How To Search For Old Posts On Google+

I am writing this short post because I have noticed a growing number of people who constantly complain about Google+'s search feature.   

Yes, some folks actually do complain about the Google+ search feature!!! Here's a recent one, in a discussion on Mike Allton's post on G+ 

Yeah, wow! I know!
I find it pretty amazing as well!!!

So anyway, I decided to share this simple tutorial on how to make use of the Google+ search feature to find posts that are 3 days old or those that are 3 years old. 

But let me quickly point out to those who actually compare with Facebook, that first of all, even though I have really come to like G+, I am not one of those people who get combative in favour of G+ against Facebook or any other network. To be honest, I couldn't care less what side ends up winning the Fan Wars; Just like I couldn't care less who "eventually won" the iOS vs. Android Fan Wars, and all of those shenanigans.

By the way, if you are African, and you are new to Google+, please take a look at this post. You might also want to look at my ZMOT article if you are a social media marketer or other digital marketer of sorts. 

STOP COMPARING APPLES TO LOLLIPOPS!

So having said all that let me now clarify the unnecessary Facebook/G+ comparison:

I know without a doubt that the Facebook search feature is by far the most wretched of all social network search features. i.e. their desktop search on Facebook (I don't use Facebook on smartphones, but I guess if it sucks on desktop, then surely it must also..........). 

I am willing to bet that what those folks mean by "easily finding previous posts on Facebook", is that they merely go through their notifications to find old posts. 

And yes indeed, Google+ purges notifications after you have treated them (i.e. visited the post you are being notified about). 

So this poses a problem to a user who probably has a reason to return to a post he/she had been engaging with, but is not currently getting any attention (and therefore not triggering any new notifications).
To solve this problem from the perspective a Facebook user is pretty simple:

Simply click on your Notifications icon on your Google+ and scroll down to select "Previously read" at the bottom, and voila!!! 
You are just as you were on Facebook! 
Yeepee!!!! 
:(

Google+ Ninjas Be Finding Sh*t All Day.....

So now I want to talk to you about becoming much more of a "finder" than you could have ever dreamed of being on Facebook or any other social network:

Say you want to find some very interesting and very heated argument you had about Tesla Motors and Solar City on some guy's post that you don't even know or follow, and it happened sometime in 2013. 

Please! Attempt to tell me you have a prayer of finding such on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn?!

Now let me show you how to do it:

Searching is about strings or keywords (for now). So in the G+ search bar, you would need to remember certain keywords (the more unique they are the better).

You could pick [Tesla]; you could pick [SolarCity]; you could pick [name of poster] (if you remember their name - especially if he had some unique name like Wolfgang Bohemian or something. lol ). 
It could also help if some term like [Lithium-Ion] or [fossil-fuel] was repeated by you are some others within the comments. Then finally you would need to add [your name], but only if you participated in the comments of the post. So 3 to 5 keywords should take you to that post with ease. Try it!

Here's an example from how I found the post I mentioned earlier:

This next example is one where I hadn't engaged on the post. It only flashed by on my stream, and I came back the next day to look for it. And voila!

Again, let me say you can try it with this very post (i.e. the one attached to this article > Here <  )

If you want to find this post 4 years from now, simply go to G+ search and type [Rotimi Orims] + [Google+ Facebook Search] + [Your name].
If you are not following me, and you did not comment on it, then try it this way:
[Rotimi Orims] + [Google+ Facebook Search] + [the name of the person who surfaced it into your stream] (they either liked it or commented on it).
Or you may add the term [Search Africa] in it as well.

The idea is that, if the post was memorable enough to make you want to take another look at it, then surely if you tried a bit harder, you would remember some keywords and terms that were used in it or in its comments!
And you would find it easily......on Google+

By the way, if you want to become a Ninja-Shogun-Samurai Google+ searcher (Translated: If you want to learn more useful tips) then you can turn to this resource here. 



Thanks for reading.


If you have anything to add to this (and I am sure there is much to add) please feel free to do so. Also feel free to ask any questions about anything you like. You would also find I am quite open to harsh criticism and interrogation, if that's what you prefer. ;)

What Is Google+? (An African Perspective)

What Is Google+? (An African Perspective)

The simple answer is that Google+ is a social network that helps you find and share your interests with others who share those same interests. Here in Africa we generally show a lot of affinity toward a communal way of life. That African characteristic is very observable in the way we use Facebook in Nigeria. But I think there is a lot more we are missing.

