You know you’ve seen them. You might not be sure what they are, and maybe you’ve never even scanned one, but it looks like they might be sticking around for a while. QR codes continue to grow in popularity and find more and more use.

What is a QR Code?

First let’s define it: QR codes are "quick response" two-dimensional barcodes. Just as it sounds, the codes are a way for people to quickly interact with whatever is behind that black and white grid. The code can be scanned with a phone camera and then directed to a webpage, phone call, or to send a message. QR codes are used as a marketing tactic engaging people through offline means and converting them to online interactions. The codes are becoming more recognizable and can be seen in advertisements, on business cards, on consumer products, clothing, and even body art. They can easily be created online at any number of sites.  In fact, Google even offers its own free QR code generator.  Same with popular URL-shortener bitly.

The capabilities of a QR code seem endless; certainly there is a creative use for them at a hotel, right?

Unique QR Code Uses For Hotels

• On the Spot Reviews – Create a QR code that directs guests to review sites like TripAdvisor. The code will certainly help increase number of reviews online, and get fresh-on-the-mind opinions from guests at the hotel.
• Connect Socially – Have codes connect to the hotel’s Facebook and Twitter pages and then prompt the guest to become a fan or follow the page. Build a better fan base on social networks and create current dialogue on the site with guests.
• Enroll Loyalty Members – Place a code at the front desk that takes guests to the hotel’s loyalty member sign-up webpage to increase hotel’s return-customer base.
• Inform Restaurant & Bar Patrons – Print a code on the napkin of on-site restaurant that connects to a webpage with the nutritional value of meals on the menu.
• Online Concierge – Use a QR code to take guests to a local guide webpage. Guests unfamiliar with the area can quickly find and contact local attractions and restaurants.
• Your Way Home – Create a code that links to a map and directions page. Guests can easily find way around town and return safely home to the hotel.
• Talk to the Manager – Enable guests to send emails to the hotel. Use a code linking to a message form for guests to leave questions, comments or concerns for the manager.
• Plan Your Next Visit – Have a QR code set up to take reservations for guests’ next hotel stay. Better yet, showcase other functions of the hotel with options to book meeting space or even wedding receptions.

Things To Consider Before Creating QR Codes

These are just a few ideas, but the trick is not to get carried away. The purpose of a QR code is to provide instant information to the end user on their mobile device. Before ever publishing any QR codes make sure the barcode scans correctly. Also consider the webpage to which the QR code is linked. Scanning takes place on a mobile device, so it is best the code links to a mobile-optimized website, or content that is easily readable on a small screen.

QR codes are fun and enable hotels to interact with guests in a whole new way! Create some QR codes for your guests to scan and engage with your brand online.

That’s right folks – Google released a new product on July 28th that specifically targets the travel industry! Once upon a time, if you were looking to find a hotel for your business travel or family vacation, you might have used Google Maps in order to research your most ideal destination or hotel room rates.

Google Hotel Finder helps users find their perfect hotel

With the release of Google’s Hotel Finder, it looks like those days are over since it has so many great features that are simply not available when using Google Maps. Not to mention, it’s only in Google's “experiment” stage and I’m sure they will be improving and adding to this worthwhile tool very soon.

What makes this tool more useful than a previous site used by consumers?

• Define your ideal location – View the map and draw shapes around neighborhoods or large areas in which you are considering your stay.
• Easy comparison – View numerous hotels in one tab without having to navigate back and forth across multiple pages.
• Narrow down your choices – Easy one-click access allows you to add desirable hotels to a shortlist.
• Compare rates – Current price is compared against the average price the hotel offers and against other hotels.

Want to begin narrowing down your search? It all starts with the filter.

On the upper left corner of the tool is the filter section where you can:

• Search by U.S. city or zipcode - You can filter even further by drawing a shape (the best feature in my honest opinion)
• Dates
• Price
• Hotel Class & User Rating

When you enter a city into the location filter, a map with a boundary shape is created to target hotels in this area.

If you wish to edit this shape to target a smaller or larger area, simply click on the edit shape button and a larger map image will appear to the right of the filter.

From here, I can drag any of the 4 points to create an entirely new shape that may more closely fit my desired area.

All the hotels within this area are shown with a blue dot.  Iif a hotel has been added to your shortlist it will turn into a red dot.

