powered by search · google+ : an essential part of your marketing strategy.....4 chapter 2: 5 ......
TRANSCRIPT
Powered by Search has been recognized by PROFIT Magazine as Canada's
fastest growing digital marketing agency. We specialize in SEO, Local
Search, Paid Search, and Conversion Rate Optimization services that drive
the financial success of Fortune 1,000 and Small and Medium sized
businesses alike. Powered by Search has experience serving over 100
clients in 9 countries and 3 continents, such as FedEx USA, Whirlpool,
RE/MAX, Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts, Toyota, Sheridan College, Public
Storage, Sprouter, and more.
We are accredited as a Google AdWords Certified Partner, Better Business
Bureau member, and Google Engage for Agencies member, and have been
featured in the Globe & Mail, Financial Post, Toronto Star and CTV. Learn
more about our award-winning Internet Marketing services at
www.poweredbysearch.com
Table of Contents
Chapter 1:
Google+ : An Essential Part of Your Marketing Strategy...............4
Chapter 2:
5 Steps to Setup Your Own Google+ Business Page....................9
Chapter 3:
How to Make The Most Out Of Google+......................................15
Chapter 4:
Delivering Content The Right Content........................................21
Chapter 5:
Promoting Your Google+ Page and Engaging Your Audience....24
Introduction
Social media started out as a medium for personal
communication and sharing. Since then, businesses have
realized the marketing potential of social networking websites
such as Facebook and Twitter. With Facebook and Twitter,
businesses can now connect with their audience on a more
personal level. They are able to engage, share, build loyalty and attract new customers
with their social media presence. For awhile, social media was just a bonus in a
marketer's strategy. Now, Facebook and Twitter have become essential tools in the age
of digital marketing, and many marketers have learned to master it to their advantage.
Mastering Facebook and Twitter, however, is not enough. Social networking sites have
continually been emerging but many marketers neglect and reject the opportunities to
better connect with their audience. One network that many marketers seem to be
neglecting is Google +. And they are very wrong to do so. You might be asking
yourself- why should I maintain a Google+ profile when my existing social media profiles
do essentially the same thing?
As a SEO company, we spend half our lives on Google. Our industry is built almost
solely on Google. Google+ is Google's social networking platform- it's Google's creation.
As SEOs and marketers, understanding and properly using Google+ will bring you many
benefits that Google has integrated into their social networking website.
Google+ : An Essential Part of Your Marketing
Strategy
You may have set up a Google+ account one day when you were bored. Before you can
start using it for business, however, make sure you have a clear understanding of what
is really is. Simply said, Google+ is a social networking platform and identity service
developed by Google. Although you may not have been logging on to your phone every
day to check your Google + profile, in January 2013, Google+ has actually grown to the
second largest social networking website, surpassing Twitter with its 500 million
registered users.
Google has described Google+ as a social layer that enhances many of its online
properties. In other words, for those who have been avid users of Google Search,
Google Chrome, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendars, Google Groups, Youtube (the
list goes on and on!), Google+ finally gives you a way to integrate all of these services
under one profile. Whereas Facebook and Twitter is only a social network all on one
website, Google+ is integrated throughout all the other services you've already been
enjoying.
With that being said, why is Google+ beneficial to your business
Top 7 Reasons Why You Should Use Google+ For Your Business
Over 1 million businesses and brands developed a Google+
brand page within the first 6 months of its launch. There is also a
5-10% clickthrough rate uplift for socially-enhanced search ads.
1. Get Found on Google Search
When being searched on Google, your profile image and recent posts shows up on the
right-hand side of Google's results. This gives people who search your brand a better
picture of your company and content before they even visit your page.
2. Get Social Annotations for Your Adword Campaign
Social Annotations show the endorsements from your Google+ followers in your Adword
Campaigns. Ads with annotations generate 5-10% more clicks because of their fans'
endorsements.
