When brand pages were introduced on Google Plus, adding page administrators was not an option.

If you were logged in under your personal account and wanted to post something for X brand, you had to log out and login with X brands info. It wasn’t very convenient to say the least.

But the good news is that there is now a way to add managers to Google Plus pages and this quick tutorial will show you exactly how to do it.

Note: click images to enlarge.

How to Add Google Plus Page Administrators

Step 1 

Login to Google Plus using the username and password for the profile that is associated with the page in question.

To be clear, pages must be associated with a profile, and connecting them with a personal account probably isn’t the best idea.

Step 2

Once you are logged in, select the page in question that is associated with the Google Plus profile you just logged in for. Make sure you select the page, not the profile because the manager option is only associated with the page.

For this example click where you see the arrow pointing to “1 Page.”

Step 3

Click the settings button in the top right hand corner.

Step 4

Click “Google + Settings.”

Step 5

Now  click “Managers.”

If you didn’t do Step 2, you will not see the word “Managers” as shown in this screenshot.

Step 6

Insert the email you want to use to manage the Google+ brand page.

If you want to be able to use your personal Google accounts while acting as an administrator, make sure you use you personal Gmail account for this step.

Step 7

After clicking “Invite” in Step 6, an email will be sent to the email address you provided. Upon receiving click the red “Become a manager” box.

Step 8

After clicking “Become a manager” in the previous step, a new page will come up that allows you to select the email address you will be using for moderation.

Select the address and click “Continue.”

Step 9

This step confirms that you want to become a manager of X page. You’ll need to check the terms box and then click “Accept.”

This screen confirms that you are now a manager for the page. Click “Manage Page” to get started.

Once you become a page manager, this screen shot shows you where you can toggle back and forth from your personal profile, and the page account you manage.

Hopefully this information will help you set up Google Plus page managers, which will likely make the service more convenient to use.

Two thumbs up for no more logging in and out of various accounts!

I’m a believer that in today’s business environment marketers need to be well rounded. And some will disagree with my use of “marketer” because I lump PR people in that category as well.

I’m not the type of guy that watches football each Sunday like it’s a second religion, but I do catch a game on occasion – especially as the season comes to a close.

One thing about the end of season games is that the great quarterbacks rise to the top. Most even find a way to up their game and really work to make things happen. They throw. They run. And heck, some even punt the ball on 3^rd down.

No matter how you look at it, these quarterbacks try practically every tool in their arsenal to get the ball down to score a touchdown.

In my opinion, a great marketer is very similar. They have a range of experience and can pull the pieces together to maximize exposure or to prompt the desired outcome.

Yes, some will say that you shouldn’t be good at multiple things, but that thought is becoming aged and the need for a more flexible marketer is becoming apparent.

For example, let’s say you find yourself managing some sort of online property and are required to create and publish content.

Since you are a great quarterback marketer, you’ll want to make sure your content is search engine optimized (SEO), right? If you follow the old school limited capability way of thinking, you probably won’t have a clue about SEO.

On the other hand, if you allow yourself to learn and test the knowledge you’ve consumed, it’s highly likely you’re going to know your way around the world of SEO and can create optimized content.

Let’s stick with SEO for a moment. If you’re reading this and thinking, “Crap, I don’t really have a clue about SEO!” I might have something for you.

I’m in the process of finalizing a free, easy to understand (no gobbledygook) search engine optimization eBook that provides 25 tips you might find helpful.

Again, most of the content is easy for the average person to understand, but I also dig a little deeper and provide off site SEO tactics that become slightly more complex.

If you’d like to get the (free) eBook when it’s completed, simply enter your email address below and I’ll send it to you. Did I mention it’s free?

No matter if you sign up to receive this search engine optimization eBook or not, I hope you’ll continue to work towards being the best quarterback marketer you can possibly be.

I’m not trying to be an obnoxious jerk here, but as a marketing/PR guy I feel it’s ok to call out stupidity when I see it.

Thanks to my little fashion blog, I get a good number of queries each week from PR companies, most of which are great.

But on the other hand, there are THOSE pitches. The one’s that make you think, “How could they possibly think this isn’t a horrible tactic?”

The most recent example comes from Company X, and the email that was mass distributed starts with,

“I wanted to thank you for all the help with the Person X video earlier this week and let you know that we are filming another event tonight.”

That’s great and all, but the thing is, I DID NOT help promote the video in question. As in, I’ve never even seen the video.

The email continues by offering up some random press release and additional content that in no way fits the format of my fashion blog, Fashables.

It’s just crazy to me that this stuff still happens and that some people haven’t evolved their communications tactics.

And I’d like to really hit home the between the lines learning lesson for this post. By alienating me in the very first sentence, I did not continue reading the email. That’s a disservice to both the company and the brand represented.

There are a ton of great PR people out there, but somehow there some that are stuck in 1996. Amazing.