Alright, so you’ve narrowed down your area – now it’s time to compare hotels!

Once you’ve specified the exact location you are wishing to stay in, you can start comparing hotels. A list of hotels within this area is created featuring information about:

• Hotel name and short description
• Hotel class
• Hotel rating
• Price per night
• Compared to typical

From here a user can click on a hotel and discover even more information about the hotel including:

• A longer description from the owner
• More hotel images
• Address, telephone and hotel website
• Review information - Ability to view all reviews by clinking link
• Ability to add to your shortlist
• Option to book your stay at the hotel - Drop down will display link to hotel website and any OTA’s where hotel is offering room nights.

Hotel’s that have their price per night listed will also have information about how their current rate compares to its typical price. In the case of the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, their current price is 50% higher than normal.

How are hotels ranked in Google Hotel Finder?

It appears that the hotels are naturally ranked based on their user rating score. Those with a higher rating are located at the top of the search regardless of star rating, price or value. You do have the ability to filter your results by hotel class, price or value if you wish.

What does this mean for hotels?

This application allows users to do all of their hotel research from one site. They can narrow down their search based on location, price, value, reviews, hotel description and imagery all from Google Hotel Finder, saving travelers both time and energy.

Because the search results naturally favor user rating, it is important for hotels to push consumers who have had a great guest experience at their hotel to review their property, as it will help boost their ranking in Google Hotel Finder.

Currently, Google does not offer any sort of sponsored or advertising options for those hotels who wish to pay to rank higher, but I expect this to come in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled!

Through my ultra cutting-edge industry contacts, I received an invite for Google+ before many of my friends and acquaintances, so I have been able to track the way people are reacting to and using this new platform. The overwhelming first response seems to be “What is this?” or “I don’t get it.” However, this confusion has not seemed to deter people from continuing to use Google+.  Google has failed in the past by using the “Build it, and they will come model” with Buzz and Wave, but for some reason people seem to have decided to start using Google+ mostly just because it exists.

Confusion to the French

I think that the confusion is actually part of the reason that people will actually adopt Google+. Based on my experiences with Twitter and Facebook, I believe that people like social media that does not tell them how to use it. For instance, Google Wave flopped because people knew what they were supposed to use it for, but could not actually figure out how to use the program; however, with Twitter, users were just given a basic platform and users decided how they wanted to use it. In other words, people knew how to use Twitter but not why, while Google Wave was the exact opposite. Google has learned from their mistakes. Google+ is not quite as simple as Twitter or Facebook, but it’s so wide open that users can do whatever they want with it, even if they don’t fully understand all the features. Users still don’t fully understand why their using it, but they’re definitely figuring out as they go.

It's Mine!

In my opinion, the social media revolution capitalized on the human need to possess. People love Facebook and Twitter because they feel that it is theirs--that they helped define it and therefore “own” it in some capacity.  Whenever Facebook makes a big change, some people get outraged--How dare they change my site? There’s a reason MySpace is named “MY” Space. Humanity has been fighting for their own space since the dawn of man, and then, the Zuckerbergs of the world came along and finally gave it to them. Google did not want to cede control of space with Buzz and Wave, but as they say, “Fool Google once shame on you; Fool Google twice shame on Google; Fool Google three times...no one has fooled Google three times."

Freud Would Be Proud

Many industry types were surprised at the lack of innovation in Google+, and their surprise is quite understandable. There is almost nothing innovative technically about the platform. What is innovative is the psychology behind the program. Google knows you, knows your secrets and your desires, knows what you want before you want it, and above all they now understand your primal need for possession; so they threw a bunch of old ideas at a wall, took the ones the stuck, and said, “Here you go people, do whatever you want it; it’s yours now.” All that remains to be seen is if people actually accept the offering that Google has presented. Will Google+ satisfy that deep, basic urge to “have” that other social media have so successfully tapped? That, my friends, is the question.

What are group buying or deal-a-day companies?

Deal-a-day sites first emerged in 2008 as a unique approach to combating the horrible economic downturn. Sites like Groupon, LivingSocial and DealNation partner with local businesses to help them generate more revenue by offering a steep discount on their products and services that is promoted by the deal-a-day company on its site.

I bet most of you are thinking that this sounds exactly like your traditional coupon – boy are you wrong!