3. +1: The Online Word of Mouth
Just as we have adapted the Twitter and Facebook social share buttons for our content,
adding the Google +1 button makes it easy for your visitors to recommend your site and
share your content. Google+ influences your ranking because every +1 acts as a social
recommendation.
4. Get Indexed More Quickly
Status updates you post on Google + are immediately indexed in search results,
increasing the chance your content will be seen in search results.
5. Putting a Face to Your Work
Linking your Google + profile to your company blog allows you to claim authorship for
your content, meaning your profile picture will show up next to the search results of your
post. Those who claim authorship generally get higher clickthrough rates because their
post stands out more.
6. Optimize Your Local SEO
Google+ Local pages are indexed into Google search
results. You can also optimize your local page to include
relevant business information and display genuine customer
reviews.
7. Connect With Your Audience
Google+ provides great tools to humanize your brand and better connect with your
audience.
Google circles is just like your Facebook friends and Twitter followers. It allows you to
connect and interact with people within your circle, including your audience.
Google+ Communities is Google's online community that acts as a forum for customers
to give you feedback and a way for you to engage with them.
Saving the best for last, Google+ Hangouts provides you with an easy and integrated
way to connect with your audience face-to-face. Although most of the world has
Check out our Guide to Local SEO and learn
how you can optimize your website for local
searches. Powered by Search provides local
SEO services to put your business on the map.
transitioned online, as humans, we know the importance of personal contact. Google+
Hangouts allows you to setup high quality video conversations to connect with
customers and put a face to your company. You can even record your video
conversation and use it as a resource for your audience in the future.
If those 7 reasons weren't convincing enough, just think of it as a small investment for a
big a return- by investing some time in properly setting up and optimizing your Google+
profile (which this guide will be covering) you can get better customer engagement,
improved online social recommendations and immense SEO benefits.
In the next section, you will be taken through the setup for your Google+ and how to
use the different tools in your arsenal.
5 Steps to Setup Your Own Google+ Business Page
Before you start setting up your own Google+ Business Page, you may want an
example to compare yours to. Check out Powered by Search's Google+ Profile to see
how we set ours up as a reference.
1. Create an accessible Gmail account
Before creating your Google+ Business page, create a Gmail account that can be
accessed by many members of your team. Your Google+ page will likely be managed
by a team specializing in content creation and social media, so you don't want to restrict
access to only your Gmail account.
2. Create your Google+ Business Page
Using your accessible Gmail account, go to https://plus.google.com/pages/create. You
can then choose from 5 options to classify your company:
Local Business or Brand
Product or Brand
Company, Institution or Organization
Arts, Entertainment, Sports
Other
After choosing your classification, you will have to fill in your basic information including
your business name, your company website, and the classification of your content.
(which age group it is appropriate for).
3. Customize and Personalize your Google+ Page
Be sure not to skim over this part! Personalizing your company page is very important to
customers as they can get a clear picture of what your company does.
Tagline: This is essentially the elevator pitch for your company. Be descriptive and
convey what your company does, but keep it concise.
Profile Picture: Choose the picture that best represents your company- this is typically
your company logo. Google+ Profile Pictures are in a circle format, make sure that if
your logo is in a square format that you adjust it accordingly.
Cover Photo: Google+ has recently changed the size of its cover photo to 2120 x 1192
pixels- it's massive. Because the cover photo takes up around 95% of the viewable
screen space, businesses can now afford to be creative with it and improve customers'
viewing experience.
Avoid choosing a random, low quality image for your cover photo. Choose a high quality
photo that defines your company, shares your company's experiences and represents
your brand. You may even want to use it to promote a product or event that your
company is currently focusing on.
Here are some examples:
4. Complete your Google+ About Page
Contact Information: You can fill out your company's phone number, email and
address here.
Story: Fill out your tagline if you haven't done so already. Under the tagline you can
write a longer introduction of your company. Here you can include information such as
the services you provide and the awards your company has won.
