The back story is that for “business reasons” the company decided to discontinue their “ultra” product, known for its high-flow absorbency. Over the past year, users of o.b. ultra were finding it harder and harder to locate their favorite tampon, until it was
eventually gone from shelves all together. Enraged and upset, o.b. ultra fans created an “I want my o.b. ultras” facebook page, (which I believe you have to be a true fan to like), and created a website to collect signatures. Now that’s a dedicated customer base.

Realizing that they had made a mistake, the folks at Johnson & Johnson (makers of o.b. tampons), announced that they would be bringing the product back next year. But just to show that they were truly sorry for their misguided ways, they also created an apology video, which can be personalized, and is overly dramatic and hilarious.

Kudus to the o.b. tampon folks for admitting they made a mistake and then doing something to let their customers know that they count.

Click here to watch your own personalized apology video.

Like many people I know, I have three social networking accounts, which at times can be hard to manage.  I use Twitter to keep a finger on the pulse of entertainment, government and multiple industry trends, Facebook to keep up to date with friends, family and some people I hardly know (and would avoid if I saw out), and LinkedIn to network professionally.  Google’s answer to juggling multiple social networking sites is that online sharing can reflect that of your real-life relationships with “circles”.

With circles, Google+ allows you to share your party photos with your college friends, your brother’s graduation with your family and information on your next networking event with your work friends.  It also gives you the option to cut out the “news feed” noise by choosing from people that you actually want to hear from. Girls like Regina George from the movie “Mean Girls” would love the concept of Google+.  Allowing you to put your friends into categories, naming them whatever you want and sharing (or not sharing) what you want with them. Once a connection is established, all you know is that you’re in someone’s circle, but have no idea which one or what it is called. 

Google+ is a social media game changer.  It takes sharing information with your network to a whole new (and more secure) level.  The Google+ approach to friend-ing is a combination of both Facebook and Twitter. Friends are not only in an interactive category, as they are on Facebook, but they can also be one-way, like Twitter.  For example, a Google+ user can easily follow and view his or her posts (much like a person would on Twitter), instead of automatically establishing a two-way link as one does on Facebook.  In turn, it allows users to have a greater ability to control and personalize their online social networking.

Although Google+ is not even close to the 750 million users Facebook currently has, it is definitely picking up momentum. Currently available by “invite only”, just like gmail was at one time, this new social networking site is definitely putting the heat on Facebook. 

Here’s a quick look at the new Google+:

Here are some tools Google+ offers that are sure to spice up the competition:

Google + Hangouts – This feature is a basic video combination of skype, video conferencing and Google talk.  You can start a Hangout or join a Hangout room with up to 10 people at a time.  Talk about keeping in touch!

Google + Huddles – This feature is basically a long ichat conversation with multiple people. Instead of texting your individual friends, you can create group chat sessions very easily and in real-time by accessing the Huddle application.

Google+ Sparks – This is the most interesting feature from a search perspective. You have the ability to “add an interest” by simply typing criteria into a google search. Once you add that interest, you receive real-time news on your homepage.

Google+1 –Receiving a +1 is similar to that of a Facebook “like”.  In regards to SEO, the more +1’s you have  the more likely your content is going to show up in google searches and it gives people more reason to +1 your content. 

Another feature I am a big fan of is having the ability to type in a person’s name to view what they see about you from their perspective. I’ve often wondered what my facebook profile looks like to my friends after editing my security settings, which Facebook changes unexpectedly sometimes. 

This phenomenally successful search engine did not get to where it’s at without taking a few risks. Google has come out with several flops in the past, including Google Accelerator, Answer, Buzz, and Wave (just to name a few). Although Google+ will have some challenges ahead, it’s up to us to determine if Google+ will be another “flop” or the next social media game changer.

According to the Wicker Park Group, 90 percent of general counsel claim the attorney bios are the most important part of a law firm’s website. Additionally, studies have shown that bios are the most viewed pages on law firm websites, generating over 50% of the page views. That’s right – more than practice areas, news, or about us.