With traditional coupons, the company offering the discount is responsible for the cost of developing, creating and distributing the offer and usually the distribution method is not as targeted or expansive as what a deal-a-day would provide. When using a service like Groupon, there is no cost associated with creating and distributing the deal for your business because that cost is fronted by Groupon. Groupon will design, create, and distribute the deal for you, all you have to do is sit back and wait for your deal to go live and watch the number of people opting into your discount rise.

So what’s the catch?

Well of course a deal-a-day site isn’t going to just promote your company for free! Let’s pretend Blue Magnet decided that it wanted to expand into other business ventures and opened up a boutique donut shop. In order for us to build buzz for our newly found company, we decided to partner with Groupon. We come to an agreement with Groupon to discount a dozen of our delicious donuts normally priced at $20 to $10 – that’s a 50% savings to the customer! Groupon will then split the purchase price with Blue Magnet, meaning that for each deal that is sold we both make $5.

Selling a product that is regularly priced at $20 and only making $5 seems a little steep, doesn’t it?

If you’re looking at it strictly from a revenue stand point, then yes it doesn’t make much sense. But, if you think back to Economics 101, you’ll remember the Opportunity-Cost concept. Sure, Blue Magnet could decide to not partner with Groupon and wait for customers who are willing to purchase our product at full price, the problem is we could be waiting for something that never happens. Or, we could sell our product and make $5, create awareness and build a loyal customer base.

Hotels understand this concept better than anyone; an unoccupied room brings in $0 revenue, so selling it at a discount is often better than not selling it at all. Obviously this is true to a certain level, because at some price point the room will cost more to maintain than the customer pays.

The Good

Most small businesses don’t have the ability to reach out to a large customer database and build brand awareness the way that a deal-a-day site does, and that is what makes this service so remarkable. Groupon utilizes a variety of Internet marketing tools to promote their daily deal. For example, deal is posted on their website, distributed as an e-blast to anyone who signs up to receive daily notifications and is promoted on social media sites. In fact, there are blogs dedicated to promoting daily deals that are completely separate of Groupon’s efforts.

The amount of buzz and brand awareness that is created by Groupon for your company is incomparable! People who don’t even purchase your deal will learn that your company exists and may keep you in mind for future purchases. Think of it as positive PR!

Statistically between 20-30% of people who purchase your deals don’t end up redeeming them! So, while you would like the opportunity for these people to utilize your service so you have the ability to WOW them and turn them into loyal customers, you at least are making up for some lost revenue due to the steep discount.

The bad

The ugly truth is that some businesses have been severely damaged by using a deal-a-day promotion. Groupon does not cap the number of customers that can buy into your deal and there is no way to determine how many customers might purchase. As a business, you have to be prepared to handle a large volume of customers that you may not be used to serving.

Let’s use the Blue Magnet donut boutique as an example again. Let’s say that on a typical day our company produces 1,200 donuts to be sold throughout the day. We go forward and run a deal on Groupon in which 1,000 people purchase the deal and our customer base drastically increases due to brand awareness and customers wishing to redeem their Groupon. For the next few weeks we increase our production from 1,200 donuts a day to 1,500 to try and handle the requests but it still isn’t enough. Then the worst case scenario happens and it is multi-faceted and creates a snowball effect.

Blue Magnet’s donut boutique has more demand than it can handle and this can affect customer service, product quality and quantity, destroy relationships with loyal customers who in the past always had a great experience and fail to convert new customers into “regulars.” People will then discuss their subpar experience with their friends, on review sites and social media. This negative PR could destroy the very thing you were trying to create by using Groupon. Now you have a large number of people who know about you, but have nothing good to say AND you’ve turned away your once loyal customers.

It is important to remember that people who use deal-a-day sites are usually very internet savvy and are active contributors to sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor. In a recent article from HotelMarketing stated that Nielsen research indicates that 9 out of 10 consumers believe another consumer like them more than they believe corporate messaging. This is exactly why you can’t afford to underperform and cause people to write negative reviews – it will be next to impossible for you as a business to then change their minds.

Is a group-buying or deal-a-day promotion right for you?

I think it is up to each hotel to determine whether or not a deal-a-day site is right for them. Like I mentioned before, you HAVE to be able to handle and impress the new customers that walk through your door due to this venture. If this is not something you can guarantee you will be able to accomplish, then don’t go forward with this strategy because you WILL do more harm than good. This is especially important when it comes to your normal clientele because you don’t want to lose the customers who supported you prior to your promotion.

