3. Getting started with Google+
What is Google+?
People are what make the web as powerful and exciting as it is today. We all
contribute. With photos, videos and blogs, we’ve turned the web into an incredible
resource, connecting and sharing with each other across the world.
By empowering people to share their interests, opinions and recommendations,
we make the web better. Better for people. And better for brands like yours.
By adding the right people, Google+ can improve all the marketing you do with Google.
.
Nexus S - Google
www.google.com/nexus/
Galaxy Nexus. First phone with Android 4.0. Face Unlock,
Android Beam, an amazing HD screen and 4G LTE fast.
Kari Wilson, Christian Oestlien, Timothy Jordan
and 312 others +1’d this
1
4. Christian Oestilen publicly +1’d this
This phone is my favourite.
Nexus S
Nexus S is the newest Android
phone from Google. With
Gingerbread, fast just got faster.
Gadget Fans + Add more people
Share
The power of recommendations
People often turn to friends and family for help making decisions. The +1 button
combines the power of these personal recommendations with the reach of Google,
making it easy to start conversations and offer recommendations when people
need them most.
For example, take Anna, who +1’d Samsung’s site because she loves her phone.
Now her friends will see her recommendation when they see Samsung in search
results, search ads, or on the Google Display Network.
2
5. Create
Google+ pages allow you to share exclusive content with your followers and
provide access to your brand. Let’s walk through how you can set up your page
for success.
Create your Google+ page
It’s really easy to set up a Google+ page, but do spend some time to get it set
up exactly the way you want it. Follow these four steps to ensure your page is
optimized for Google+.
1 Sign up to Google+
Search Google+
Sign up by visiting Ryan
1 page
Stream
plus.google.com. If you already
have a Google+ profile that you Google+ Pages
want to use, login and find the Create a Google+
icon create a Google+ page page
Google+ Pages
on the right hand side of your Create a Google+
page
stream. If you don’t already
have a personal Google+ profile,
get started by creating one.
What’s important to know is that
you need to use your personal profile to create your Google+ page.
3
8. Quick tips on posting
Don’t post everything at the same time. You don’t want your followers
to get overwhelmed with content all at once. If you intend to publish
3-4 posts per day, make sure you stagger them throughout the day.
Learn from others – check out what the UK chocolate manufacturer,
Cadbury, did to segment their users. Directly ask your users which circles
they want to belong to. It gives you an opportunity to understand what
content your users want to learn and to segment these users in circles.
Cadbury SvS - 21 Nov 2012 - Public
We like to start our Mondays by getting things in order, so if you’d like to stand in Circles
that would help us immensely ;)
Oh but seriously... Just let us know if you’d like to be in any of our Dairy Milk, Wispa or Creme Egg
circles and we’ll add you in! - Jerry
- Comment - Hang out - Share
6
9. 4 Expand your reach with your +1’s
Let your users recommend your brand across the web. We introduced the +1
button as a way for your customers to do this on Google search, in your ads, on
sites across the web and on mobile devices. Consumers will be able to see all the
recommendations your business has received, whether they are looking at an ad,
a search result or your page, meaning your +1’s will reach not only the 90 million
users of Google+, but all the people who come to Google every day.
I
t’s as simple as adding a small snippet of code. Check out how
you can implement the +1 button and other useful badges by visiting
https://developers.google.com/+/plugins/badge/config.
T
hat’s it. With these steps you have ensured your page is correctly set up and that
it’s fully connected with your website and advertising.
Next step? Start sharing your Google+ page and make sure you keep engaging
with the users.
7
10.
11. Promote
Get the followers you want so that you can have meaningful interactions with them.
An integrated approach will help you get the number of followers you want. Include
online and offline promotion to get the most discoverability.
It’s easy to start promoting your page online, simply follow some of our best
practices below.
1 Install the Google+ badge on your website.
Let’s say a user wants to be kept up-to-date
on all things related to Nexus S. Well, by
clicking the brand badge, they are adding
themselves directly to Nexus S’ circles on
Google+, thereby opting in to have Nexus S’
posts show up on their streams. Now
they’ll never miss a thing.
It’s as simple as adding a small snippet of code. Check out how you can implement the
Google+ badges by visiting https://developers.google.com/+/plugins/badge/config.
9
12. 2 Social extensions
Link your Google+ page to your AdWords campaigns. You can easily set up the
social recommendations for your ads. Imagine that someone is searching for your
products on search, and sees your ad, with recommendations from their friends
displayed directly with it.
Pure Google
Learn More
You publicly +1’d this
and 346 others +1’d this
It’s easy to set up, simply login to your AdWords account, go to your Campaigns tab
and click on the Ad extension tab and enable Social Extensions.
Ad groups Settings Ads Keywords Networks Ad extensions Dimensions Topics
View: Social Extensions All but deleted Columns
Review performance statistics for ads that have appeare with an ad extension. You’ll only see statistics for the campaigns
you are currently viewing, for eligible ad extensions that have been triggered. Learn more about ad extensions statistics
New extension Delete
Social Extension Status Clicks Impr. CTR Avg. CPC Cost Avg. Pos.
Allow plus one clicks on my ads to also endorse my Google+ Page profile
Take a tour.
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13. 3 Newsletters and other social media channels
T
o make sure your followers know about your new Google+ page, promote it
in your other online communications; for example, your digital newsletters and
in your other social media channels. It’s as easy as adding a link and announcing
your new page.
4 Offline marketing
A
great way to drive awareness to your page is to include it in your offline
marketing. Check out some of our suggestions.
P
romote your page in your TV commercials.
Include your Google+ page in your product catalogs.
