Google Buzz has several similarities when it’s compared to other social networking platforms, but it also has some new innovations marketers should pay attention to. If you only apply the standard techniques of social media marketing to Buzz, you could be missing out on some potential gains and reputation management issues.
The geolocation feature is one of the most important things in Buzz that a business with a physical address can pay attention to. Like Twitter or Facebook, Buzz users can post status updates of what they’re doing and where they’re going. The difference with Buzz is that the user’s mobile device can automatically locate them via GPS and post their location into their status updates. This means if someone is eating at your restaurant or shopping at your store and getting bad service, they can post that the service is bad and Buzz will know exactly where the user was when it was posted.
This goes hand-in-hand with a feature that allows people to see what is being buzzed around them. If users are looking at Buzz to see what’s going on around them and they see someone complaining about your business, they are much less likely to visit your establishment. Businesses should keep track of these types of buzzes so they can comment on the status update of the complaining user or contact the user and try to resolve the issue. Resolving the issue could result in the user posting a new message about how helpful you were.
In addition to nearby users being able to see buzzes about your business, Google said at the launch event that those buzzes can also show up on the Google profile for your company. This can be good or bad, but either way it’s always a good idea to stay on top of what is being said and address any issues that may arise.
Buzz hasn’t said exactly what their model for businesses is going to be, but if it turns out to be anything like Facebook’s, then it would be a good idea to start thinking of a strategy for getting quality followers. This is where some of the older social media marketing methods come in handy. Eventually, there will probably be a way for businesses to have official Buzz profiles, and when that happens, it’ll be a great way for businesses to market on the web. Just like Twitter or Facebook, the more followers you have reading your posts, the more exposure you get for your business. The only difference with Buzz is that posts can be reported as spam and users can leave other kinds of feedback, so when you post to your followers on Buzz, make sure it’s good.
Don’t think that just because Buzz is new no one is using it. Google has made it very easy for users to get started with the product, and a decent number of people are already using it. Within a week, some people already had over 5,000 followers, and that number is going to keep increasing. Getting on the ground floor of Google’s social networking platform is something all businesses should look into; it has the potential to make a huge difference for businesses and thier reputations.
