An Introduction to the Power of Google Plus

Wednesday 5th December, 2012

Topics of Conversation

• The Background

• Google Plus vs. Facebook

• Why Business’ need Google Plus

• How to get started

• Connecting your Page to your Website

• Interesting Google Plus-ers (examples)

• Things to consider before you get going

G+ - The Background

In The Beginning There Was Buzz!

• Launched in June 2011• Google Buzz was Google’s first botched attempt at getting

social• That flopped in Dec 2011 and they switched focus to Google +

• G+ grew FAST, but then no one knew what to do…it was like a ghost town

• Then they launched “pages” for business…

170 million users

What is Google+ Then?

- It’s not Facebook!- You don’t go there to hang out with your long lost best buddy from

school

- Google says it’s not a “social network” but you do share posts, pages, photos and videos with your friends, family & customers

It’s Packed Full of Great Features

“Google Plus has a range of features and is strongly integrated with G Search”

Why Did Google Build It?

• Some say:

• But are we missing the point? Blinkered by FB?• G+ is a way of organising and finding information using humans• One of G’S methods for cutting SPAM• You login and think it’s a crap version of Facebook, but by then they

already have:• Your phone number, geographical location, interests, social

connections…

• Understanding all of this allows Google to give it’s users what they want. Google can now see:• What you share | who likes it | what is most important | what is

most important to your friends | whether your company is satisfying the needs of your followers

Google Plus vs. Facebook

VS.WHAT YOU

KNOW

WHO YOU

KNOW

G+ is almost conversation between you and Google

Facebook is a conversation between you and your

mates

Why Business’ Need Google Plus

Top 5 Reasons Your Business Needs G+

1. Brand Awareness / Visibility

2. Community building & networking

3. Search – impact on SEO; extra traffic to your site

4. Gives content more authority and credibility

5. Content fits all – works on all devices (mobile, tablet, PC) is local

& personal

Increasing Brand Awareness

Increasing Brand Awareness

Community Building & Networking

• Hangouts: Create hangouts and talk about relevant topics or join other ppls hangouts

• Badges: Add the G+ button to your website and blog posts• Other Social profiles: Ask existing contacts on Twitter, FB, offline to

join your circles• Write about G+: This is a great way to spark discussion. • Find and Follow key influencers: Google lets you see what’s hot and

recommended on the left rail under the heading “Explore.” Go there. Check out the hottest posts, comment and don’t forget to speak to people!

Impact on SEO

• As we mentioned earlier, Google has integrated all of it’s products

all of which tie back to search

• This means there’s therefore a huge impact on your SEO, as

everything on G+ is indexed (posts, comments, status)

• ‘Search plus your world’ – a new way of presenting personalised

SERPs based on +1 votes from those in your circles

• See more traffic from Google search – by boosting search ranking

and improving CTRs.

Authority & Credibility (aka Author Rank)

Hands up if you remember Panda?!• It was all about creating great quality content, but how does Google

know what content is good and bad?

Google now asks a few questions when reviewing content:1. Is this post written by an expert on this subject?2. What quality control has been done on this content?3. Is the site a recognised authority on this subject?4. Is this content mass produced and farmed out across a network

of sites?

“The answers to these questions formulate Author Rank…where the reputation of individual authors

becomes part of the ranking algorithm.”

Author Rank: Make G+ Your Digital ID Base

With authorship markup, your G+ profile becomes your digital identity base

• You’ll use it to link out to your online content and links back from that

content

• When used right, this ensures that you and only you are identified as

the author

• Once this loop is established, Google uses this data to formulate your

author rank

And you’ll get your picture in the search results.

Getting Started

Sounds Great, How Do I Get Started?

1. Set-up your G+ business page2. Optimise it3. Start creating and sharing great content4. Build targeted circles

How to Get Started on Google Plus

There are two main ways set up your Google Plus Business Page:

Use your business location to set up a Page via Google

Places. OR

Set up a personal Page and then

add a Page to that account – which would be your Business Page

dotTips: Profiles Vs. Pages

• You need a profile before you can create a Page

• Pages are for business’ & profiles are for people

• You can assign 1 owner and up to 50 managers to a Business Page• This avoids people accessing your

personal profile• Default setting for sharing is public• Pages have the +1 button

• View your page’s +1 counts in webmaster tools

• Pages can’t:• 1+ other pages or content on the web

• Pages automatically unfollow you if you unfollow them

Chose Your Cover & Profile Images Carefully

• Your G+ cover image and profile picture is a fabulous opportunity to show a deeper more meaningful and creative side to your brand

• G+ also doesn’t many brand restrictions (unlike Facebook) so it means you add your strap line, or brand name, or your promotions here!