Without a doubt, Chris Brogan is a smart guy that has been very successful. And quite frankly, you could replace his name in the title of this post with a number of others that have popular marketing/PR related blogs.

So, why in the world am I suggesting that you stop reading his blog, as well as others?

To explain, let’s focus on the word, “reading.”

What I’ve noticed is that, in some instances, people are hyper focused on content that influencers (such as Chris Brogan) are sharing, and not focused on actually trying out things they are learning, or better yet, taking risks and trying things they’ve come up with themselves.

Think about it for a second. If you’re reading X or Y blog on a daily basis, but not doing anything with the knowledge, or even a small portion of the knowledge, how is that helping you?

Yes, you are reading about others experience and that may broaden your imagination, but it’s not actually adding to your experience. I mean, you certainly aren’t going to put, “read about building a community on Chris Brogan’s blog” on your resume.

Personally, I feel like there needs to be a greater emphasis on taking knowledge and putting it to use. By doing so you will stop reading Chris Brogan’s blog, and instead, you’ll be using it as an educational tool that will help you gain experience and grow professionally, and in some cases, personally.

We won’t exactly categorize this as a post that will help you in the business world, but it sure as heck will show you how to have even more fun with Pinterest – faster.

If you aren’t familiar with Pinterest, it’s an online pinboard that allows you to easily organize and share things you find online.

More and more people are starting to use this network, and as you can see by the screenshot below, people are spending a ton of time on the site.

If you aren’t aware, there’s a nifty little tool that will make pinning a synch and extremely fast – the Pin It button for Firefox.

By adding this to your bookmarks toolbar you’ll be able to pin things to Pinterst without having to go to the website. .

Here is how it works once you have it installed.

Whenever you are browsing the web and see something you want to pin on Pinterest, just click the button and you’ll be able to immediately select the image and pin it. The series of screenshots (click images to enlarge) below will help you visualize this quick and easy pinning process.

For this example we’ll assume we’re browsing a street style photography post on Fashables. If I saw a photo I wanted to pin, I’d click the Pin It button and the screenshot below is what you’d see.

Pinterest then pulls all of the images on the page and allows you to select the image you want to pin.

Once you click “Pin It” on an image for the first time, you’ll be asked to login to Pinterest. Note: you don’t have to login each time.

After you get logged in, you can choose the folder you want the pin to go in, and also type a description.

One great thing about this method is that the button automatically links the photo to the appropriate website, which gives photo credit, and also makes it easy for people to buy items you pin if that’s an option.

Click here to add the button to your bookmark toolbar and get set to having even more fun with Pinterest. Just don’t let it take up your entire day!

One thing I’ve noticed is that there are still large amounts of people (yes, even now) that still don’t see the value of Twitter marketing, especially small business owners.

That second one trips me up a bit because I know it can be such a valuable tool, and most of all, not costs the businesses near the amount of money they spend on advertising to attract customers.

The following isn’t meant to pick on a business (far from it), but it is a good way to show opportunities to connect and engage with consumers.

Crossfit is my new workout of choice and I’ve been going to Crossfit NYC for about a month. I’ve mentioned them (@CrossfitNYC) in various tweets and am yet to ever get a response.

They have an active blog on their website that’s updated daily, so I’m not exactly sure where the Twitter disconnect has happened. Per the screenshot below (click to enlarge) you can see that up until a couple of days ago, they hadn’t tweeted in quite a while.

You’ll also notice by looking at the tweets they have sent, that engagement with customers, or potential customers, hasn’t been a priority (mostly push tweets).

Again, this isn’t to pick on Crossfit NYC, not by a long shot because I like their business a lot, but it is meant to highlight the missed opportunity at hand.

Take a look at the screenshot below and you’ll see that their existing customers are mentioning them in tweets. I even sent one to try and provoke a response, but it didn’t happen.

Crossfit is picking up steam all around the country and it’s a prime opportunity for the company to strengthen the existing community (Crossfit NYC’s customers) and engage potential customers.

The screenshot below is of tweets mentioning “crossfit” in NYC. These are people that could be engaged in conversation – they could even be given a free class or something along those lines.

Hopefully Crossfit NYC will commit to Twitter marketing before long because I think they’d benefit in a pretty big way. From what I’ve seen so far, people that have been doing crossfit for a while really believe in the concept, and are not only dedicated, but vocal. A fantastic online tribe could easily be made.

And so you know, Crossfit NYC is $199 per month, so there’s a chunk of change to be made per customer. Imagine if a single tweet prompted a prospect to join… that’s a good return on a little proactive engagement.

As time goes on it will be great to see (more) small businesses realize Twitters value, and allot the resources necessary to put it to good use.

Since moving to New York City in May of 2010, I’ve become somewhat of an addict when it comes to going to the movies.

It’s a great escape from the grind of the city, and you also get to see a broad range of movies – some of which come out early or are on a more limited release.

Nonetheless, I’ve gone to a lot of movies.