If there is one thing that really hit home for me at the SMX Advanced Seattle conference this June, it's that from here on out search engines and social media will be forever intertwined. Blue Magnet has seen this happening for some time and has been monitoring the evolution of the search engines towards a more social community; however, recent SEO/social media correlation studies that have been performed over the last 6 months are telling. What is eye-opening about these studies is that it's clear that the search engines are integrating social influences into the standard search results.

Get noticed by being social

If I were operating a hotel, I would take this as a clear indication that it was about high-time I started actively participating in social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Foursquare and more.  Considering the fact that today the practice of SEO has almost become the rule rather than the exception in the hotel industry, how does one edge out other hotel brands with equally impressive, well-optimized sites?  I mean, let's suppose I'm a hotel optimizing for "New York hotels" and my biggest competitor is also optimizing their site for that keyword.  Both sites are designed with SEO in mind, our meta tags are perfect, we each have thousands of inbound links, our sites both contain valuable, relevant content for our users.  How does one hotel stand above the rest? What sets them apart in the eyes of the almighty Google?  Well, now it looks like your hotel's sphere of influence and popularity in social circles can improve your ranking for various searches.

The following social media case study by Rand Fishkin at SEOmoz is just one great example of how Google is already integrating social media into search results.  In the screenshot below, Rand was not logged in to his Google account when he ran a search for "cupcake madness." Note the top 3 results: huffingtonpost.com, narragansett.patch.com and nbcwashington.com.

Now, look what happens when Rand runs the same search while logged in to his Google Account, which is linked with his social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and others:

Note the NEW top 3 results: huffingtonpost.com, nbcwashington.com and everywhereist.com.  Why did everywhereist.com make the cut when it was previously nowhere to be found?  It's because this link was shared by a friend in Rand's social network.  You can see that Google credits the sharer below the actually search engine listing.  If you look just below the site's URL in the screenshot above you will notice that Google has indicated that "Geraldine shared this."  Because she shared this link that contained info about "cupcakes" and "madness" and was part of Rand's social network, Google assumes this link is likely very relevant when Rand is searching for "cupcake madness."

So what's a hotel to do?

While this example is not necessarily a hotel-related keyword, as social integration continues to evolve within search results, hotel-related keywords will present the same kind of opportunities. This means that hotels need a social media presence (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) that actively engages with their communities.  In addition, it's in hotel's best interest to publish content online that is worth of being shared across these social networks.  The search engines will continue to integrate social media elements into their ranking algorithms; therefore, hotels can get a leg up on their competition in search rankings by integrating social media into their online marketing plans and providing content to their community that's worth sharing.

Would you replace your website's .COM extension with your own brand name?  Should we change from www.bluemagnetinteractive.COM to bluemagnetinteractive.BLUEMAGNET?  I know, it's likely to cause carpal tunnel syndrome simply trying to type that all in, but now we could do just that thanks to ICANN!

What exactly are generic top-level domains?

On June 19, the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)--the non-profit group responsible for approving new top-level domains (TLDs) such as the recent .TRAVEL, .MOBI, and the contriversial .XXX for "adult" sites--made the announcement that they would be approving new generic TLDs.  Even though they're called "generic" this just means that they can be just about anything: .HONDA or .CAR.  For instance, instead of going to hilton.COM/hhonors, if Hilton Worldwide chose to purchase their brand name as a TLD, they could essentially have a URL such as hhonors.HILTON.  Or a specific hotel could purchase .HOTEL and have something like hiltonchicago.HOTEL instead of hiltonchicago.com.

How's .TRAVEL working out for you?

Every so often, in what has been described as an ICANN pure money-grab by may industry experts, new-top level domains are released into the wild for the public to purchase.  Remember when the .TRAVEL TLD was announced?  When was the last time you saw marriott.travel ranking above marriott.com in the search engines?  Yet, because of this "what happens if we don't buy it" mentality, those in the travel industry quickly scrambled to scoop up the .TRAVEL TLD...and then had no idea what they were actually going to do with it.

How about .MOBI?