I
nclude your Google+ page in print advertisements.
You can learn more about our brand guidelines at
www.google.com/+/business/brand-guidelines.html.
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14.
15. Share
Share your brand, products and services with the world. Get tips on how to engage
with your users to give them a reason to share your content.
10 tips on engaging with your users
1 Learn from others
Have a look around the Google+ platform, find out what other brands like yours
are doing and start following them. You can learn a lot from what others are doing.
You can see how users respond to their posts. Also, don’t forget to follow the
Google+Your Business http://www.google.com/+/business page for tips and tricks.
2 Join the conversation
T
he best way to learn how others are interacting with your content and page is to
keep track of the notifications. If someone is discussing your brand, you might want
to respond. It’s also a great way to find your brand advocates, the vocal fans to
whom you might want to pay additional attention to.
13
16. 3 Keep your content fresh
It sounds obvious, but making sure that your followers can learn something new on
your page is important. If the content doesn’t get updated, they’ll stop coming back.
4 Share exclusive content
G
ive your followers a reason to come
to your page; share content they can’t
find anywhere else. This gives them a
reason to come to your page for more
updates and information, and it gives
you a chance to interact with them.
An example can be seen in the special
edition chocolate bars Cadbury created
for its Google+ page.
14
17. 5 Optimise and populate your page
I
t’s never a good idea to start promoting something before it’s ready.
You need to convince your users that your page offers such great value
that they’d be missing out by not following you.
6 Host Hangouts
T
he perfect way to engage directly
with your followers is to invite them
to a Hangout. Maybe they want to
meet the community manager behind
the page, or maybe you have a new
announcement to make to your users.
Your users will appreciate this since it’s
a rare opportunity to meet the people
behind the brand.
Hangouts offer an entirely new way to give your customers a behind
the scenes tour, engage them in interviews with top executives, or listen
to their feedback. For example, Fiat Nederland hosted a Hangout to reveal
one of their latest car designs.
15
18. 7 Use rich media content
Rich media content, such as photos, videos, or graphs, catches the attention of
users so they are more likely to leave a comment, share or learn. Pepsi used their
Google+ page to invite fans all over the world to send them photos of their favourite
Pepsi drink being enjoyed in their hometowns.
8 Be personal
Sign your posts with your name. It gives
your page more personality and allows Google+ Your Business - 8 Feb 2012 - Public
Posted by +Toby Stein:
for the user to identify with your content.
Have a Question? Visit Our Forum!
The Google+ Your Business page does this
Today I spent some time at the Googleplex with +S
with all their posts. Google+ Pages Forum. It was a nice reminder of o
answering your questions, sharing their knowledge
Simply add a + sign in front of the name
of the person who is writing and select the
right user profile.
16
19. 9 Ask questions
Google+ Your Business - Feb 10, 2012 - Public
Posted by +Toby Stein:
T
he best way to get comments is We want to hear from you. Has your Google+ page made
to ask questions and include calls to a difference for your business? Has it allowed you to meet
new people? Tell us your story of how you’ve been
action in your posts. For example, what using Google+ to change how you do business.
kind of posts would you like to see - Comment - Hang out - Share
more of on our page?
10 Make your website content shareable on Google+
A
dd a small code snippet to your source code that will allow your website visitors
to share your products and website on Google+. It’s a great way to drive users
to Google+, but also an excellent way to make sure your individual products get
discussed and shared online.
17
20.
21. Measure
Measuring your performance is important when you want to understand how you
can best interact and learn from your users. For example, you can gain meaningful
insights by reviewing your social analytics data in your analytics account.
How do you measure performance?
999,000
300,000
6/17/11 6/18/11 6/19/11 6/20/11 6/21/11 6/22/11
It gives you the answers to questions like: ‘How do +1’s affect user behavior?’
Google Analytics’ suite of social reports makes it easy to find out this information.
Analytics measures +1’s and how engagement on your site changes when
personalized recommendations help your content stand out. Also see aggregate,
anonymized demographic information about the Google users who have +1’d
your site. Go to www.google.com/analytics and sign into your account to get
the data.
Until we have launched Analytics on your Google+ page, don’t forget to keep track
of your +1 count, monitor your page comments and engagement. Start with the
notifications, but make sure to give Ripples a try when you notice that your content
is being shared.
19
22. So what can I learn from the upcoming
Analytics on the Google+ pages?
Data trumps guessing every time. That’s why we will be launching tools shortly
to give you access to as much data as possible about your Google+ page and +1
activity: who’s interacting with your page and how; your users’ demographics; and
information about their social activities like +1’s, shares and comments – all to help
you learn how social campaigns affect your bottom line.
Find your brand advocates with Ripples
Ripples let you see your posts spread 27 recent public shares out of 64 total.
across Google+, who’s sharing and
We don’t show older or private shares
+
–
resharing your content, and whose
opinions matter. Use it to identify HM
influencers and add them to a circle, –
Iman Ghasemi
Cerstin Kottsieper
Olenka Kuk
or see how communities are formed
Rachael Scantlebury Orna Kiesel
Masaya Ogura
Cory bai
around your content. The larger the
cocker dunn
Hanane Maalem David Beckham
Chu Wai Yip
circles in Ripples, the larger the reach Adiet Sahreza
they could have. Every post you add
Michal Augustyn jaysan linAnson Tan
Kim Fong Ho
Mohit Tripathi
to the stream can be shared. When Aniée Machado
they are shared, just use the menus
in the top right and View Ripples to For example, you can clearly see the top
see who has shared your content influencers for HM’s David Beckham’s
and what they said. underwear collection.
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