Starting from Google search to Google Earth to Google Maps to Google Docs, Gtalk, Gmail, YouTube, Android and Chrome Web Browser; Google is everywhere. It is very clear that now you cannot ignore Google+ anymore. Google+; though new to social media, has the potential to change everything. Firstly, it changes the way one searches. Secondly, Google has pushed ‘Plus’ as the most powerful effort to change the way we share information on the web.

Google+: Is it going to be a great hit on Social Media?
Well, to get started it is very essential to know that Google+ makes all the Google experiences better & more connected by associating your true identity with your relationships, social interactions & recommendations you share across Google. The interconnectivity, in combination with Google Circles, allows one to share content online in the same way one would share it in real life.

One can also think & consider it as a centre that points all their Google activities back to them or their business. What one can do is; add their identity, share & provide recommendations (+1) to their followers/people & then connect over shared interests to discover content that one might have not seen before.

Current scenario is that over 500 million people are on Google+ and more than 300 million of them are already actively sharing, +1’ing, recommending with a great pace. This year Google+ was named the second largest active social network in the world after Facebook, leaving behind Twitter & YouTube. Therefore, as it is gaining popularity, shouldn’t brands understand the value it can provide & leverage it to its full potential?

When it comes to Indian brands, they have been quite slow to join the Google+ race. Currently, only a few Indian brands & businesses are on this platform & amongst them very few are actively using the network for their benefit. Brands need to look at the Google+ points.

It’s a matter of concern for the social media enthusiasts that people are not so keen to use Google+ as it couldn’t compete in the social media landscape owned majorly by Facebook. Whereas, the Google+ brand pages have already begun & are in their nascent stage displaying the evidence that they are here to stay. Brands need to reevaluate their presence in this fast growing social space and brand managers need to find out techniques to take full advantage of the host of new potential, including search integration.

Its not been long that Google+ has entered the social media space and critics have already marked it as a failure & ineffective platform. But, isn’t it amazing that a startup network gained so much attention? It sure depicts that it is going to be reaching its high soon. However, on the other hand, since it is Google, it comes with particular highly set standards and therefore always comes down to a comparison state with Facebook.

Now that we know the popularity of this amazing platform, you might just want to have a look at the comparison of two most important platforms on social media: Google+ & Facebook. Click here to read more.

A few other contrasts that brands can look upon are:

• · Facebook is for people we already know & Google+ is for finding those we don’t; quite important for brands.
• · One can buy likes on Facebook but cannot buy +1’s on Google+.
• · One can pay to promote the posts on Facebook & Google+ can be added as a brand extension to PPC ads.
• · Facebook verifies the brands whenever its apt for the, but Google+ has a process for brands to go through to prove verification.

Google+: How it helps Brands

With millions of monthly users globally, Google+ showcases an opportunity for brands to reach their target audience through targeted content.

Google+ is about deeper engagement. It promotes and encourages lengthy posts and communication with its followers unlike Facebook, where short posts are a key to engagement.

Google+ post length can be long just like blog posts. The Hangouts render brands a medium for a face-to-face interaction with their followers.

Why your brand should be on it?

Improved Brand Discovery

Yes, your brand’s visibility online gets refined to a great extent as Google search’s result page has completely transformed.

Apart from the usual maps, business information, social media details, brand images etc. people can view and follow your brand on Google+ right from the Google search results.

The potential followers can normally view:

• · The recent Google+ post activity
• · The number of followers & profile image
• · The brand information
• · And whether your business/brand is verified
• · If anybody they trust has +1’d you (recommended).
• · And finally, if the “searcher” is already following your brand in G+, your brand’s content will appear higher in the Google search results page.

Google+ Rich Content

To be strongly present on Google+, content is the key element that connects with your followers.

If your brand regularly posts informative and engaging content on Google+, it will lay an impact on how users find that content on Google or YouTube.

Attractive content leads to the growth of your follower base & better engagement with your community. But have you ever thought as to what type of content do Google+ users expect? Well, the most engaging on this platform are inspiring videos, beautiful photos, infographics & charts. This makes the users share & interact with your brand more.

Always ensure you post regularly and on time. Every time you post, your brand is brought back to the top of people’s mind. Also, the more you post, more Google search visibility your brand has across the platform.

Try spreading the insight and opinion of your brand. For example, if you send out industry facts every week or tips, this will attract more followers to your page who will eagerly wait for your updates.