I believe it is important that we try to take advantage of every opportunity presented by each different social network. Google+ presents a different opportunity than Facebook and other networks like Twitter and LinkedIn. It is an opportunity to truly develop your understanding of your area of interest.  Sometimes you hear people say “I have already joined Facebook, and all my friends are there. Why do I need to join another network?”

But this is a very narrow way of looking at this issue.
I always say that people should try to consider the name first:
"Google  +  Plus".
This suggests that you consider the qualities of GOOGLE, and then much more.

So for me, Google+ is the network where I learned to become an advanced searcher of the Web. A place where I met people who helped me to broaden my knowledge and expertise in many many areas of interest. It is the place where I became an Internet Power User.

Broadening Your Horizon

I am not saying that Google+ is the only network where you can find experts and other enthusiasts of your field of interest. All I am saying is that it is the place where they congregate to not just showcase their interests alone, but to also engage in some of the most thoroughly enriching, globally interactive discussions you would find anywhere on the internet.   

So, unlike Facebook which basically connects you with your family, your friends, and perhaps their circle of friends, Google+ is not really the best place for you to go and look for your existing friends.
Instead, you should be thinking more about making new connections that share your passion for the same things you are truly passionate about, from all over the world.  So your Google+ connections (or circles) do not have to be your friends from the start. It mostly begins as people who display their keen interest s publicly, and will welcome your thoughts on those interests in such a way that it would lead you to discover new and amazing things and facts about that very topic.

An example of a Google+ connection could be a Japanese woman who likes Italian cooking the way you like Italian cooking. It is like you connecting with lawyers on g+ from top American, UK , and Nigerian law firms, to whet your appetite for your dream profession, while you are still in Law School here in Nigeria.

The important thing is that when you add someone with shared interests, you get to see what they are sharing in your home stream. This is really a great way to find important information and knowledge when you get used to it. (And by the way, whenever you choose to add somebody, it is good to add them to a circle that identifies their interest, for example you can add me to a circle called Marketing – If the circle name is not available you simply create a new circle)

Google+ For Business

We should also distinguish Google+ from LinkedIn, which is a network that is purely about professional networking.

The difference here is that while LinkedIn does a good job of connecting you with professionals in your field of profession, as you will find that Google+ will also do, LinkedIn does not encourage you to show off your other interests apart from that profession.  Google+ does this extremely well through its circles structure,  and that is why I call it "a network that helps users share and sharpen all of their interests with relevant people from all over the world."

So you can share your political rants without it bothering your network of electrical engineers with them. Some have even described Google+ as a place for sharing your passions. All of them (from job to hobbies).

But whether you call it interests or passions, one thing is certain that you can have as many of them as you like. And manage those interests and the relationships that come with those interests very effectively through your Google+ circles.

The Authorship SPARK

I believe that the major reason that Google+ became the social network for interesting people (you may or may not quote me) was because of the Google Authorship project that was eventually abandoned by Google in 2014.

So what is Google Authorship?
You may remember when you used to see people’s photographs beside their articles on Google search.

You can find a lot of information about this Authorship all over Google+ or the larger internet, but my brief explanation will just be to say it was a way that Google related people to the content that they wrote across the web. Many also saw it as a way to improve the ranking of their content on Google search.

Additionally, digital marketers taught their clients that Authorship was a way of displaying their expertise to their readers, while constantly reminding Google’s robots of their relevance in the subject, in order to gain TRUST and authority for whatever topic they constantly wrote on.

This meant that many professionals from all works of life joined and immediately started to link their written content and online publications to their Google+ profiles with the Authorship tag. And this consequently led to the fact that a lot of high quality professionally written content became easily discoverable by their relevant audiences on the Google+ platform, through sharing, commenting, and +1s (or likes).

Needless to say, Google+ attracted the top experts in many fields early on. It also helped their followers & fans to find them much more easily. Hence the social network for interesting people!

The Spirit Of Google+ Is its SEARCH Engine

Remember that Google are the masters of search? Well, for sure here in Africa, they have no rival.

Now imagine a social network where you can search for anything you are interested in and it will dig up what you are looking for with the littlest of efforts on your part. You can then jump into the conversation with those who are engaging on that topic of interest; politely ofcourse. 

You will not find anything close to this on any other social network, trust me. On Facebook for example, you probably won’t even find your own posts that you posted a week before in most cases. Unless you scroll down your timeline manually.