Similarly, when .MOBI was released, many companies jumped on the .mobile bandwagon because they were afraid of what would happen if they didn't purchase it. There was this fear that someday in the distant future if the company wanted to launch a mobile site, they would need the .MOBI TLD in order to do so.  Unfortunately, those who are not familiar with the TLD system don't understand that it's perfectly acceptable to have a mobile website hosted at www.radisson.com/mobile/ instead of purchasing www.radisson.mobi.  And chances are, consumers are already more likely to type in radisson.com than radisson.mobi anyways.

Why individual hotels should NOT purchase brand-specific TLDs

• They are expensive!
  This isn't like purchasing a .BIZ version of your domain. Start saving those hondos, because you'll need to shell out a whopping $185,000 per TDL.  You want to purchase .HILTON and .HHONORS?  That'll be $370,000 please.  This may be fine for the big brands like Apple or Microsoft who have plans for strengthening brand awareness, but don't expect many small businesses or organizations to fill out an application just yet.  Blue Magnet will do just fine without .BLUEMAGNET; we've got better ways to invest in our company's future.

• Consumers may get confused
  Let's face it.  People just understand .COM.  They know it and trust it.  Think of the last time you clicked on a .BIZ, .NET, .TRAVEL or .MOBI top-level domain.  You probably can't remember many times if any.  The dot-COMs are the tried and true standbys of the commercial world.  It's familiar, it's accepted, and it's what people default to.  Purchasing and using your brand name as a replacement for .COM--unless for branding purposes--really only serves to confuse your customers.  We'll be sticking with bluemagnetinteractive.com/blog instead of blog.bluemagnetinteractive, thank you!

• No extra SEO benefit
  You may think that purchasing .HOTEL for your hotel will help you rank above your competitors for keyword searches like the ultra-competitive "New York hotels."  Not the case, says SEO expert Danny Sullivan:

"...the new names will almost certainly mean nothing special to search engines. They won’t have any super ranking powers. If you managed to get .money, that doesn’t mean you’ll rank tops for money-related terms any more than people with the existing .travel domains do well for travel — because they don’t."

• Trademark headaches
  If you are Monster Mini Golf of Lafayette, IN, and you purchase .MONSTER to promote your website, will the Monster Cable company raise a stink about trademark infringement?  Expect some big trademark battles between major companies with similar names all grabbing for the same TLDs.  For unique brand names this may not be as much of a problem; however, consider if Paris Hilton were to purchase .HILTON as her TLD?  Who decides the winner?  After all, only one entity can own that particular TLD.  And I'm pretty sure Paris and Hilton Worldwide probably won't be too keen on sharing a single website together, unless the hotel company is looking to drastically revamp its image.  In the end, it's likely that ICANN will have the final say in awarding specific TLDs to various applicants.  Just think of how many companies in our industry would love to get their hands on .HOTEL or .SEO.

With all that in mind, there is one reason a large brand may benefit from the new generic top-level domains: branding.  If you are Hilton or Marriott or Pepsi or Nintendo, you may find benefit in the branding opportunities that come with the TLDs .hilton, .marriott, .pepsi and .nintendo.  For the rest of us though, stick by your .COMs!

Shakespeare wrote: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." -- but would it rank as well in Google?

Have you ever pondered the importance of your hotel's name? Studies have shown that even a baby's name can influence their success later in life, but have you ever wondered about the importance of your hotel's name?

In the online marketing world, the importance of a business' name is a fact that is often overlooked. Commonly, newly built hotels, newly re-branded hotels, and even newly remodeled hotels decide to change their name – but the gravity of their decision isn't always clear.

In fact, due to recent and strengthened search engine algorithm changes over the past year or so, a hotel's name is perhaps the single most powerful asset to one's search engine marketing strategy.  Unfortunately, it's also typically one of the least flexible elements in your marketing.

Here are a few facts about the battles your hotel will face when choosing the right name:

Meta Tags & SEO

The first thing to understand about choosing a name is how it will relate to your Search Engine Optimization. The basis of SEO seeks to pair the code and content of your site with the keywords that users search for in Google. This is called building relevancy.

If you are trying to rank for "Downtown Chicago Hotel" you should have that phrase repeated throughout your meta-tags and throughout the body copy on your site. What better way to naturally optimize your site for this keyword than to include the phrase in your hotel name? This will automatically build keyword relevancy anytime you refer to the benefits of staying at, say, the "Embassy Suites Downtown Chicago Hotel."