Enhanced Brand Engagement

Google+ Hangouts and Communities help your brand engage on a more personal and customized level.

Google+ Hangouts

In Hangouts, brands can video chat with people anywhere and everywhere in the world. They can host virtual meetings or broadcast live concerts, talks, shows, conferences etc. Many brands have also become a little more creative with their interactive Hangouts by hosting interviews, launching exclusive products & hosting live Q&A’s.

With Hangouts you can:

Develop your reputation as an industry leader by sharing your opinion, staying on top of news, connecting with specialists in the field, teaching what you know.

Internally also you can host a Hangout with your employees or users from different locations. This could be a great team building or an on-board activity, an educational session, marketing, sales or a customer service meeting; it can be anything.

Externally your brand could host a Hangout that introduces the attributes of your product or offerings to your customers. Here you can discuss everything about your brand with them. Basically, the benefits of these Hangouts for your brand are very clear. You just need to get creative & make your customers want to Hangout with you.

So are you thinking of considering this for your next campaign?

• · Apart from coming up with topics that interest the viewers, try monetizing the videos through proper product placements.
• · Featuring guests & personalities in the video makes a Hangout unique allowing the brand an opportunity to take advantage of that personality’s existing fan base.
• · So, if you as a brand are thinking of using Google Hangouts in the future, do try collaborating with related businesses, brands or personalities to grow your audience & fan base.
• · Encourage user interaction instead of simply conducting a live interview, as this will help in building a loyal following for your brand’s further Hangout series.
• · And finally, embed the recording of the Hangout into your website. This will ensure that viewers still get to see the content shared once the broadcast ends.

Google+ Communities

Google+ Communities fosters people to come together and have conversations & discuss content over shared interests like food, art, shopping, music, books etc. Brands can drive, participate or moderate these communities as this turns out to be a great chance for brands to listen.

For example, to celebrate their 125th anniversary, National Geographic decided to host a live Google Hangout from National Geographic G+.

National Geographic had guests during their broadcast from 7 different continents who celebrated the anniversary. This increased the potential reach of the audience and showcased creativity to a great extent.

Many brands usually upload the full live recording of the Hangout to their websites. But, National Geographic edited it and embedded the 15 minutes long version available for viewing. So basically, by editing out unwanted content, brands can keep the users engaged even if they had a long live broadcast. Demonstrations also work well. Therefore, Hangouts focusing on demonstrations allow brands to show it to the customers on how to accomplish a particular goal.

Here are a few tips for brand to engage with their Google+ Community

• · Respond to the conversations
• · Ask questions to stir up conversation
• · Thank your supporters or followers
• · Create a poll for your audience to +1 or comment. It’s a quick & easy engagement
• · Give your customers the content that they won’t find anywhere else. Like, What makes your Google+ different from Facebook or Twitter? This will help your follower base grow.
• · Carry out exclusive promotions, launch products with special discounts & make your customers feel special.
• · Host weekly Hangouts, sessions to maintain the interests and quality of your brand message.
• · Cross Promote your Google+ page on your website & use your social networks to leverage the followers.
• · Follow other Google+ pages and see what they are doing.

By targeting your specific audience, by segmenting & adding them in the different circles and by building deeper customer relationships your brand’s Google+ journey can be a fruitful one.

Marketing Performance Increases

Ads are now getting more relevant & performing better than before. It is essential to turn on the social extensions when you use Google AdWords to promote your business. It is because when brands add social annotations to their paid search ads there is uplift in click thru traffic rate (CTR) back to their site. Do make sure your brand’s Google+ page is connected to a Google AdWords account.

Checkout what few brands are already doing successfully on Google+!

Android                                                                    Mashable

Be Beautiful                                                            Angry Birds

A lot of other brands are also exploring this platform for the best. Do share with us what are your favourite brand pages on Google+ too.

Measurable Impact on Your Business

Now, you might need to check as to how many conversions were as a result of the social presence? Therefore, the incentives for brands on Google+ take on a new meaning when you measure how they impact your business goals. So basically, five social reports are available within Google Analytics to help brands monitor the key metrics.

The conversion report shows:

How Google+ is driving conversions for your business and also allowing you to define which actions represent a conversion & to associate a particular amount with each.

You can also very easily track the conversions, in which social drove a user to your site, as well as assisted social conversions, which refers to users who interacted with social on the path to conversion.