The EARLY SETTLERS

Some of the earliest users on G+ were Yifat Cohen and Mark Traphagen to name a few. They and many other awesome G+ early birds have worked hard to help shape the culture within Google+; so it’s a place where there are now tons of very helpful people from all over the world who connect and share useful information with each other in such a way that you won’t see the likes of on LinkedIn or on Facebook or anywhere else really. Adding such people cannot be a bad thing. Trust me.

The REALLY Good Stuff

But at the end of the day, for me, the strongest appeal for using Google+ is the fact that it integrates with so many other services like Youtube, Gmail, Google search, Google Maps, and so many other services from the same company. This integration is really helpful as it “brings the things you usually use closer to you”.

Apart from all that, the major reason why I think Google+ is very important RIGHT NOW from an African perspective is that the fact that it has not yet become so widely used by Africans would certainly put those of us who get very active on it early enough to be able to take advantage of all of the benefits I have mentioned here in the long run. I did not join Facebook very early (compared to other Nigerians) and it took me about 4 years to build 950 friends (eventhough I already knew most of them). Whereas in less than 2 years (using as much effort to engage and interact as I did on FB) I have built up more than 2000 followers on Google+

So that’s it!
If you have anything to add to my article about Google+, or if you have anything you disagree with, or if you have a question about Google+ or social networks in general,

Please feel free to share with me here (you will need to create a Disqus account in order to comment) or you can ask you question on Google+…..simply search for this post on Google+ by copying and pasting this, “Rotimi Orimoloye  Google+ An African Perspective” in the Google+ Search bar. Thanks.

Zero Moment Of Truth Part 2 : The Enthusiast

In my prequel to this post, I did a few introductions and tried to give you some ideas as to how important it is for you to take the Zero Moment Of Truth seriously. In this article I am going to try to guide you into thinking with a ZMOT mindset, and in to realizing how that can greatly improve your marketing efforts. 

The idea behind this second part of my post is to try to start you on a journey of becoming a ZMOT enthusiast like myself. Because by first becoming enthusiastic about the ZMOT, you would indeed learn much quicker, what you need in order to gain the necessary advantage for your business, your brand  or your product in this new digital age. 

Now some of the actual experts of this topic like Jim Lecinsky, Todd Pollack and Brian Solis have released articles and books that actually explain this concept much more indepth. 
But the dimension that I bring as a very keen enthusiast, is such that anything I write, I try my possible best to make you (the African reader) understand what we are talking about, and how you could easily bring it into reality in our environment.

1. Mobile Is A Must

One day, I was asked a question by a hopeful blogger. He asked, "Even if people want to use the internet to read and learn, the NEPA (electricity) problems in Nigeria make it so difficult for most People. So how can I find people to even read my blog?"  

So I told him that there was a relatively easy way to fix that problem. But he quickly added, "and you know that most people cannot even afford laptops or iPads".
So I said that that was even what makes my solution more of an advantage for him, if he could implement it.

"So what is this magic solution of yours"?

And I told him to have a mobile optimization plan! 

I know that may sound too simplistic, but then just try to wrap your head around the scenario that the vast majority of websites in Nigeria (I cannot say much about the rest of Africa yet) don't account for mobile users. 

And yet, from a marketer's perspective, you wonder why mobile internet is not more or less compulsory in Nigeria. 

No wonder Facebook usage in Nigeria is so phenomenal?
Because Facebook is one of only a few websites known by Nigerians to have a version that is comfortably responsive to mobile phones of different screen sizes. This point cannot be over-emphasized.

Meanwhile, the reasons why Americans and Europeans use smartphones to surf the web may be indeed very different from the reasons why Nigerians do. Nevertheless, what is certain is that smartphones have become key players in this whole global online struggle for our attention. 

Therefore if you are doing business and you wish to attract large amounts of people (whether American or Nigerian; whether for your corporate branding, or for lead generation, or for online retail) your website has to be able to communicate clearly through a mobile phone interface. Not to mention the added advantage you get as a mobile phone user can instantly make a call to your business, or at least store your phone number, when he sees your contact page on your site.

2. Social Media Re-visitation

Ever since people realized that social media networks were useful for marketing, we have been seeing people just going about dropping links and promoting stuff everywhere like crazy. 

Some of us have clearly forgotten the "social" in this whole social media thing. So we spend so much unnecessary energy dropping links all over the social sites, presuming that others are using the internet for the purpose of searching for promotional links to click on. 

ZMOT mindedness makes you a lot more creative and much more effective with your social media marketing campaigns. It opens your eyes to see what many other digital marketers don't see. It will help you remember or realize that you yourself don't go around looking for links to click on.