Links: Under website, enter your company's website address. In additional links, you
can include links to pages you want your audience to visit on your website. This could
include your services page, a promotion page or your company blog. You can also
include links to your other social media profiles such as your company's Twitter,
Facebook and LinkedIn page.
At this point, you've only completed the basic skeleton of your profile page, and haven't
started developing any content on the page. You can begin sharing your Google+
business page to your company's team to ask for suggestions. However, first
impressions are the most important, so be sure to continue customizing your page and
sharing useful content before you promote your page to the public.
In the next section, you will learn many tools and features of Google+ that will optimize
your company's Google + page.
How to Make the Most Out of Google+
A common mistake that many Google+ users make is creating a profile, but not taking the time
to explore all of Google+'s features and tools. Google+ has many features and tools that are
designed to help businesses make the most out of their account.
Circles
Just as you have friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter, you can connect to Google+
users through circles. The advantage of circles is the ability to segment your followers and the
people you follow. And segmenting is something that marketers love- we can better personalize
our content and improve conversion. You can segment your circles into current customers, new
customers, leads, influencers, partners, etc.
Here is how you can set up circles to improve communication with your network:
Go to the "People" section of your Google+ page.
'
You can then drag and drop people you're following into certain circles, or make a new circle.
Google Hangouts
As I mentioned in the Top 7 Reasons Why You Should Use Google+ For Your Business, Google
Hangouts allow you to setup high quality video conversations with your co-workers, audience
and customers.
Different ways of how you can effectively use hangouts include allowing customers to have a
Q&A with company executives, demonstrating a new product, setting up webinars, or catching
up with current customers. You can also now have Hangouts on Air where people can join and
watch as an audience.
Check out How to Run a Successful Video Conference: Featuring Google Hangout and
GoToWebinar to learn how to effectively use Google Hangouts.
Google Authorship
By adding Google authorship to your account, your picture will appear beside your posts
in Google search results. This may be useful for your personal Google+ account when
posting in your company blog. Having your headshot appear beside your search results
makes your post stand out amongst other results, puts a face to your company and
makes your post seem more credible. Setting up your authorship is simple:
Make sure you have a clear headshot profile picture that will be used for authorship.
Then add your email to your contact information and verify it.
Under links, add the blog you will be contributing to.
Any time you are linking to your Google+ page in a post, or including your Google+
profile in your user information, remove /post from the URL and add ?rel=author :
To test this, enter the URL of your post in Structured Data Testing Tool.
Google +1:Social Sharing
HubSpot conducted a study that showed that websites with a +1 button get 3.5x more
Google visits that those without it. Having a +1 button will allow you to rank better, and
provides another way for your audience to social share your content. Click here to add
a +1 button to your page.
Direct Connect
Direct Connect allows users to go directly from Google search to your company's
Google+ pages by adding a + sign in front of your company's name.
To make your Google+ page eligible for Direct Connect you must associate it with your
website. Here is how you can make your Google+ page eligible for Direct Connect:
1. Link Your Snippet Code To Your Website
2. Modifying Your Website's Code:
Inside the head element of your website's code add <link
href="https://plus.google.com/{plusPageUrl}" rel="publisher" /> to link it to your website.
3. Adding a Google+ Badge
Adding a Google+ Badge will also connect your website to your Google+ page. By
adding the badge, you will not only be setting it up for Direct Connect, but it will also
increase your Google+ followers by encouraging visitors to join your circle.
For a concise list of tools and Do's and Don'ts check out Is Your Business Using
Google+ Properly? The Do’s and Don’ts that Can Boost Your Online Presence.
Delivering Content on Google+
Now that you have your Google+ profile page setup and understand its tools and
features, it's time to deliver high quality content on your page and begin engaging with
others. With recent changes to Google's layout, it's multi-columned content display
layout makes Google+ even better for content marketing. Make good use of this update!