Then Google added another tool in the form of Google+ Ripples:

Which illustrates earned media, brand advocates & the global reach of content. You can try it out on a popular Google+ post by clicking the gray arrow in the upper right-hand corner & selecting "View Ripples." You’ll see a diagram of how people have been sharing the post & how far it has traveled through the world of Internet. With Google+ Ripples, brands can identify community influencers with widespread followings & use this information to improve the virality of their shared content.

Click here to know more about the Google+ Insights

Define a Google+ Strategy for your brand

Brand managers need to define their strategy to manage the page. Like what will be the purpose of the page? How will it work to acquire engagement? How to establish a great connection with consumers through hangouts?

The look and feel of the Google+ brand page; should it be customized or kept simple? To what extent creativity should be depicted? Whether it’s a brand appeal or the campaign specific appeal it should define the standards of a brand.

Content strategy should be well planned and in place to ensure a consistent communication of the brand. You can also create an editorial calendar plotting out the posts that are unique to Google+ and not the same posts that are made on Facebook. 

In a nutshell, note down these steps for building a successful strategy for Google+:

• – Create a Google+ Page
• – Verify your Page
• – Enable social extensions within AdWords
• – Claim your custom URL
• – Assign Page managers
• – Add the G+ Badge to your site
• And yes, do not forget this,
• – Post exclusive brand content
• – Grow the follower base
• – Engage with your community

Interaction plays the most important role in the social world where the brands interact through a Facebook post or a tweet & some brands are shifting to Google+ hangouts which have also struck the chords with consumers.

The low costs of Google + Hangouts accompanied by great level of consumer engagement, make these live Hangouts a killer innovation. Hangouts undoubtedly, save brands the money of planning & executing a live event, increasing their potential reach with an online audience.

Google+ updates come with certain features such as multiple admins for business pages, “On Air” hangouts, free voice calls, integration with Google Music, face-recognition capabilities & heftier integration with Gmail and contacts followed by Google+ check-in deals.

Impact of Google+ on SEO

Let’s have a look at how Google+ has an increasing impact on the SEO industry.

Improves the Rankings

Google+ activity & +1′s result in improved rankings on Google.

Google takes into account the total number of shares, authority of people sharing your content & the location of the individual interacting with your content. Therefore, it’s essential that you make your content shareable & clearly mark a link to your brand’s Google+ page on your website.

Modified search results

Google, by default, send the appropriate search results back to you assuming that you are logged in to the Google account. Google modifies the search results to convey you the most important & useful content for your search. If your followers in your Google+ circles have +1’d a certain product & you’re signed in to your Google account, this product will appear higher in the search results than it otherwise might have done whenever you would have done a related search query.

Google Authorship

Google+ is literally changing the face of SEO. The influence of Google+ in the search engine’s results pages had even greater visibility since Google Authorship is introduced. Many Google search results pages now also show a picture of the author next to the content that he/she has posted/produced.  You must have seen something like this already.

The example above shows the images of authors appearing next to the content they are attributed to.so do link your Google+ profile to any blog content you are producing for your brand.  Articles with Google+ author images by the side of them are proven to increase click-through rates too.

Google+ is really having a great impact on SEO today. Facebook may be having a bigger market share, but Facebook doesn’t actually write the algorithms for the most widely used search engine in the world; but Google does.

In fact, there are opinions claiming that Google+ authorship will directly impact search results in the near future. 

• · Get more followers
• · Set Up Authorship With Your Personal Profile
• · Directly Connect Your Page to your website, social platforms, e-mail signatures etc.
• · Encourage +1′s; as the number of +1′s a page gets, it will show up in search results.
• · Fill in the information for your profile and pages completely for both on-page optimization and in search results. And yes, the first 55 characters of your Introduction are very important for search results within Google+ itself.

Key points that lead brands to acquire a successful engagement on Google+ are:

• – Interactive content
• – Knowing your audience and delivering the right brand message
• – Share-worthy posts, posts on current news & trending topics
• – Showcasing the campaign specific call to action visible on the Google+ page
• – Creating, promoting and sharing a deal on your products

Do not forget to have a look at the Google India page.

Become an active Google+ user today to increase your chances of those outside your circles to know about you and add you in their circles. Create and maintain a well managed Google+ profile for your brand to establish your brand to be known across platforms and foster the growth of your circles and follower base. Google+ is here to stay and will continue to provide great value to brands. Do you also see Google+ slowly becoming an integral part of a brand’s online experience? Do feel now the time has come to get into the Google+ bandwagon and win the hearts of consumers? Share your thoughts with us.