• It’s your banner ad, so make the most of this free advertising space!

Be innovative, be inspiring, be creative and most importantly be on brand

Cool Covers

Cool Covers

This might seem ordinary but it’s not…it’s a GIFF cover image –

pretty cool and innovative! (the

birds move about, it’s as if they are

flying in the image)

Fill in Your “About”

Fill in all the relevant sections: • Tagline• About Us• Opening Hours • Links

Organise Your Circles

Working in Circles

- By default, G+ comes with two standard circles:

- Public - share content here and it’ll be visible to everyone on G+ and the entire www

- Extended – that’s sharing content with the people in the circles of the people in your circles- Pages can’t share to extended circles- Pages can’t add people to circles until

that person has added the page to their circle or mentioned it

Google+ is Organised Around “Circles”

- Create circles for different interests and groups of people- E.g. I have SEO, social, music, technology, family, photos etc.

What happens when you add someone to a circle?

• You can share with them and see what they're sharing with you.

• You can chat with anyone in your circles who also has you in their circles.

• They'll be notified and can add you to their own circles, but they'll never see the names of the circles you've added them to.

• They'll appear on your public profile (unless you change this setting).

Click along the top to view the stream

for each circle

Creating Targeted G+ Circles

Search

• Using a relevant keyword, e.g. “wood burning oven”

Select

• Add the top 3 people to your circle

Review

• Then click view all

Select

• Best of option (these are the people G thinks are most relevant)

Metric

• Circle count – how many circles are they in?

Creating Targeted G+ Circles

Use circle count to find the best people

Then check out “best of” posts and the ripple to

find top sharers and follow them!

Connecting Your Website

Add the G+ Badge To Your Site

• Add the G+ page badge to every page on your website• This is different for profiles and pages:

• This will also allow people to +1 your pages

Connect to Your Website & Other Social Channels

• Set-up direct connect to your website• Go to the about tab on your G+ page and click “link website”• Popup instructions will give you a piece of code to add to your home page to

verify you’re the owner• Users can now search using the “+companyname” in G to find your G+ Page

<link href="https://plus.google.com/{p

lusPageUrl}" rel="publisher" />

Website

Improve Your Rankings With 1+

- The 1+ button is tied to a URL / the page you put it on- Add it to every page- Having +1s can improve the QS for a page, thus reducing the

cost of Adsense- Moving a page / changing URL will reset the +1 count

- A page endorsed by +1 = credible- Google can see the number of people in your circles- And the author who wrote the post (author rank)- Can improve CTR form SERPS: people trust pages with a higher

number of +1’s

How to Get Your Picture in the Search Results

• The 3 link method – the host site has a blog post which links to an author bio page that links to the G+ profile

• The 2 link method: link from post to G+ profile. G+ profile links back to website

• Email verification method: Use if your email from a different domain to where your content is

<a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/11801635048798

8607488?rel=author">Your Name

Here!</a>

Interesting Google Plus-ers

Coldplay

• Excellent branding

• 7 in their circles and 3,580,067 have them in circles

• Post frequency: every few days, all images similar colouring, concert pics, album announcements, link to roadies blogs posts, any CSR support - and posts about hurricane sandy etc.

Cadbury’s

• Cadbury’s are the one of the most successful brands on G+

• They listened to what their target audience were discussing on G+ then joined the conversation

• They found that people were talking about the olympics and brands of their chocolate – so they combined the 2 and created Hangouts where people could talk to their athletes

• They promoted this using social extensions in their Adwords accounts

Things to Think About Before You Get Plussed Up

Ask Yourself Some Questions…

What do I want to do

on G+

What do I want to achieve?

How do I want people to

perceive me / my brand?

dotTips - Making The Most Out of G+

1. Engage with other Pages – be relevant and don’t just spam them with information on your company.

2. Share and promote content across G+ and your other social channels

3. Interact with people who engage with your Page – respond, comment, +1 their posts.

4. Use hash tags to get your content seen within different conversation streams.

5. Be smart about how you create your circles – and then you can share the right content with the right people (NOTE: Check that public share setting before you hit publish).

Thanks for attending our Google Plus Breakfast Meeting!

Any questions?