GOOGLE+ FOR BUSINESSGETTING STARTED GUIDE

WHAT IS GOOGLE+?Google+ is a social networking and identity service that is owned by Google Inc.

Google has described Google + as a “social layer” that enhances many of its online

properties, and that it is not simply a social networking website, but also an authorship tool

that associates web-content directly with its owner/author.

Whilst the active Australian users (65,000) on Google+ is low in comparison to Facebook

and Twitter, your Google+ profile page is an extremely valuable asset which appears

prominently within Google search results and within Google maps. Claiming your profile

and completing relevant address details can provide an increase in organic search engine

traffic from users searching within your geographical area.

Registration URL: http://www.google.com/intl/en-GB_au/+/business/

Note: a Google account is required to run through the setup process

BENEFITS OVERVIEW

GET YOUR BUSINESS ON GOOGLE FOR FREEA Google+ page connects you with customers, whether they’re looking for you on Search, Maps, Google+ or mobile devices.

BE FOUND BY CUSTOMERS ACROSS GOOGLE97% of consumers search for local businesses online. Your local Google+ page connects you with customers on Search, Maps and Google+, no matter what device they are using.

MAKE IT EASY FOR CUSTOMERS TO GET IN TOUCHGive customers the right info at the right time, whether that be driving directions to your business in Maps, hours of operations in Search or a phone number they can click to call you on mobile phones.

START CONVERSATIONS WITH YOUR PEOPLEYour Google+ page helps you build a loyal fan base. Your customers can show their appreciation with ratings and reviews, use the +1 button to endorse your content, and re-share your posts across the web.

ONE PLACE TO TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE Managing your business online shouldn’t be a headache. The Google+ dashboard brings together all of the ways Google can help your business shine in one, easy to use solution.

ALL CONNECTED IN ONE PLACE Your Google+ dashboard is the single place to manage your business online. From here, you can edit your contact info, share key updates and learn how people find your business.

THE GOOGLE+ DASHBOARD FEATURES1. Update your business info including address, phone number

& hours of operation.

2. Track how much of your page you have completed

3. Monitor your Google+ notifications & updates

4. Share news, updates & photos with customers

5. Connect face-to-face with customers using Hangouts

6. See the top searches for your business on Google

7. See from where people are getting directions to your business

8. View social insights to track the success of Google+ posts

9. Manage your AdWords Express ads

10. Add managers to your page

CREATE A GOOGLE+ PAGE

1. Visit http://www.google.com/intl/en-GB_au/+/business/ and click ‘Get your page’

2. Select the type of page you wish to create.

• Product or Brand

• Company, Institution or Organization

• Local business or Place

• Arts, Entertainment or Sports

• Other

*In order to be displayed on Google Maps, please select ‘Local Business or Place’

3. Search for your business.

If your business already exists in the list, you will need to contact the owner of the listing and request permission to manage the profile.

If it doesn’t already exist, please select ‘No, these are not my businesses’

4. Enter in your relevant business details. These can be amended later if required.

Once you enter your street address, Google will locate your position on the map, please ensure this is correct.

5. You can verify your business listing by receiving a letter from Google in the mail and entering the issued pin into your account.

6. Congratulations, you’ve just created a Google+ profile for your business. Upload a profile and cover photo to reflect your brand.

Be sure to keep your followers up to date by sharing relevant information.

ALREADY HAVE A GOOGLE+ PAGE?

TIPS FOR OPTIMIZING YOUR GOOGLE+ PAGE

Keep Content Fresh

Ensure that you’re posting content as often as possible. Do you have a new promotion, event or update for your business? Make sure you share it here.

Fill Out Your Page

As you’re setting up your business page, focus on using keywords as you fill out the introduction in your Google+ page’s ‘About’ section. Use both the keywords you want to rank high on and the keywords your customers are using.

As you fill out each section, be sure to think about what would be attractive to your customers.

The Right Time

According to Google+ the best time to schedule an update is between 10am – 2pm on weekdays. This is when Google+ usually sees the most traffic on weekdays, so your audience will be larger if your posts are schedules during this window of time.

Take Advantage of Images

Google recommends posting high quality photos in order to gain your audience’s attention.

Respond To Your Customers

Social media isn’t a one-way street, and it certainly shouldn’t be used like an outdated example of outbound marketing. Make sure you respond to your followers, and try to think of your posts as more of a dialogue, rather than a monologue.