4 Google+ Content Ideas
You can't expect to get followers on Google+ if all you have is a good structure. Here
are some of our top Google+ content ideas that will make people naturally want to follow
you.
1. Share Photos
Visual content has been gaining more and more
popularity on social media networks. In fact, photos
generate 53% more likes on Facebook than the
average post. Instead of filling up your Google+ page
with posts and posts of text, putting impactful visuals
will make your page more inviting to potential followers.
Google+ is designed to share visual content, so be sure to share interesting
infographics, slides, charts, videos and maybe even some pictures exemplifying your
company culture. You want your content to start conversations, and possess the
potential to go viral. One type of visual content that has the potential to go viral are
memes. Check out The Ultimate Guide to Meme Marketing to learn more ways to create
memes that will benefit your company.
2. Status Updates
Ensure that the content you're posting on your Google+ Page isn't all promotional.
Having status updates about your company including company events, new employee
members or some fun jokes can help humanize your brand and help you better connect
with your audience.
3. Industry Insights
People will follow you on Google+ if you provide interesting industry insight that is useful
to them. Keep up with news stories within your industry and share them to your
followers.
4. Company Resources
Remember- people follow your Google+ profile because they see value in doing so.
Provide resources such as slides, whitepapers, guides, blog posts and kits that may be
useful to your followers.
Bonus!
Make some of your content Google+ exclusive! Sharing the same
content on all your social media accounts will cause people to follow
only one of them. Share special promotions or run contests that are
Google+ exclusive!
Promoting Your Page and Engaging With Your Audience on Google +
Alright, so now you have an awesome Google+ profile page and you've started sharing
some meaningful content. How do you go about engaging with your audience and
promoting your page?
1. Follow Others
You've just created your Google+ and nobody knows about it yet! Follow those who
you're already connected to on other social media accounts, and they will likely follow
you back. It's also nice to follow those who follow your Google+ page- just
make sure they're not spam accounts!
2. Cross Promotion
You already have an established website, Facebook page and Twitter
following. Why not take advantage of your established audience?
Promote your Google+ page on your website by including Google+
Badges and spread the message through your current social media
accounts.
3. Encourage Others to Share Your Content
Sharing content is a very important component to Google+. Encourage people to share
your content by writing a short message at the end of your post, and add social share
buttons to your content.
4. Start Conversations With Your Audience
Be responsive to those who message you, answer questions and thank your supporters
through shout outs. You can also start polls on your Google+ page by telling people to
+1 their favourite option. This will encourage more participation by your followers.
5. Host a hangout
Host a weekly or monthly hangout to further engage your audience. You may want to
host webinars, Q&A sessions or customer service sessions to keep your customers
engaged.
Conclusion
Congratulations- you now have the ability to set up an optimized Google+ profile,
understand how to use its tools and features, know what the right content is to post and
how to engage with others with Google+! Although we have provided you with a
comprehensive guide on how to quickly master Google+, Google+ is a continually
developing social network. Google will undoubtedly make improvements to optimize
user experience, and bring better and new opportunities for businesses to optimize their
Google+ profiles.
As a smart marketer, you understand the importance to master Google+ early on and
make it one of your competitive advantages. Google+'s presence may not be as strong
as the presence of existing social networks such as Facebook, but investing time to
learn Google+ may give you greater returns in the future.
As Google+ continually changes the social media and search environment, make sure
you understand how to properly utilize it and understand how it changes your company's
online presence.
Connect with us!
Dev Basu
Founder & CEO
(416) 840-9044 ext. 301
(+1) (866) 611-5535 ext. 301
Powered by Search
505 Consumers Road, Suite 507
Toronto, Ontario M2J 4V6
Canada
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/powered-by-search
Facebook: facebook.com/poweredbysearch
Google +: plus.google.com/+poweredbysearch
Twitter: @poweredbysearch
Web: poweredbysearch.com