My cinema of choice is in the Financial District because it’s really large and hardly ever crowded (don’t tell anyone though!).

I tend to get my ticket at the kiosk to avoid the lines, and typically stop at the concession counter for a soda/water and popcorn.

Here’s the thing.

Prior to ordering the staff person at Regal ALWAYS says, “Do you have a Regal Crown Club card?” I then respond, “No,” and they move on with my order.

The problem is that while they always make this statement, I’ve NEVER been asked if I’d like to sign up for one after responding with a no. And I mean never.

This is an example of a disconnect in the marketing process. Regal has done a great job at getting staff to ask about the card, but the follow-through doesn’t seem to be part of the equation.

Going to the movies in NYC is no cheap affair. A ticket is around $13.50 per person, and by the time you add concession you could easily be close to $30 per person.

With that said, Regal could likely capture a ton of consumer’s interests (and data) if they were moved to a more proactive process when it comes to asking people to sign up for the Club card.

And who knows, maybe they do ask people to sign up at the ticket window, but in NYC most people bypass the window because the ticket kiosks are much faster. If that happens to be the case, Regal should still retooling the process so that the concession staff becomes one of the touch points for converting customers to become members of the Club card program.

And if you are wondering, I finally accepted that I’m a movieholic a couple weeks ago and went on the Regal website to sign up for the card.

Has Pinterest Killed Tumblr?

That’s a question that some may be asking now that so many of the “social media experts” seem to care about Pinterest and are providing lots of hype.

But the answer to that question, in my opinion, is no, Pinterest has not killed Tumblr.

The two are similar in a couple ways, but they also have distinct points of differentiation as well. Here are a couple quick examples:

• Tumblr is a blogging platform that has become widely known for photo blogging, but at the same time, you can still write traditional text based posts. That’s something you can’t do on Pinterest.
• While it might be called something different on each platform, they both allow users to easily like, comment and share content with their followers.

And if you’re thinking, “What in the world is Pinterest,” here’s an explanation from their homepage,

“Pinterest is an online pinboard. Organize and share things you love.”

That might seem like an insanely simple explanation, but an online pinboard is exactly what the site is.

Do You Need Pinterest?

The more pertinent question of this post might be, “Do I need to be on Pinterest.”

From a personal standpoint, sure, go ahead. Post photos until your heart is content.

From a business standpoint, that’s going to need a little more thought. After using Pinterest for a few months it seems like most of the content is based around fashion, food and interior design. In fact, I post a number of photos from my fashion blog to the site on a weekly basis.

If you’re business doesn’t fall under one of those categories, you really need to ask yourself how much visual content you have to share, or better yet, what kind of visual content you can create.

If you’re coming up empty to either question, it’s highly likely that Pinterest isn’t a great space for you.

On the other hand, if you have an occasional visual as well as written content, you might consider using/stick with Tumblr, or simply starting a traditional WordPress blog.

And before someone corrects me, yes there are more categories on Pintersts (see image above – click to enlarge) than the ones I listed above. The ones mentioned are what most of the content seems to center around.

This post was originally written for and published on the Ketchum Blog.

This post was originally written for and published on the Ketchum Blog.

When it comes to blogging, creating and designing a blog is the easy part. The hard part is filling it with content on a routine basis, and in a corporate environment that can be incredibly challenging.

Why? Because people already have their normal duties and now you are asking that they add more to their workload.

Seriously, that’s exactly what people are thinking.

At a previous job, I was close to launching a new blog and word had gotten out that I was on the prowl to create a blog team (more on that in a bit). I made my way to a coworker’s office to try and recruit him, and right when I walked in, he pointed at the door and said (in a humorous tone), “Get out! I’m not blogging!”

Luckily that guy not only became a blogger, but he enjoyed the process so much that he started his own personal blog (add a check to the success column please!).

Over the years I’ve learned the ins and outs of corporate blogging, and there’s one tip that will help put you on a path to success.

Create a Blog Team

Your blog team should consist of five to 10 people that are interested in helping with the blog. Once you have this team, make it known that each person should contribute at least one blog post every one to two weeks (depends on the size of the team).

I prefer the 10-person route because it allows people to contribute once every two weeks but still have enough content to do one post per day. (Note: you can have more than 10 if you are with a large organization, but you still need to establish a schedule for the team.)

Now, if you are thinking, “I don’t want to create a blog team, but instead want to reach out to people at random.” That might work for a very short time, but it’s not a long-term solution and is destined to fail, or to be an unorganized mess.

Why? Because you don’t get people in a normal routine of writing and are constantly scrambling for content. Seriously, please don’t go this route.

If you are starting a corporate blog from scratch, once you have the blog team figured out, have everyone submit content two weeks prior to your launch. By doing so you’ll allow yourself to work on a buffer, and help ensure you don’t run out of content.

If you find yourself managing a corporate blog, hopefully this tip will help you do so successfully.