So why is it then that nearly all attorney bios seem to answer the question “how great am I?” rather than “how can I help you?”
Here I offer a few simple suggestions that you might want to consider when writing your own bio if you’re an attorney, or using to rewrite a client’s bio if you do law firm marketing.

1) Identify your ideal client and write for them. You may have experience working with numerous types of companies or legal matters, but if there are one or two particular types of clients you want to land more business with, tailor your bio for them. Anticipate the type of information they may be looking for and be sure to include that in your bio. At the end of the day, if your bio speaks to everyone, you’re actually talking to no one.

2) Emphasize your strengths and how they help your clients. Instead of giving a laundry list of accomplishments, membership organizations and practice areas, differentiate yourself by identifying what your strengths are and, more importantly, how those strengths benefit clients. Ultimately, the board you sit on might be a good conversation starter, but it’s not going to bring in business. The unique value that you add to a legal matter will.

3) Be specific. If you can mention situational content, do. The idea is to give an idea of what you can do. The more information you provide, the easier it will be for a prospective client to determine whether you’re the right attorney for their situation.

4) Update frequently. Let prospects know you’re on top of trends in your practice area. Post links to articles that you’re written or have been quoted in, links to blog posts you’ve written, presentations that you’ve given or panels that you’ve participated in. A static or out of date website bio can be a death sentence in today’s 24/7 information age.

5) Make it easy to connect with you. Thanks to the world of social media, people don’t just want to read about you, they want to see firsthand what kind of attorney and person you are. Make it easy for them by including graphic links to your LinkedIn page, Martindale-Hubble Connected profile or even Twitter account. Not only will they learn more about you, but you’re allowing them the opportunity to begin a conversation before the professional relationship begins.

A strong SEO PR campaign focuses on choosing the right keywords to create a balance between words that most accurately describe the company and those that are “search engine friendly,” that is, they have low competition in search queries. By optimizing and distributing press releases online and using RSS feeds and other forms of social media, the press release has the ability to grow behind just print media and have a longer life online. The release will often be picked up and archived by a multitude of sites that pull relevant news feeds, which means that the press release’s message gets instant online visibility, and if the content is something people want to read it will naturally spread through social bookmarking sites such as Digg or social networking sites like Twitter.

SEO efforts can be further strengthened by having the keywords included in the release’s copy link back to your website. Besides increased visibility, this can be very powerful as the sites that are likely to pick up your online release are usually relevant to the content being distributed, which helps increase your rankings. Remember to use relevant keywords as anchor text for your links, too, and avoid anchor text like “click here”. But don’t go overboard:  putting too many links in a press release, article or blog entry can actually negatively impact your rankings, so just choose the most relevant key words to highlight. Lastly, when you create a press release, make sure it’s newsworthy and relevant to your target audience to maximize exposure..

Besides optimizing your written online content, other PR strategies to help build SEO include:

• Posting commentary on relevant industry blogs, forums or open source “wikis” with links back to your website can help boost visibility online.  Commentary should add value to readers, so it helps to keep blatantly self promotional language to a minimum.

• Social networking sites like Facebook and Linkedin are a no-brainer for companies looking to building web awareness. These sites have very high SEO visibility, are inexpensive and offer a relatively easy and instantaneous way to communicate company news, distribute video, post photos or start a discussion with target audiences. They are also much less expensive and time consuming than updating your own web site

• Registering your company in online directories (such as Philly Ad Club) is another cost effective way to increase rankings. Potential clients may be searching these organizations for new potential partners, and if you’re not listed, you won’t be on their short list of targets.

Like traditional PR, Clients are still extremely focused on immediate, demonstrable ROI rather than longer-term metrics such as branding, site stickiness, or correlating search behavior to other marketing/pr programs. Forms of measurable results therefore can be found in increased traffic to your web site, an increase in your keyword footprint, search engine rankings, online press release pickup and traffic generated from the release.

SEO PR is evolving every day with the addition of new social networks, web sites and online tracking devices. While there is no one-size-fits-all formula for SEO PR, there is almost always a unique mix that is right for your company. Smart use of PR and SEO provides a cost-effective way to harness the power of the web to help meet your marketing and business goals.