There are a lot of questions about what Google+ is, how it works, and how to use it. This overview provides a thorough look into the world of Google+ and how to use it.

1. Google+
August 30, 2011
What is it?
Google+ is a social network launched by Google on June 28, with a private beta. In a little more than one month,
the some 25 million members. It is a compilation of varied social
Sparks (recommendation engine), Hangouts (video chat service), Huddle (group texting service), and Photos. With
this growth, Google+ has established itself as a major participant within the social networking realm among major
players like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
How does it work?
Account: An account can be set-up through invitation only in the current version; however,
invitation codes can be found on Facebook, Yahoo! Answers, and other blogs and forums.
Profile: Once a Google+ account has been set up, users are able to complete a profile and adjust privacy
settings. If a Google Profile or a Gmail account has already been created, that data will automatically be
populated to the Google+ Profile. People will be able to email users from a link on the profile, and this can
be set to be public, private or somewhere in between using Google+ Circles.
Circles: This is a hybrid of friending and following . Each person is placed within a certain group that
they belong to. For example, a user could create Circles for coworkers, college friends, acquaintances, etc.
Regardless of whether someone who is added to Circles adds the user back, the user will be able to see
their public updates. Contacts can be imported from Yahoo and Hotmail, but not Facebook.
Stream: This feature is likened to Facebook news feed; simply explained, it pulls information from posts
made by people in circles. The user, or anyone following the user, can also give a personal
endorsement, the +1 , to any post or comment.
hide a post in the stream as well. Streams can also be sorted by Circles to see posts only relevant to work
or to catch up on the latest news from friends.

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Photos: Integrated with Picasa, the service currently lets users . Users have the
option to approve or reject photo tags, and Google informs users when they have been identified in a
photo. The interface makes it easy for people to upload photos from their mobile devices. The Instant
Upload automatically uploads the images to their profile, where they are saved in a private album. The user
then decides whether to make the images public.
Sparks: Sparks is a content recommendation engine that finds the most relevant and interesting articles
and videos on any subject. The Sparks feature sends new articles and video clips, which users can search
for or save to their navigation to access any time.
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Hangouts: YouTube is integrated into Hangouts to let up to 10 users watch a video together. It offers a
push-to-talk feature when watching a video, to avoid speaker feedback. Video or audio can be muted as
well. The video switches from person to person based on who is speaking into the microphone, similar to a
video conference.
Mobile App: The mobile application allows stream access, taking and uploading photos, viewing and
updating profiles, and managing circles.
o Huddle: Feature on Google+ app which lets members send texts to multiple users and generate
real-time conversations.
o Instant Upload: The Instant Upload feature automatically syncs pictures with desktop.
How about Advertising+?
While there are currently no advertising opportunities available with the initial release, Google has indicated
business advertising as a goal to quickly incorporate. Drawing the majority of its revenue model from Ad Words,
Google+ could do what Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social channels have not: marry search and social in
effective functionality. Some anticipated opportunities include being able to leverage advanced targeting of text and
display ads using the behaviors and actions across all Google platforms. With the ownership of DoubleClick and
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Google Analytics, there are hopes of easier tracking. Remarketing opportunities could use this to follow searches
from the engines, to a website, and then to Google+ allowing marketers a greater depth of how they message and
interact.
With Circles, hangouts, Huddles, Photos, Video, the Mobile App, etc., there are many ways Google will look to
innovate social ads. Digital marketing is ramped to take paid search marketing with Ad Words and turn it into paid
social marketing with Ad Words+. This exciting opportunity will close the loop marketers have struggled with: closed
loop marketing.
A searcher currently visits a site, leaves, and visits a social platform such as Facebook and in essence becomes
invisible. Due to privacy settings and personal profiles, marketers cannot see the conversation and link building
happening on personal pages. Ad Words, Ad Sense and Google Analytics will allow greater reach, and opportunity
to target online users through qualified search inquires and social media behaviors.
There are features currently available to any marketer including Publish icons for Google+. This new icon appearing
on Google search results, blogs, articles,
Currently, the best practice is to use this publish feature to share news, content of interest, and articles of
information. Many publishers have events and newsworthy articles that could use this publish feature prior to
business profiles going live by Google+.
