Have you noticed that every time you do a Google search these days, there are +1 buttons listed beside all of the search results? If you were to click on one, you would be listed as a person who had recommended the page that is listed. What exactly is Google doing? They are using an old marketing tactic with a new medium: they are getting endorsements for products.

As I recall, it was 1973 when NY Jets quarterback Joe Namath did a commercial for Hanes pantyhose (take a look at the old ad). Joe's endorsement of women's pantyhose was a big hit for Hanes, but it also got several federal regulators underparts in a twist regarding truth in advertising. It led to guidelines from the FTC that state that the endorser "shouldn't talk about their experience with a product if they haven't tried it, or make claims about a product that would require proof they don't have."¹ No longer could a celebrity poser endorse a product they had not used. So now, if a sports celebrity, like Michael Jordan, is endorsing Hanes (for men, not women) by talking to a guy on an airplane about the finer points of underwear, he has to have actually worn Hanes underwear. Now you can see where this becomes a little disingenuous. As far as I know, the FTC is not raiding Michael Jordan's underwear drawer to make sure he is really wearing the product.

You may be a little suspicious of celebrity endorsements, especially in the traditional advertising mediums of TV, radio and print. However, they work. There is still an allure to eat, drink, drive and wear whatever is a hit among the famous and fabulous among us. This is where social networks have made marketing inroads. What if you could follow someone famous and every time they sat down to eat, they tweeted where they were eating and what they thought of the food? What if you could easily list yourself as a Fan of the same restaurant the celebrity tweeted about? And what if you could share with all of your Friends that you are a Fan of the restaurant? All of the sudden, the restaurant has a celebrity endorser and a target market following them. This makes it fairly easy to send ads that target those Fans and their Friends to entice them into the restaurant. Google is taking this concept very large. What Google is doing is not only getting your endorsement, but the endorsement of everyone that uses Google as a search engine. They are making records of your likes so that they can, in turn, use that information to target you for future marketing.

Now couple all of this with a growing segment of society that is using social networks to find discounts on services and consumable products (like the now publicly traded Groupon who just launched its IPO this past week.) You have a huge marketing potential for your company if you can swing these endorsements your way. Social networking has given us all the ability to endorse nearly everything. Even if your company does not have a presence on a social network like Facebook, Google is giving anyone the opportunity to rate your company. And with the Millennials (age 19-35), the endorsement of a friend is held in much higher esteem than the pitchman that is in your advertising. (see our article Millennial Marketing Quest).

How do you use this new wave of endorsement to your marketing advantage? First, encourage visitors to your web site to click the Google +1. You can build a clickable icon on your site that allows your visitors to register their endorsement of your company, product or service. This is available from Google.

Secondly, take advantage of the settings on your Google account. Particularly, make sure you are using their connected accounts feature. By doing this, you can integrate key marketing information from other social networking sites, such as your fans, friends, likes and dislikes, etc. By connecting with other sites, you are maximizing your reach into the world of social networking. Thirdly, take a look at the new Google+. There are opportunities to connect with other web sites, put ads on your web page, measure the effectiveness of your online marketing, and follow those people who are giving you their +1.

All that is happening with the Google +1 is what has been happening in marketing for a very long time. We buy what other people endorse. The power of suggestion is a very powerful marketing tool. If someone else uses a product, and they are deemed a trustworthy person or a person whom I want to emulate, and they say it is a good product, I will buy it. It is now much easier to do than it used to be thanks to the reach of Google and other online networks that are a part of the new media.

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Get Ready for the Google+ 'Pages' Ripple Effect Through Media: Brands Can Control Their Own Fate By Creating Content To Elicit +1 Connections by Sarah Sikowitz, Ad Age November 08, 2011  http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/ready-google-pages-ripple-effect-media/230875