Add Links Throughout Your Page

Google+ business pages allow you to add links in lots of different places. These links will help you get found in searches and more importantly, they will help customers go directly to your website.

Get Your Employees on Google+

Because your posts are generally only seen by the people who’ve circled you, you want to encourage your employees to set up personal Google+ profiles. You can’t tell them how to use those profiles. But you can ask that they add your website as a link in their links section. You could also ask them to share your business page and its posts to their friends.

Get Your Employees on Google+

Just like Twitter and Instagram, hashtags can have a notable impact on reaching a target audience on Google+. The explore feature uses hashtags to help Google+ users quickly find and interact with topics they’re interested in.

HOW TO KEEP CONTENT FRESHOnce your Google+ page has been created, it is then important to grow your followers by posting and sharing engaging and relevant content. Here are a few tips to help drive growth through engagement.

1. Create Engaging Content

• Use Photos and videos – Not only do they take up more space on peoples profiles, they immediately draw the attention of the user and drive engagement immediately.

• Ask questions – If you want an answer, simply ask a question of your followers.

• Keep it short – The shorter the better.

2. Tailor Your ContentPosts look much better when they are specifically designed for the platform. For instance images should be adjusted to fit on the page so that it is cropped to fit.

• Status Update: Up to 100,000 characters

• Shared Image: 497 x 373px

• Shared Link: 150 x 150px

• Shared Video Preview: 497 x 179px

3. Time Your PostsIn order to gain the most engagement, it is vital to publish your posts during the times when users are most active. For Google+, higher engagement is found to occur during weekdays between 9-11am. The worst possible time to post is between 6pm and 8am.

4. Best PracticeWhilst there are not that many active Google+ users in Australia compared to the US and UK, there is significant upside to make traction in our growing market. These are companies who excel at using Google+:

• Progressive Insurance (US)

• Cadbury

• Ford

• Red Bull

5. Google AlertsA major part of keeping content fresh is to ensure the content stays relevant and timely with industry news and trends. One way to source content and remain up to date with industry news is through Google alerts.

Google Alerts will send you an email when there are new results for your search query, so that you can keep up to date without constantly running searches for the same set of words.

Step 1: Navigate to the Google alerts webpage www.google.com/alerts and select ‘create A new alert’

Step 2: Enter the search query you wish to monitor

Step 3: Chose the results you would like to see

Step 4: Decide how often you would like to receive these alerts

Step 5: Decide how many results you would like to be sent. Decide to receive all results or only the most relevant results.

Step 6: In the last field list what email address the alerts will be sent to and then click create alert and you’re done.

FAQHow much does a Google+ page cost?

Anyone can create a Google+ page for free. This is true for all categories of Google+ pages.

Who should create a Google+ page?

A Google+ page provides businesses, products, brands and organizations with a public identity and presence on Google. Page can currently be created for one of five categories: Product or Brand; Company, Institution or Organization; Local Business or Place; Arts, Entertainment or Sports; and Other.

Which category of Google+ page should I select?

Select the “Local Business or Place” category if you have a physical storefront or provide services or goods within a local geographic area. This is the only category of Google+ pages that is eligible to show up on Google Maps.

Do I need a Google+ page if I already have a website?

A Google+ page complements your existing website by giving your business a public identity and presence on Google.

If you choose the “Local Business or Place” category, the information you provide on your Google+ page can also appear in the Google search results and on Google Maps.

How do I sign up for a Google+ Page?

Click the link below and once on the landing page click the blue “Get your page” button at the top of the page. Select the category that best describes what you offer, and then enter your information. If you would like to appear on Google Maps, select the “Local Business or Place” category.

http://www.google.com/intl/en-GB_au/+/business/

You do not need to have a personal Google+ profile in order to sign up for a Google+ page. However, if you do not already have a Google account, you will be asked to create one.

GOOGLE+ DICTIONARY Badges

Google+ Badges are widgets that you can place in your blog or website sidebar. Similar to the Facebook “Like Box” widgets, Google+ Badges make it easy for you to promote your Google+ Profile or Page and for people to add you to their Google+ Circles right from your website.

Chat

Using the Chat feature, you can notify people in your Google+ Circles that you’re online and available for an online chat from within Google+.

Hashtag

If you use Twitter, then you’re familiar with hashtags, which are used to keep track of content related to a specific topic and are identified by a keyword preceded by the “#” symbol (e.g., #socialmedia).

