Google +

Google+ Pages and How They Can Work for Your Business

Google announced in June that it was committed to rolling out the +1 Button. Often likened to Facebook’s Like button, clicking on a +1 button next to a search engine listing or a +1 button inserted into a web page allows you to visually recommend that content to other people (perhaps known to you). In doing so you have an influence on whether they click on link or visit that page because of the +1 button click recommendations. Like Facebook, this +1 button system can be used by people who have set up a ‘Google Profile’. Again this is similar to the Facebook idea that each individual who wants to use Facebook has to set up a personal profile.

Google+ Pages therefore appear to be similar to the Facebook Page idea i.e. you can have an individual profile (by setting up a Google+ Profile) and if you represent another entity such as your business / company / organisation, a product or brand, a place, or if you’re an artist / entertainer, sports person, you can set up a ‘Page’ for that other entity as well as having you personal profile. The Google+ Page therefore (like the Facebook Page) can be way for you represent your business in Google’s social networking platform.

Although Facebook currently has 20 times more users than the estimated Google + 40 million users, Google’s massive popularity and importance has meant that Google+ is growing very quickly. Google+ looks like being able to provide another great social platform where you can build relationships with your target customers and specific segments (known as ‘Circles’ in Google+), create engagement with your business, brand and content, and benefit from using other special features that Facebook isn’t currently offering e.g. video chats (known as ‘Hangouts’).

Features of Google+

The Google+ Page

This is a page about your organisation / business / entity that you can fully customise. As with a Facebook Page, the aim is to engage your audience, regularly share and respond quickly to your followers, and create an environment which is effective at generating leads and building real relationships. To create the maximum buzz and variety on Facebook Pages it is common practice to give access to several different relevant people in your organisation who can log in, share, and interact. For this to happen in Google+ it may be a good idea to set up a company gmail account which several people in your organisation have access to use before you set the Google+ account up.

Circles

When you start to use your Google+ Page and you get followers (again in a similar way to Facebook) you can arrange these followers into meaningful groups or segments which you give your own names to. These named segments are called ‘Circles’. Google+ then allows you to share different messages with different Circles. This can be a very valuable communication segmentation tool for your business. You can include the same individual follower in several different Circles.

Hangouts

This brilliant feature that operates with a click allows you to have video chats or live forums with up to 9 people. In terms of helping your business to build relationships with various followers or members of ‘Circles’, and to gather valuable marketing information, this feature has obvious advantages.

Google+ has also been designed to be accessed and used effectively through mobile devices.

Getting People to Your Google+ Page

There are buttons you can add to your web pages or blog which link directly to your Google+ Page i.e. the Google+ icon (visit the Google+ badge tool). In a similar way to placing a Facebook ‘Like’ button on your web pages, the Google+ icon lets people add your Google+ Page to their Circles without leaving your web page. Clicking on this means that they will also receive the updates from your Google+ Page. Linking your website to your Google+ page also means that all your +1s from your website and search results are added together to appear as one total that is visible to people who see the listing in the search results, or if they visit your website or Google+ Page.

By participating in Google+ and by linking web pages to Google+ Pages it’s likely that Google could get more information about your company, your Circles, and who is important to you. This may be a way in which more relevant traffic could be generated for your company page. Seeing a large +1 total on pages (e.g. from adding a +1 button to those pages) in search results is likely to increase the traffic you receive by influencing the click through rate.

It is thought also that the Google+ system will make it easier for Google to tell the difference between spammers and legitimate businesses.

An Extra Boost – ‘Google+ Direct’

As part of Google+ a ‘field trial’ (which appears to be on a relatively large scale) is under way to allow people using Google search to go directly to your Google+ Page (bypassing the usual search engine listings) by just putting the plus sign directly in front of your company name in a search query. For example try typing +YouTube into Google search query. Not all company pages will qualify to benefit from this feature. It is likely that an algorithm will be used to decide whether your page qualifies or not.

Making the Most of Google+

As with other social networking platforms, plenty sharing of high value content is important. Sharing lots of photos and adding plenty of recommended links will help too, as will asking the subscribers of your various Circles to share your content. Putting links to your Google+ Page on your other web pages and blogs will raise visibility and increase traffic to it.

Setting Up Your Google+ Page

Get a personal Google+ Profile by going to https://plus.google.com/up/
Then go to http://www.google.com/+/business/ and follow the instructions to set up your Google+ Page.