Which do you think is more powerful?

What do you think of Google’s answer to the Facebook “like” button – the “Google +1 for business”?

The Google +1 for business is Google speak for making search more social and to combat that growing omnipotence of Facebook. The Google +1 for business feature allows users to vote +1 on search results they find useful, and to share that preference with their connections in Google chat, Gmail, Google Reader, Google Buzz and Twitter. Users are already amassing and viewing the total number of +1 votes and the names of their contacts who have posted their preferences.

If you caught the last 60 Minutes interview with Mark Zuckerberg, it was reported that Faceook has overtaken Google in terms of preference for web search and page views. Facebook also reports that an astounding 75% of its users log in every single day and many people use it actively to research products and companies – not by viewing their websites but by looking at what their friends have to say about these brands and businesses.

Seems like in addition to SEO, pay-per-click and content marketing, we now have an even more powerful web optimization formula – it’s called “He Said/She Said” – and you don’t need to be a tech guru or an advertising specialist to figure that one out! Before you make a new purchase or try out some new cloud application, do you just do a Google search or are you now also relying on the recommendations and experiences of your social media network?

Google has been all knowing and all powerful in the area of internet search for quite some time – heaven help you if you did something to influence your SEO ranking and they didn’t “like it”. They could wipe you off the world wide web map by dropping you down to page 99 and their was nothing you could do about it. Times sure have changed… Google may not be the #1 employer of choice for IT experts anymore- some believe it has lost more senior managers and IT developers to Facebook (than any other single company) in the past year.

The way I see it, Google must innovate now (and Google +1 for business is just one example) or it will surely go the way of Altavistsa. I know, I know… some of you Gen Y’s out there are saying Alta- who? Enough said.

Right now you are probably asking yourself “how does she know that?”.

I haven’t even seen any of your press releases… and that’s OK, I don’t need  to. I already know the answer. Trust me!

First of your press release is WAY too long…

Second, you don’t have any bullets in them. Media people have the attention spans of mosquitoes and you need to feed your story idea to them in a press release with 30 second sound bites.

Third, no one cares about your product, service, company or book. You need to  react to what is in the news today! You aren’t doing that, are you? How does  what you have to sell relate to the latest sports scandal, celebrity melt  down, internet scam or politician who has accepted a free flight on Qantas?   Does your press release fix a major problem that listeners/readers have today?

Fourth, no one is reading your press release because you are mailing or  faxing them out in bulk and not following up. You need to electronically send them out to several places (both local media and big online services like  prlog.com) and follow them up with an actual phone call.

Finally, make sure you turn your press release into an article and send them  out to Ezine release companies, post them on your blog, mention them on social media (Twitter, Facebook, G+, LinkedIn, Pinterest)  and include them in your Enewsletter blast to your database. Remember, you will  be lucky if you receive a response to your first press release. The key is to be  short, sharp, newsworthy, interesting and persistent. Relevancy, follow up and  persistence are the 3 keys to your success.

Stay tuned for my next installment where I am going to show you how to write a $10m Press Release!