24 March 2014
Google+ is the second largest social network in the world and has over 350 million users. I’m one of them. But, that’s mostly not because of choice or the love for connecting with the same set of people from another social network.
It’s more of a compulsion to keep using Google’s other awesome services and to largely stay in the good graces of the almighty of search engines. And, if I’m right many among us are as well!
There are three main benefits of staying active in Google+:
It somehow adds to your SEO juice. If not for anything, Google knows for sure that a potential SEO boost will make people engage in conversations thereby getting rid of the haunted house vibe.
Google Author Rank is tied to it.
It has all the makings of a professional content sharing and discovery platform like Twitter and LinkedIn. Unlike Facebook, there are hardly any marriage or baby pics flooding the timeline.
For a B2B or a B2C business, when it comes to online marketing, Google+ might not hold the same promise that LinkedIn and Twitter does, but, that might change in the long run. Why you ask? Count on Google to nudge and push more and more people towards getting a Google+ account to continue to productively use their services.
There are already signs that Google Hangouts (part of Google+) will replace messaging, chat and even Google Voice services. And, this has already happened with YouTube. Only people with Google+ accounts are allowed to comment on videos.
Sure, not many among us care about what people are thinking about funny cat videos, but, this is the kind of push the mainstream audience requires to embrace Google+ in a big way. So, long story short, Google will take of the audience drought out of Google+ one way or the other.
When people come in flocks to see what the big deal is about this social network and who are actually the big shots over there, you’ll want to ensure that you’re well prepared!
Predictably, creating and setting up a Google+ page works the same way it does for other social networks. Business pages don’t have a unique URL yet. And it’s all gibberish when it comes to the profile page address. Still, go ahead and create a dedicated page for your business and promote it using buttons and badges.
Customization is the next logical step and Google+ offers a slew of ways to make your page look gorgeous. For all the grief I gave about the absence of engagement at G+, the customization options are the best in its class.
The page layout is better than we have in all other social networks. The cards and columns layout looks fabulous and is easy to work with. Just like it’s super easy to manage your sales pipeline with our online sales CRM!
Give pictures maximum room in your page. The banner image sizes can be super large and when you go for the maximum pixels (2120px by 1192px), you’ve got yourselves a mini billboard!
Coming to the written word, pay as much attention to the content that goes up in the Google+ page as you would give to a web page. There aren’t any follow links from the profile page anymore, but, add links to the relevant pages or services in your website to enhance visibility.
Content published in these pages still hold great potential for SEO. Try not to leave any field empty. The rules of good web copy are all in play here as well. Give a great title, write a decent description of your business in simple words and most importantly, include all the keywords that you are going after.
Sharing content in your Google+ page is a pleasant experience. I’m not just talking about the backend. The very design of the Google+ page is built with making content stand out and make content discovery easy in the process.
You are not locked down to a dull single column feed with rows after rows of unappealing mix of text and images. It’s far easier to attach images to posts and they are presented rather nicely as well.
Coming back to the SEO aspect of the equation, irrespective whether you’re writing it in longform or just sharing snippets and links, make sure that the content is unique and interesting.
Emphasis on keywords is welcome and the golden rule about avoiding keyword stuffing applies here as well. Google+ activity shows up in search results and hence it’s better to keep content fresh and relevant.
You can add multiple hashtags to the content that you share. They help to filter and search content that’s shared all over the network. Keeping it to a maximum of two or three hashtags per post will your stream clutter free. Any more is just overkill.
Tagging people is incredibly easy. Just add a + sign in front of the name of the person and you are good to go. Circles make sharing content within groups even more easier. Don’t pass up the option to attract more eyeballs!
Circles offer a seamless way to form formal and informal groups. The ease with which you can build a community around your business all the while expanding your network by connecting with your peers is absolutely brilliant.
Connecting with people based on topics of interest is painless. It’s as easy as sending a request to either join a circle or inviting people to join yours. Ideally, you should do a bit of both.
Creating multiple circles on the areas of interest to establish thought leadership is the first task to tackle. The next step is to pay attention to creating and sharing content relevant to the circle.
While at it, engaging members in your circle in conversations and creating an environment for a healthy back and forth of ideas needs a lot of attention as well.
Listening, if not active listening, is key to connecting with peers. When trying to connect with influencers in a circle, it’s not how much you say that counts.
Never miss an opportunity to convey your insights and at the same time, it’s better to let other experts take the lead when there is a fairly new topic under discussion.
Have you seen tiny thumbnails of faces right next to Google search results? That’s the magic of Google Authorship! The idea behind Google Authorship is to improve the legitimacy and credibility of the author who published the article. It’s one of the ways to get people’s attention to you, the author, and build thought leadership.
Click through rates are high when people see the image of the author alongside the link in question. You’ve got the Google seal approval that it’s you who has created the content and you are proud to claim ownership of all your thoughts and ideas. A neat idea to keep plagiarism and content spam at bay.
Linking the content you create to Google+ isn’t a big deal. Make sure that the byline in each article or page carries the same name as your Google+ account. Also, ensure that you have a headshot that’s clearly recognizable. And as the final step, verify the email address of the domain you are publishing content from.
Depending on the platform that you use to publish content, these steps are fairly simple. In most cases, there are easy to use plugins for popular CMS and publishing platforms.
Google Hangouts win the best feature in Google+ hands down. It allows bringing together a group of people quick and painless. It’s free, easy to set up and does video too!
The benefits of Google Hangouts is multifold. Jumping on a quick conference with your circle is one way to go. You get to keep the interactions personal, informative and in real time!
If chatting up with a handful of people is cramping your style, you might want to try out the live stream. Hosting a live Hangout session gives you the opportunity to push content marketing to a wider audience.
Remember, content marketing isn’t always about guest blogging. Host a webinar on a topic that you are an expert in and share the link across all social channels.
Got a couple of great keynote speakers for your conference or workshop? Make it easy for anyone with an internet connection to share the wealth of information.
As an icing on the cake, Google Hangout videos are readily available for you to share even after the session is over. The recordings will be publicly available on Google+ and on your YouTube channel, ready to be shared.
How fabulous is that your content is readily accessible and searchable in the second largest search engine in the World without any effort? So, it’s time to gear up your marketing efforts and give Google+ a serious try!
