaders, and those who are up-and-coming in the tech world.

Although Google+ is less than two months old, Google is already integrating some of the “public” posts into search results, as long as the searcher is logged into their Google account. This integration demonstrates a measure of Google’s confidence in their new social network.

It will still be a while before we find out whether or not Google+ has what it takes to draw users from the ranks of social networking giants such as Facebook. Until then, we’ll be watching what new advances will continue to emerge from these fierce competitors as they battle for more social networking turf.