Google+ is the Way to Go to Build Online Influence

"Learn before you earn pays off in the long run."

~Jeannette Marshall

Whether people admit it or not, they "Google" their name(s) … Not a bad idea.  In a sales meeting about five years ago, I recall our General Sales Manager posing a question to the team something along the line of:  “What is the one reason prospective employers (you can add customers too) will write you off before they’ve even read your resume?”  Imagine the assortment of answers:

1. No cover letter
2. Typos
3. The position had already been filled
4. and a bunch of "Ooh-ooh-ooooh" like Horshack from "Welcome Back Kotter" 

The answer?  By “Googling” your name.   He went on to explain that your online profile is your brand.  Basically, what you do/say online can come back to haunt you.

Fascinated, I Googled “Googling”.  Merriam-Webster is the first site to come up and this is what it says (see for yourself http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/google ):

goo·gle 
verb, often capitalized \ˈgü-gəl\

goo·gled goo·gling  Definition of GOOGLE to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web

Examples of GOOGLE

      To the movies; to television (hours and hours); to Googling obsessively (hours and hours); to blogging, emailing and text messaging —Cynthia Ozick, Harper's, 2007

2.    [+]more

Origin of GOOGLE

Google, trademark for a search engine

First Known Use: 2001

Interesting statistic also noted:  Google is currently in the top 1% of lookups and is the 5th most popular word on Merriam-Webster.com.  Holy cow!  THAT is online influence!

So for fun, I decided to do what many of us do but rarely admit …. I “Googled” my name.  For my first name “Jeannette”.  Wikipedia was the first result shown.  According to Wikipedia, I’m a town in Pennsylvania that settled in 1888 with a population of almost 10,000 people:

Sorry Mom.  I think I was named after a Saint.  Foreshadowing perhaps that I was not going to be one?  Well, if you like to have fun with numbers, I was born on the “18^th” so there’s that.  What explains how "Jeannette" allows me to come second? 

Next up.  My last name.  First, humour me by taking into consideration that I once had a maiden name, I had a first marriage and “borrowed” that name for twenty some odd years, and remarried only five years ago.    So the name “Jeannette Marshall” is really only a child in online terms.  Then, I only started my online Linked In, Facebook around May 2010 with my Blog around August 2010.  Ok, you get it, I’m still a baby!

Imagine my amazement when I “Googled” the last name “Marshall” this is what come up:

      1)   Marshall Amps -that’s cool, I like music)

      2)   Marshalls – brand name  :o) shopping

      3)   Jeannette Marshall Google Profile

WOWZERS.  Once again, I’m on the first page.  Not just once, but THREE times!  Twice under Google and once under Twitter. 

OK, enough about me!  (REALLY?) What about you?  Do you still scoff at the importance of online branding?  I am starting to imagine that Marshall Amps and Marshalls store has invested quite a bit of money in their website design and marketing personnel/campaigns. 

There is a lot of discussion whether people like G+ more than Facebook or Twitter, especially since Google has opened the doors wide open for Google+ and Facebook is making a lot of changes that some believe takes some of the best part of Google’s offering and incorporated into Facebook or improved other things.

What this tells me is that, no matter how you shake it.  We all like Facebook or Twitter or what have you for personal or professional reasons. 

However, if you are looking to build your online presence or brand, the power and influence of Google can’t be ignored.  Wondering if you should try out G+?  I’m thinking you’ve climbed on board before you finished reading this.

Now, if the next HR firm “Googles” me, they may think I don’t do anything besides hang out online … which is far from the truth.  I simply G+ and Twitter a bit, read a lot, and VOILA! 

I’m happy with coming in third.    Maybe there is a career for a gal from Calgary CANADA  in “online marketing”?

Your thoughts?