There is always an important trigger that gets you to click on a link. 

Zero Moment reasoning also protects you from coming into that irrational mindset of those marketers who would do anything to see their website rank on the Top of Google Search result pages; As if ranking on the Top of search automatically means that people would throw their hard earned money at your website.

A ZMOT minded marketer understands that there are more than one way to catch a fish. 
For example, I can show you a nifty way of using a combination of Facebook, Google+ and Youtube to do a lot of damage, even if you don't have a website. I talk more about using video for ZMOT warfare in this article here.
But if I started to explain those things here now, this article could become a book. I am always reachable at the Digital Africa Community. There I can take questions about ZMOT, FMOT and other areas of digital marketing.

Now there are many other techniques to ZMOT readiness like using AdWords PPC campaigns and one magical thing they call Remarketing, or taking advantage of Affiliate bloggers, and my own personal addition, the use of digital print and direct mail solutions. But for the sake of your time reading this article, the 3rd and last tactic I will mention here is learning how to stalk users at the review sites.   

3. Raptness To Reviews

Again, I'm not sure I know how people behave in Ghana or South Africa, but here in Nigeria, I know that word of mouth is an extremely powerful form of product promotion. So if you can put words into Mr A's mouth, that could easily lead to Mr B buying your product.

I mean, I have literally seen people come to a store specifically to purchase an iPhone, and right there in an instant, they ask some other customer for his advice, and he suddenly turns into a smartphone expert; And before you know it, the lady who came to buy an iPhone4 is going home with her brand new Blackberry Z10.

In fact, more or less, everyone in this country is a consulting physician (both medical and trado-medical).
You feel slight dizziness and a throbbing headache? Your next door neighbor, the bank manager, prescribes an anti-biotic for you. Just like that!

So whether you realize it or not, most of your potential clients or customers are easily susceptible to influence from others. At some point in their journey, they could easily have been your customer. But along the way, someone prescribed an alternative for them.
And this behavior is happening on the internet as well, so it is not wise to ignore it. You must learn how to benefit from it. 

You might not be able to prevent or rescue every one of your potential customers from those self-appointed experts, but there are ways that you can work on wrestling some of them back to your own offering. And of course, you can generate your own "experts".

In this other scenario, try to imagine you didn't log out of your Yahoomail, before you visited the Trip Advisor website to check out affordables hotels in Abuja. Incidentally, your Facebook account is associated to your Yahoomail.

Now you are gazing at the hotel at the top of the page that costs only N5000 per night; it looks like a good option for you. Then suddenly you notice that some people you know have already spent time at some other hotel below, and they gave it very good reviews. It costs only N400 more than the one you first noticed. And these people you know are people you really respect.

This could happen because Trip Advisor is using your Facebook friends list, and it doesn't even occur to you what's going on, or why they are showing you what your friends have reviewed.

This is a real ZMOT phenomenon. It happens everyday, and nobody really cares to ask why.
But what you should be asking is, how do I capitalize on it?
That should be he question every merchant is asking in this era....how do I win the zero moment of truth?

And the more you think and strategize in this mind frame, the more likely you would come up with answers for your digital business goals. The technology is available to help you win some of the battles, you just have to discover what they are, how they work, and how to use them. 
The more you actively take part in ZMOT warfare, the more you'll learn; and the more new tools you would discover. This is my advice to you if you have a small business. 

However, if yours is a large company that can afford it, it is best you hire a ZMOT Coordinator who is, at least, handy with his AdWords and Google Analytics, and has a ZMOT mindset. 

ZMOT ZERO MOMENT OF TRUTH Infographic-Shoppers' Path to Purchase via Cool Daily Infographics

Now, someone might ask, "hey why do I need a consultant who claims to be ZMOT-savvy?", "Can't I just give this article you've written here to my already existing traditional marketing department to handle"? 

Well, you could try that....But you should be careful about how they run with it. Afterall, those guys are coming from a mindset that is quite different from ours. A mindset where so many boundaries and limitations exist. 

So someone else could say, "Or I could even read through this article several times over, add some extra research, and do it all by myself?"

Well, actually you could. And in fact I am hoping you would. 
I am hoping that all those who pay attention to my articles would become ZMOT-minded marketers, and do their own marketing by themselves one day. This would open up huge opportunities for me with the larger businesses, who are always the slowest to adopt these kinds of ideas. 
However, their current paradigm is such that they always seem to want to minimize risk and pay more attention to financial budgeting, rather than statistical and analytics data.

