I was excited to see in my Mashable news feed on Facebook today that Google+ Pages for brands and businesses just launched today. (Update: Apparently it is not rolled out to everyone yet. So you may need to hang on just a little longer. Leave a comment below if you need an invite.)

Honestly folks, this means tons of extra, free marketing exposure for entrepreneurs, businesses, non-profits, etc.

During the Google+ media frenzy earlier this year, I eagerly jumped on the bandwagon, hoping to use it to connect with writing and media professionals under the pen name I use for much of my online writing.

To my dismay, I was only allowed to use my real name. No pen name. No brand name. Just my own, personal name. I gritted my teeth. And then I ground them once I realized that my entire Google account (Gmail, Analytics, Blogger, everything ) could be terminated if I didn't comply.

So, yes, I'm incredibly glad that this is finally available to brands and you can expect to see Zoetic Freelance on Google+ Pages soon.

By the way -- I needed to poke around a bit before I saw the sign-up page for Google+ Pages. Here it is to save you some headache.

How to use Google+ for Brands: Start here!
https://plus.google.com/u/0/pages/create

Want to drive more traffic to your website or get featured for free in your customers' social networking updates, tweets and feeds?

It's easier than you think.


(Image from SmashingMagazine.com, courtesy of designer Colin Whitehurst. )

Sure, giving away free iPads is big and will likely deliver big results. But if slow and steady is your thing (and saving money), offer something free.

Like free desktop wallpaper.  I first caught on to the "power of free" early on in my career as an email marketer in the corporate world. I knew that email marketing was mostly about relationship building and as any relationship expert will tell you, in order to build relationships, sometimes you just gotta give.

When I began including free desktop wallpaper in our email newsletter campaigns, the results were immediate. Before long, our web analyst was sharing in marketing meetings that some of the leading keywords driving traffic to our website were "Autumn desktop wallpaper" and " free wallpaper." When we started sharing it on our Facebook page, the number of "likes" and "shares" were plentiful.

And, since we had an in-house design team, there was minimal extra cost.

Marketing tip: Give it and they will share it.

Don't have your own design-team? No worries. The cost is still pretty cheap. Outsource your design or feel free to contact me for an affordable marketing solution.

Facebook's requirement for brands to use a third-party promotional application for any type of special promotion is an oft-violated condition. However, go the legal route and you'll soon bask in all the perks (read tools) you'll get in return for a reasonable price. And now you can add one more perk.

Today, Wildfire, one of the leading third-party social media campaign apps available -- and one I've had significant success using -- introduced a new way to learn even more about your audience. And (at the risk of sounding cheesy) I'll add this: The more you know, the more you'll grow.

You can read all about it here:
Wildfire Launches New Way to Measure Brand Engagement on Facebook

If you'd like me to run a social media campaign for your business, please contact me any time.

It's that time of year again. People everywhere get sentimental and begin to review the past year and its accomplishments (and not-so-accomplishments), and then eagerly start to make New Year's resolutions. Email marketers are no different.  Come late November and early December, the email marketing industry starts buzzing with "year in review" reports and predictions for the next year.

You'll see a common denominator in these reports and that is the realization that 2010 has been the year of social media. While email marketing may seem to be overshadowed by this new and shiny toy, the truth  is that the two go hand in hand quite nicely and work best under equal lighting. ExactTarget, a leading ESP, totally gets this as is evidenced by their brilliant whitepaper series, "Subscribers, Fans, and Followers" as well as their purchase of CoTweet, a top social media management tool.

As far as predictions for 2011 go, it is likely consumers will become more and more "channel-choosy." They will want more control of what messages they want and where they want them (Facebook, mobile, and email). The result will be a more defined role for email marketers within the whole media mix. 

On a side note, email marketers should also keep an eye on the new Facebook Messages and watch their lists closely to see how many of their subscribers adapt this new email service. Because Facebook Messages shows the plain-text version by default, they should fine-tune plain-text versions of their emails accordingly.

As always, it's a great time to learn and grow.