That seems to be what Google is anticipating, based on this email I received today:

This email is about your AdWords account [number redacted].

In the coming weeks, your search results and ads on Google will include a +1 button, which users can click to recommend your ads. You don’t need to make any changes to your account in order to take advantage of them. The final landing page URL of your ads can also appear on the Google profile of any user who +1’s your ad.

Here’s how the +1 button works:

Let’s say you own a hotel in Madrid. Brian had a lovely stay at your hotel last summer. When Brian starts researching accommodations for his next trip to Spain, he searches on Google while signed into his Google account, and sees your ad. He clicks the +1 button on the ad to recommend it to his contacts.

When Brian’s friend Ann plans her trip to Spain, she signs in to her Google account, searches, and also sees your ad – plus the personalized annotation that Brian +1’d it. Knowing that Brian recommends your hotel helps Ann decide where to stay during her travels.

Think of the +1 button as a way for fans of your business to recommend what you offer, for all their friends and contacts to see. By helping searchers see more personal, relevant ads, we believe you’ll see more qualified traffic. You can also add the +1 button to your site to give your customers the opportunity to +1 your site after visiting it.

To learn more about what’s changing and how +1 works, visit the AdWords Help Center.

To add the +1 button to your site, visit the +1 button tool on Google Webmaster Central.

Sincerely,
The Google AdWords Team

Seems to me like a system that’s inviting hacking and gaming more than it’s inviting recommendation, but as the ever-popular cliche goes: time will tell.

I’ve said it time and time and time again. There’s no such thing as a social media expert, and when you encounter anyone who uses that term to describe what he or she does, grab your wallet and run like hell in the other direction. You can have experience in social media, but you can’t be an expert in something that changes so radically so often.

Which is why I like Nichole Kelly’s post over on Social Media Explorer. I like it when she says, “social media is not a silver bullet, it will not fix problems within your current marketing strategy,” and I like it when she says, “social media isn’t about pushing out a bunch of marketing messages, it’s about engaging in conversation.”

What I find remarkable is that even after all this time, so many companies and C-level executives simply don’t understand the basic common sense of the things you’ll see in Nichole’s post.

Wikipedia describes the Amish like so: “The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, and reluctance to adopt many conveniences of modern technology.”

One aspect of modern technology, though — Facebook — seems, for some, to have broken through that reluctance. Marketing Daze reports.

Quality content is king. Business2Community explains. Nice to see that Google, at least on some level, is addressing an issue I’ve been ranting about for years.

Takeaway for marketers: When it comes to online content, qualitative trumps quantitative.

I start each day by reviewing the latest news in the worlds of digital marketing, advertising and media relations … and each day I find a number of stories to which my reaction is: “So what?” or “Why on earth is this getting press?” or some other bit of incredulity. A few examples from this morning:

Domino’s Uses Facebook Places to Promote New Pizza (you mean like countless other companies promoting countless other products?)

How To Make A Clock Run for 10,000 Years (hint: it has nothing to do with building a sundial and everything to do with Jeff Bezos)

Grandparents Are Using Social Networks (really? this is considered news? really?)

Want to Run Your Own Business? There’s a Book for That (just one?)

As a society, I believe we have too much media and not enough significant news and information to fill it all. Then again, we’ve known that for years … all you’ve ever had to do is flip channels on your remote.