1. What steps do you take to help balance family and work? #solopr

2. @jgombita asks, What is your main impetus for participating in Twitter chats like #solopr?

3. Today on the blog, I say it’s time to dive into Google+ – bit.ly/oICB4z – have your clients asked about it yet? #solopr

Be sure to check out the transcript in PDF for the full discussion. Note that the transcript is in reverse chronological order.

If you weren’t able to join us this week, please let us know how you’d respond to the chat questions below!

The #solopr chat – held each Wednesday from 1-2 p.m. Eastern – is a weekly ritual for some of the most savvy Solo PR Pros on Twitter. Anyone with a Twitter account is welcome to participate – see Join Us for the #solopr Chat on Twitter to find out how!

Thanks to Jennifer Spivak for compiling this post.

Much has been written with tips about how to use it, so let’s focus on the why. Though it’s difficult to add yet another social network to our hectic schedules, there are two aspects of Google+ in particular that give it staying power – the Hangout feature, and SEO.

Hangouts
As noted earlier, a Hangout is a multi-user video chat that can be used in a variety of creative ways. Though only 10 people can participate in a Hangout at once, Solo PR community member Jenny Schmitt used it for a mini press conference on behalf of a client, and Steve Rubel, of Edelman, notes that he used it for a Q&A session, and rotated people in and out of the Hangout to accommodate more people. There are also tools available to record a Hangout, so – though the quality is not at a high level – there are occasions when it could be used for something akin to a webinar. The myriad of possible uses is still being explored, so it’s an exciting new frontier.

SEO
On the SEO front, as outlined very well in this article on Search Engine Land, connecting with folks on Google+ means that the content they share will show up higher in your Google search results (and vice versa). As noted in an official Google blog post about Social Search, other social networks are used in their ever-evolving algorithm, but it’s easy to see why Google would give preference to its own social network when displaying search results. This will likely be the key aspect for business users.

Except for a few test accounts, brands/companies are still not allowed to have their own profiles on Google+ (these are expected later this year). Once they are unleashed, we can expect clients to be asking whether they should be on this network, and how they should be using it. By kicking the tires with your own personal account now, you’ll be prepared to handle the inevitable questions down the road.

If you’re just getting started, feel free to add me to a circle and say hello! If you’re on Google+, what has been your experience? Do agree with the characterizations here?

While some people rush in because it’s their job to be among the first to try a new tool (they know who they are), others are just curious, afraid of being left behind, or looking for bragging rights (why else do people wait in line at the Apple store to be among the first to have the latest gadget?).

As they did with Google Wave, Google+ upped the “cool” ante by being accessible only by invite. Thus, as is human nature, everyone who can get past the velvet rope wants to try it out.

Need to Know Basis

But if you wait, you have a chance to learn from others who have kicked the tires. And often, as was the case with Wave and Buzz, a new tool or service completely runs out of steam within a month or so.

For example, the last thing the social media squad got excited about was Empire Avenue. It’s a network/game where you “buy and sell shares in your friends” with virtual money. So, popular people become worth more, and you can sell shares of your less popular friends to invest in the more popular ones. I’m not kidding. Many social media folks were buzzing over Empire Avenue a couple months ago (apparently it was fun), but most people have grown bored with it.

How Much Is Enough?

If you’re in a position of advising a typical client about social media (one that isn’t trying to establish itself as a social media thought leader), you’ll want to become familiar with the basics of an uber-hyped tool like Google+. Just learn enough about it so that you can speak intelligently about its pros and cons if asked, but there’s no reason you have to become an overnight expert (and I mean this literally – there are many among the social media-obsessed who stayed up all night on Google+ the day it was launched).

Becoming familiar can mean poking around with it a bit, if you have the opportunity, or taking a look at some of the many overviews and tutorials that pop up (see list below). If a new tool truly has staying power, you’ll continue to hear about it for many weeks after its launch and trusted sources (like Solo PR Pro!) will tell you when it’s a must-have for your toolbox.

The Skinny on Google+

Most users of Google+ are somewhat pleasantly surprised, because it has a clean, intuitive design that makes it easy to use its basic features with little to no learning curve. It also has some more robust capabilities – like the ability to have a multi-user video chat, called a “Hangout,” – the implications of which are just beginning to be explored by those that are part of the beta test.

What remains to be seen is whether the average social media participant (let alone the masses) has the bandwidth to learn and participate in yet another network. If Google had brought us this tool two years ago or more, it would be much easier to imagine users substituting it for Facebook, Twitter, etc. Now, are we too entrenched and committed (due to our extended networks on these other tools) to change our behavior? Only time will tell.

