1. An Introduction to the Power of
Google Plus
Wednesday 5th December, 2012

2. 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

3. G+ - The Background

4. 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…

5. 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

6. It‟s Packed Full of Great Features
“Google Plus has a range of features and is strongly
integrated with G Search”

7. 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

8. Google Plus vs. Facebook
Facebook is a
G+ is almost conversation
conversation between you
between you and Google
and your mates
WHAT WHO
YOU
KNOW
VS. YOU
KNOW

9. Why Business’ Need Google
Plus

10. 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

11. Increasing Brand Awareness

12. Increasing Brand Awareness

13. 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!

14. 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.

15. 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.”

16. 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.

17. Getting Started

18. Sounds Great, How Do I Get Started?
1. Set-up your G+ business page
2. Optimise it
3. Start creating and sharing great content
4. Build targeted circles

19. How to Get Started on Google Plus
There are two main ways set up your Google Plus Business Page:
Set up a personal
Use your business Page and then
location to set up
a Page via Google OR add a Page to that
account – which
Places. would be your
Business Page

20. 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

21. 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

22. Cool Covers

23. 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)

24. Fill in Your “About”
Fill in all the relevant sections:
• Tagline
• About Us
• Opening Hours
• Links

25. Organise Your Circles

26. 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

27. 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.
Click along the top to
view the stream for
each circle 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).

28. Creating Targeted G+ Circles
• Using a relevant keyword, e.g. “wood burning oven”
Search
• Add the top 3 people to your circle
Select
• Then click view all
Review
• Best of option (these are the people G thinks are
Select most relevant)
• Circle count – how many circles are they in?
Metric

29. Creating Targeted G+ Circles
Use circle count to Then check out “best of”
find the best people posts and the ripple to
find top sharers and
follow them!

30. Connecting Your Website

31. 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

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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/0/118016350487988607488?re
l=author">Your Name
Here!</a>

35. Interesting Google Plus-ers

36. 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.

37. 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

38. Things to Think About Before
You Get Plussed Up

39. Ask Yourself Some Questions…
How do I want
What do I people to
want to perceive me / my
brand?
achieve?
What do I
want to do
on G+

40. 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).

41. Thanks for attending our Google
Plus Breakfast Meeting!
Any questions?