Brand vs. Market Keywords

Often when in a market with several hotels, one must decide whether to brand the hotel with a unique name or whether to attach an identifier to one's brand name. So which is better?

It's never a bad idea to make your hotel's name memorable, but when referring to the hotel online – never forget to attach an identifier with the keyword you hope to rank for. Again using the Chicago area as an example, a Doubletree Chicago hotel branded their self "the Wit." This branded name allows them to market themselves as a hotel with a boutique feel, but they could benefit from an online strategy of always referring to themselves as "The Wit – Downtown Chicago Hotel" as that would help them rank better in search engines.  The identifier "Downtown Chicago Hotel" simply adds more opportunities for city-specific search rankings.

Local Listing Optimization

Speaking of ranking better in search engines, one must also be aware of the circumstances surrounding your local listings (i.e. your Google Places or Bing Local Listing page) when one chooses a hotel name.

Last year Google integrated their Google Places accounts in the search results for most local businesses, including searches for hotels. When one searches for "downtown Chicago hotels" not only will the user see organic search results, but also a thumbnail and link to the hotel's Google Places page. What this means is that now one must optimize their Google Places page (and Bing Local and Yahoo! Local) if they are going to compete effectively for competitive searches like the one mentioned above.

How does this relate back to your hotel name? Simply put, in order to rank well in the local results you must have truthful and verified information in your account.  Your hotel name, address, and contact information must appear the same throughout Google, Yahoo, Bing, third parties and other sites that list information about your hotel. The more mis-information out there, the less likely you are to rank.  Even variations of your existing hotel name can have a negative impact on your local listings.  Are you listed as "Courtyard by Marriott Chicago" or just "Courtyard Chicago?"  Be sure to be consistent with your naming across the web.

In addition, this means that if you are re-branding you must do your due diligence to replace any old hotel names on existing websites with your new one. If you don't, then your hotel's name change can instead have a negative effect on your rankings.

The Competitive Edge

Above I've spoken to many aspects of one's online search marketing strategy and laid out the positive and negative implications on choosing your hotel name, but one thing is certain: The right name can give your hotel the competitive edge.

With a hotel name that has the proper identifiers—those that contain your primary target keywords—one can rank better in search engines.  But in addition to that, a good name can also improve your quality score for PPC, make it easier for guests find your hotel on some OTAs, and sometimes even improve conversion rate. So when it comes to naming, it turns out not every rose "would smell as sweet!"

Traditionally, social networks have been seen as a way to connect with your friends and family; or even reconnect with the girl you let get away in 5th grade, an old drinking buddy in college, or a friend you lost contact with after spending countless summers with them at camp. While social networks are great for all of these, they also provide an excellent outlet for businesses to promote their services. You're probably wondering what Facebook or Twitter can do for your company, and my response is – what can't they do?

Social networks are excellent for...

• Developing a relationship with your customers
• Promoting packages, special events, discounted rates and contests
• Growing your customer database
• Gathering important information about your demographic
• Building relationships with other businesses in your area
• Providing information about your company and its developments
• Keeping your brand fresh in the mind of your consumers
• Increasing traffic to your website

How Social Media Can Help Your SEO

Until recently, social media had no effect on the search engine rankings, making it strictly an outlet for businesses to build a database of followers away from their site, then forcing them to link back to it. Now, public Facebook shares and Tweets can actually help promote your organic ranking in the search engines.

Google now takes into consideration how many tweets, re-tweets, "likes" and "shares" your followers give you. They’ve decided that if there is active conversation and interaction with your company via social media, this would mean that you're popular and Google wants to reward you for this. Remember, the search engines' main purpose is to provide its users with the most relevant information.

Who Should I Target?

There have been studies done to analyze how to get the most SEO bang for your buck through social media interaction. Similar to Page Rank, accounts that are deemed credible or extremely popular will have a greater influence on the SERP results, so it is best to focus your energy to getting these high profile people to re-tweet or share your link. These accounts will also have a greater reach, which, if lucky, will result in their network distributing your information.

It is also important to note that the number of times your information is redistributed has also proven to be correlated to improved search engine rankings. Social networks already had numerous benefits for internet marketing purposes, and now with this change they are even more multi-faceted than ever. So what are you waiting for?  Get your tweet on!