So they are not likely to take a chance on investing on a ZMOT-manager or an inhouse digital marketing team until they see the result of my ZMOT strategies through those who have used it and profited from it, at lower levels. 

Yet, this leaves you, the small or mid-sized business owner, with the opportunity to become enthusiastic enough about the ZMOT to learn how to get a head-start and an advantage for your self, and hopefully taking some of their market share while they are still asleep.



Thanks for reading.
Feel free to drop a comment or question below. I'm always here to assist. Also consider reading my post defining ZMOT in Nigeria, using Nigerian examples.

Using Google+ Is Not So Difficult

I realize that for many of you out there, the reason why you are not using Google+ as much as you would have liked to, is because you find it somehow confusing and difficult to use.

You know what? I feel you. 

I was also very confused at first myself. But to be honest with you, I have come to enjoy posting, sharing and interacting on Google+ more than any other social network out there. All you need is some practice, and once you've grabbed it, you will understand why G+ is the fastest growing social network in the world, and has already overtaken Twitter and LinkedIn.

So let us start with:

Posting On Google+

First you should keep in mind that even though it seems complicated to you now, it is actually going to be so easy after some practice, and you will laugh at yourself once you've gotten used to the interface. :)

So just think about your the Facebook post you are currently using.

It has a box that says "what's on your mind" right?

Now I am sure that that is the first thing you do: 

Type in whatever is on your mind into that box.

Ok, in G+ you will find a very similar kind of box on your homepage, but it says, "Share What's New..."
And once you click on that box to start typing, the box get's larger. By the way you can get to your home page by clicking on your name at the Top Right of your screen, or by moving your pointer to the g+ logo at the extreme Top Left side.

Now in the image directly below, I have marked the posting process into 4 different steps:

Step 1 Is writing what you wish to share

Step 2 Is to determine the who you want to share it with.

Step 3 Is to add a photograph or a link to a video or website to your post.

And Step 4 is to publish your post.

It's so easy.

Now, one of the many lovely things that Google+ has that other social media don't have is the ability to add rich formatting to your post. So by using two underscores to sandwich a word or sentence, you can make it _ITALICIZED_. While you can also use asterisk to *make it bold* and dashes to do - -strike throughs -. 

This gives your post that richer edge than others. There are still many tricks that advanced users of Google+ know that I could share with you if you come and ask me on the Digital Africa community.

So go ahead and type what you want to say. 

But before you click share, pay attention to Step 2 (it's very important).

Now, let's say you have just finished typing your post.

You would notice that there is a green item under it that says "Public". This indicates that if you post it the way it is, everyone that visits your profile on G+ will be able to see that post and even comment on it.

Now if you want a particular person (a friend or family member) to be notified specifically about that post then you need to add a + sign as well as the person's name. Make sure you select the persons name from the options given to you while you start typing that name. And make sure it is the right person. :)

So something like the picture above will be seen by Everybody, but your circles will additionally be notified, then Vivian Akinyosoye and Chigo Okeke will also be notified specifically.

But if you click on the X part of the Public item and the Circles item, then only Vivian and Chigo will be able to see the post. 

If you click on the X next to Vivian's name, then it means you want the post to be private between you and Chigo.

So above is a picture of the shared post after clicking the 'share' button. I have pointed out the effects of each of the first 3 Steps. Notice that Step 2 will show only shared "Publicly" even though you shared it with several different circles of people.

Now assuming you hadn't chosen to share it publicly, it would have said shared "privately" instead.

Step 3 here shows that I uploaded 2 photos. Yes, in Google+ you don't just have the power to share more than one photo in one post, you can also create some dazzling effects on each photo.
Isn't that awesome? 

So what are you waiting for? Start Plussing!

If you enjoyed this article, and you think it would be useful for someone else, please share it on your Google+ profile as well as your Twitter and Facebook. Thanks.

If you want more useful tips from me about the G+ or the Internet in general, please feel free to connect with me on my profile. 

A final tip:

Once you've joined Google+, some of the best experiences that will help you to take full advantage of it, are in joining Communities that are relevant to your interests or business.

I will suggest three right away:

Music Africa, 

Business & Entrepreneurship and 

Digital Africa

Don't hesitate to ask me any questions you might have in the comments section of this blogpost. 
Or if you prefer, you can reach us in the Digital Africa community.

Happy Plussing! :-)