Do I need to create a presence now for my brand?
At the moment, Google+ is not designed for business use, and the Google+ team has asked users not to create
business presences using regular profiles. Shortly after Google+ launched, organizations began to create profiles
on the network, but Google+ aggressively removed these accounts. In early-July, Google+ announced a test
program for business profiles and invited business and organizations to apply. However, the test program was
discontinued due to overwhelming demand from businesses and the need to focus on optimizing the consumer
experience. In response to user feedback, Google+ has announced plans to accelerate the road map to launch
business profiles sooner than expected, with a tentative launch slated for late-2011. The business experience on
Google+ is expected to include rich analytics and the ability to connect business profiles with other Google
products, like AdWords.
Google+ is running a small test with a limited number of organizations. Ford is the first major brand that has been
allowed to maintain test a as Google continues to test an
optimize user engagement, interaction, and functionality before rolling out business pages on a larger scale.
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In the meantime, Google recommends that brands fi
as brand ambassadors or community managers using personal profiles. Pete Cashmore, CEO and Founder of
Mashable, is the most prominent example of a Google+ user leveraging a personal profile to represent his brand.
Brands can prepare for the launch of Google+ business pages by refining and optimizing presences on other
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chance that other Google products will be integrated into Google+ as the network evolves. Brands can begin to
prepare for future presences on Google+ by updating and optimizing content on Google Places and YouTube and
by integrating the +1 button into owned online platforms when appropriate. Brands should also continue to
optimize content for search as Google+ will bring the worlds of search and social media even closer together.
How does +1 affect SEM/SEO results?
+1 helps people discover relevant content from the people they already know and trust. Adding the (+1) button to
your pages lets users recommend your content, even though business listings are not yet live. This is an easy way
for Google users to recommend your content right from the search results pages (and, soon, from your site). The
+1 button itself will appear next to your headline on search ads. Personalized annotations will appear beneath your
Display URL (for example, ). When a search ad with that
same URL appears, a person in her circle might see the ad with the note "Amy and 28 other people +1'd this."
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Is there a benefit for me if +1 buttons appear on sites across the Web?
Users will be more likely to recommend a site in the moment, while actually visiting the site. The +1 button on sites
gives users more chances to +1 your content as they encounter it across the web. The more +1's you have, the
more likely it is for personal annotations to appear for your webpage listings when they appear in Google search
results. +1's and personal annotations raise your visibility across the Web for Google users.
Brand-focused advertisers
This feature creates the opportunity for Web users to +1 content about your business, service, or products
wherever that content appears across the Web. Each time your content or a reference to your site appears with the
+1 button, users are more likely to recognize your offering over time. When users +1 content within your pages,
these interactions will appear under your link within Google's organic search results, increasing user's interest in
and awareness of your brand.
Direct-response advertisers
With greater awareness of your brand, users are more likely to click through to your site to learn more about your
business or service. Since these pre-qualified leads mean users are more likely to have an affinity for your products
and brand, these clicks will have more value, and will likely lead to better direct-response conversions.
What will be included in the future?
Google frequently refers to Google+ as a project, as it is only in the initial stages and it is anticipated to have many
more features rolling out in the short and long term. Included in speculative features includes:
Polling: similar to Quora or Facebook Questions.
Games: Google+ Games, a product rumored to be in development ever since Google invested $100+
million in Zynga, the creators of FarmVille and other social games
Business Social Network: Once Google+ approves for companies to start using their network later this
year, companies and brands will be able to target their audience on a much more devoted and granular
level.
Traffic: It has the potential to widely spread content and be a major driver of traffic to other websites.
Google's search engine already serves that role, and Google+ undoubtedly will enhance it. Google+ has
become one of the top 10 referrers of traffic to TechCrunch, a top technology blog, in a matter of days.
Google Products Integration: Google wants users to know in the future there will be integration of all
Google products rather than creating a stand-alone social application like Facebook has done. This could
include: search, mobile search, reviews, Gmail, YouTube, news, images, places, latitude, maps, earth,
wallet, offers, translate, voice, docs, calendar, and reader.
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