Fore more in-depth coverage, some of my favorite posts and tutorials to date on Google+ include:

• Google+: An Introductory Tour, a video by Jason Falls, offered for free on his Exploring Social Media membership site
• First Look Google+, by Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent
• An introduction to Google+ (YouTube), by Nathan Olivarez-Giles, LA Times technology reporter
• Why Google Has the Hammer To Make Businesses Use Google Plus, by Jay Baer, Convince and Convert
• I really wanted to hate Google Plus, by David M. Scott, Web Ink Now (it’s funny, because it’s true!)

It’s important to note that Google+ is being updated constantly, so some of the early reviews you see have some inaccuracies now (in particular, Jason Falls’ point that you have to be “in” a circle to limit your posts to that circle is no longer the case).

A Toe in the Water

As Solo PR Pros, we all have too much to do and not enough time. At this point, a basic understanding of what is included in Google+ — as detailed in the links above – is all you really need to know.

For those who are curious and would like to take a peek, I have a limited number of invites available that I’m happy to share with the Solo PR Pro community. To keep your email address private, please use this form to request one.

What are your thoughts about yet another network? How do you decide when it’s time to dip a toe in the water, and when it’s time to jump in? Have you had a chance to try out Google+, and if so, what are your impressions? Let us know in the comments!

I’m afraid the time has come – some PR pros need a dose of tough love. I know you’re out there: PR and MarCom consultants with no presence online whatsoever. Many of you may have a Web presence, but perhaps it’s anemic and a cohesive strategy is lacking.

Now let me scare you straight. We’ve reached a point where your online footprint – or lack thereof – says a lot about you. Beyond the obvious promotional benefits, clients are increasingly interested in non-traditional media and want to feel comfortable that you know more about the online/social space than they do.

Now the good news: the days of having to spend thousands of dollars and countless hours on a standalone Web site are over. In fact, in the Web 2.0 world there are endless ways to have a presence online for free – many with minimal effort. The key is to start with a Home Base.

The Hub – Your Home Base
A future post will go into the many varied extensions of your hub that are available, but first let’s look at the most important part of your online presence. As a bonus, it also can be the easiest and least time consuming. You need a Home Base.

A Home Base is your central spot to which all other online presences link. It is the URL you include in your email signature and use when registering for new social networks. You can slowly build upon this base (via a technique called Outposts) and extend your reach, but the Home Base is the foundation.

For many people, a Web site or blog is their Home Base. But if you don’t have one, the following are the easiest ways to get an online presence in no time.

Google Profile – www.google.com/profiles/me

This new offering allows you to create your own Web presence in 5 minutes. Google profiles are well indexed by Google (obviously), and can include links to your additional Outposts as you build them for increased visibility and SEO. If this is your Home Base, be sure to include extensive details of your skills, experience and qualifications (hint: pull your established descriptions from your new business proposals or resume). Another benefit: a Google profile allows you to include “other names” – great for those with easily misspelled names (like me) or if you want to include a maiden name.

LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com

Entire books have been written about LinkedIn, and Solo PR Pro will continue to cover this online vehicle more down the road. But for the purpose of a get-online-quickly,10-minute Home Base development approach, your LinkedIn profile should include the following at a minimum:

• A “vanity” URL – - Easy to create with this link, a URL that actually includes your name – like http://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyecrane – will look much better in your email signature.

• A list of all of your past jobs, not just the most recent. You never know when someone will remember you from long ago and search for you based on a former position you held. The same holds true for your Education.

• A detailed Summary of your skills, experience and qualifications (as with Google profiles above). Include information about your Specialties with a mind toward including key words that people may use to find you.

• A detailed description of your Solo PR Pro practice in the Experience section. Think of the Summary as the section that captures you professionally as a whole, while the Experience area outlines what you offer via your business. This is important real estate, so don’t neglect it.

• A list of Connections. After following the steps above, people will see your professional profile and be eager to connect with you. LinkedIn makes this easy by allowing you to import your email address book and send invitations to those with whom you’d like to connect.When contacting people out of the blue, don’t use the canned LinkedIn invite: “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.” You can, however, develop your own standard invite wording to make it easier when inviting a crowd to connect with you. For your key contacts, try to make it more personal whenever possible.

Other extremely useful features of LinkedIn include Status Updates, Recommendations, Groups, Answers, Applications, and more. First focus on the quick-start approach above, and you may find yourself expanding into the other areas sooner than you think. For additional information, there are good tips in 12 Ways to Use LinkedIn Today.

Adding to the Home Base
If you have another already-established Home Base, the above sites should still be part of your overall strategy – with their key links going to your main hub. Some Solo PR Pros have told me they have an online profile on a different site (for example, a local listing on the PRSA Web site) – just add a Google Profile and a professional LinkedIn page with links to your existing Home Base to make yourself easy to find.  You can always change your Home Base as well, if at a later date you choose to develop a different online presence, like a blog or a Web site, as your central hub.

For those of you who use this approach, what tips would you offer those getting started? What questions do you have about forming a Home Base strategy?