Notification

You can configure your Google+ Account so you receive notifications by email, text message, or in the Google Bar when something happens that involves you, such as when you’re tagged in a photo, a post is shared with you, or someone adds you to a Circle.

Profile

A Google+ Profile is an individual’s place on Google+ where he or she publishes and shares content, and interacts with the Google+ community.

Page

Google+ Pages are created and used by businesses and brands, while individuals create Google+ Profiles.

Stream

Your Google+ Stream is where the updates from Google+ members in your Circles appear. It is updated in real-time. The text box at the top of the Google+ Stream is where you can enter your own updates and share photos and videos with people who have you in their Circles.

Sharing

As a Google+ member, you can share content (text, images, video, and links) by publishing it as an update to your Google+ Stream. When you share content, it’s visible on your own Google+ Stream and on the Streams of people that you chose to share that content with who have you in their own Google+ Circles. You can also “re-share” content that other Google+ members shared in their own Streams.

Tag

You can tag other people in your Google+ updates and other people can tag you in their updates. To tag someone in an update, type “+” or “@” before the person’s name (minus the quotes), and that person will receive a notification (if their notifications are turned on).

+1 Button

Similar to the Facebook Like button and the Twitter Tweet button, the +1 button is included on websites to make it easy for people to share content with their Google+ Circles. When you see the +1 button, click it to share a link to the content as an update in your Google+ Stream.

Circles

You can organize the people you follow on Google+ and the people who follow you, by grouping them into Circles. For example, you can create a family Circle, a work Circle, and a friends Circle. You can create Circles in any way you choose to best organize your followers. When you publish content on Google+, you

can choose which Circles to share that content with; you can share the content with everyone in all of your Circles or make it public for anyone to see.

Data Liberation

Use this feature to download and backup the content in your Google+ Account, which is available through the Google+ Settings option (the gear icon in the upper-right corner of your screen when you’re logged into your Google+ account).

Extended Circles

This is a confusing concept, but it’s important! When you share content with your extended Circles, people might be able to view your content even if you don’t know them. You can’t see a list of people in your extended Circles, because Google claims the list is constantly changing. Here is how extended Circles work according to Google:

Imagine that Mary is in one of your Google+ Circles, and John is in one of Mary’s Circles. You don’t know John, and he’s not in any of your Circles. If Mary chooses to have John visible on her Profile (as one of the people in her Circles), and you choose to share an update with your extended Circles, then your content could appear in John’s Stream and be visible to John on the Posts tab of your Google+ profile.

In other words, when you post content on Google+, be prepared that your content may be visible to people outside your immediate network of Circles.

Google Bar

The Google Bar (also called the Google+ Bar or Sand Bar) is the gray bar that appears across the top of your screen when you’re logged into your Google Account and visiting any Google product web page. You can see your Google+ notifications and share content on Google+ with a single click from the Google Bar.

Hangouts

Using the hangouts feature, you can video chat with up to 10 other people.

Hangouts on Air

Hangouts on Airs are produced by Google+ and are publicly aired live to the world on Google+ and YouTube. Hangouts on Air are also made available for playback at a later time. 10 people can join the hangout. Once the hangout is full, you can’t join and participate via video, but you can watch it as a YouTube video from the Stream.

Instant Upload

Using Instant Upload, you can share photos that you take with your mobile phone to your Google+ Circles. Just give Google+ permission to add your pictures to a private photo album that’s hosted in the cloud and your photos will be available for you to access from any device and share on Google+ whenever you’d like.

Messenger

This feature was originally called Huddle. Though the name changed, the functionality still enables you to turn conversations between a group of people into a group chat with your mobile device.

Ripples

Google+ Ripples is the name of a tool that helps you visualize how content is shared and discussed across the Google+ community. You can click any public post on Google+ and select the “View Ripples” option to view the activity related to that update, including top contributors and much more.

Saved Search

Formerly called Sparks, saved searches make it easy for you to follow Google+ updates related to a specific keyword or keyword phrase that interests you.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

BEST PRACTICE GUIDE

Google+ Best Practice Guide

Google  Confiden+al  and  Proprietary  

VIDEOSGoogle+ pages Google+ Video Playlist

ARTICLESGoogle+ for brands

Google+ pages for business and brands

Case Study - Cadbury

SOURCES CITEDGoogle+ Business

Sprout Social

Social Media Examiner

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