Several months ago, I mentioned/linked/commented on Google’s social search features and how the use of a Google Profile is a smart marketing move for photographers. While the advice was good back in August, today Google announced a change to social search that makes it even more important for savvy photographers to embed themselves into Google.
By using a Google Profile and connecting with others, your blog posts, articles, shared feeds, photos, and more will be called out amongst your connections’ Google searches. For example, when I search for social media for photographers, Google notes articles from folks like Jim Goldstein because I’m connected with Jim. Previously these social search results would appear at the bottom of the Google search results page; starting today these results will be integrated throughout the search results listings.
When you search for a subject that your Google connections have written about or shared, their item will appear in your search results with an avatar and note right below the result indicating that it came from one of your contacts.
That’s all neat, but why should you care and what does this have to do with marketing? As a photographer, I get a lot of business from repeat customers or word-of-mouth referrals from existing clients and associates. By connecting with them via Google, as they search the web in the course of everyday business, my name, avatar, and articles will appear. It’s passive presence marketing – as they search the web and browse around, my name keeps appearing.
When it comes time for them to hire a photographer, who do you think they’ll call?
