The Google+ Guide a Step-By-Step Guide to Marketing Success on Google+

\\guideguide A Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Success on Google+

The Google+ Guide A Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Success on Google+

iPad 10:15PM

Visit us at vocus.com SocialSocial SearchSearch EmailEmail PR A Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Success on Google+

Another Social Network?

As a marketer, you may have read articles dismissing Google+. You may have heard it is a “ghost town,” or “a niche site for techies.”

The people saying these things are incorrect. According to eMarketer, as of May 2013, 26 percent of worldwide Internet users used Google+ in the past month, making it the second most popular social network after Facebook (51 percent).* We believe that number will grow.

Google+ is the evolution of Google’s search and products, and a layer that joins them together.

The actions people take while logged into Google are now connected via Google+. This affects what they and others see in search. It affects what their friends will see in Google products going forward.

Think about all the millions of Gmail users, Android phone users and YouTube users. Google+ now connects them. This affects the way that marketers do business.

Google+ is a set of social networking features, communications features and tie-ins to other services, including the all-powerful Google search algorithm. It is clearly Google’s strategy for moving forward. It’s a safe bet to say, ‘Invest now and it will pay off later.’ “ “ Marvin Chow, Google+ Global Marketing Director

Google+ isn’t just limited to social network interaction. People are writing reviews about businesses using Google+ as their “identity” or login. A review by “Jane Schultz from Iowa City via her Android Phone” is going to have more credibility than one from “Foodluvr24.”

We also know that check-ins, ratings and other actions on Google+ influence Google’s search engine. As people adopt Google+ in greater numbers, their recommendations will affect what your prospects and customers see when they search.

The company attempts to explain it this way: “Google+ is like a ‘social spine’ or ‘identity spine’ across Google,” says Marvin Chow, Google+ global marketing director. “Having a Google+ page will be the foundation of a lot of things on Google. It’s a safe bet to say, ‘Invest now and it will pay off later.’”

This is the time to get in on the ground floor.

* http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Which-Social-Networks-Growing-Fastest-Worldwide/1009884 A Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Success on Google+

Chat #1 Part 1: Get Started, Step-by-Step Google+ also includes instant messaging chat and video, called “Hangouts.” You can hang out with as many as nine other people in high quality video. Step One: A Google+ Walkthrough “Hangouts On Air” can be broadcast via YouTube to an audience internet-wide.

From a user’s perspective, Google+ is a social networking Hangouts, as you’ll see, can be an effective tool for service. Features include posting, photo and video sharing, engaging customers. multi-person communications, communities and pages Communities for businesses. “Communities” offer an opportunity for Typically, a person with an Android Phone or a Gmail discussion groups, which can be public or private account has everything they need to create a Google+ and moderated. Communities offer another place profile. If you don’t have an existing Google Account, it where industry groups and even customer groups takes just a few minutes to create one. are forming. Similar to LinkedIn groups, these Communities can be places for engagement Google+ profiles are intended for “real people.” You create with customers. your own account first, before creating a Page for your business. Once you create your account and profile, you As a current point of differentiation for now, there are no can connect with others. ads in the Google+ stream.

Here are the key features of Google+ you need to know: Step Two: Create Your Business Profile Circles and Page Having a Google+ profile means you can create “Circles” of contacts with whom you can share information. If you’ve created lists in Gmail, these same lists can be used as Circles in Google+. Recommendations

Once you start connecting with friends on Google+, their recommendations (things they give “+1,” similar to Facebook’s Like) will show in your Google search results, on Google Maps or in Google’s Play store for apps, music and books. Images

Your Google+ profile includes a tight integration Creating a Google+ business page is pretty simple. “If you’ve with Google’s photo service “Picasa.” Your profile already created a Google Places listing for your business, has substantial photo and video storage, and you should move it over. It will create your Google+ page for 1 media can be shared with specific Circles, with you,” said Lynette Young, CEO of Purple Stripe, and author 2 clear parameters for privacy. of “Google+ for Small Business”. “If you don’t already have a Google Places listing, companies that do not conduct business on-site or generally encourage

1 You can move your existing Google Places content into Google+ https://support.google.com/plus/answer/2623007?hl=en&topic=2624949&ctx=topic# 2 http://lynetteyoung.com/books A Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Success on Google+

‘check-ins’ will find no benefit in being listed For more information and details on setting up your in Google+ Local (which is where the page, Google’s “Getting Started for Business” page can Google Places profiles are being migrated help. It includes a downloadable guide.4 Dashboard was to by Google),” said Young. announced in June, and you can find out more about the features on this post.5 If you’re not a local business, create your page as one of the other types of Organize customers into different circles (Active, listings. To create the page, go to your Occasional) to quickly sort through the content they’re personal profile, pull down the “Home” creating. You can look at the active or engaged customers menu on the left side and click on the circle daily and build your connections with them. “Pages” item.3 You’ll be asked to create a page in a particular category. Step Four: Verification and Direct Connect

Step Three: Manage Your Page via Dashboard There are two kinds of verification for your Google+ page.

First, you’re verifying that you own a business. Once you’ve set up the profile, you are the “owner” of the page. “To verify a ‘brick and mortar’ location, Google will send you a postcard in the mail (so please notify the mailroom not to toss it out!),” said Lynette Young. (It truly looks like an ad, so be on the lookout for it.) “A non-local page is verified via Google’s Webmaster Tools or by putting code in your website.”6

Additionally, once you create your Google+ page and listing, Go to your page, click the left side menu and choose ensure that your Google+ page is linked on your website. Dashboard. Then click the “managers” tab. You can add a Adding a Google+ badge for your page to your website7 manager via the blue button on the right. You need to know acts as another signal confirming your business’ identity to that person’s email address used for Google+. Google. Additionally, the badge allows customers

Set up your page via the Dashboard as well. Add your photo to endorse you by clicking the “+1”, or to or logo as your icon – an image that is 500px by 500px is the add you to one of their Circles on their standard size. In the “Overview” area, click “edit your page” Google+ profile. Once you have that to then add a cover. The cover photo is a huge 2120 × 1192 badge on the page, you also become pixels, a 16x9 aspect ratio. Smaller photos will be scaled but eligible for two additional perks: won’t look as good. 1 If you’re using your page

In addition to a cover photo, companies (not local businesses) regularly, it may become eligible for will want a “Tagline” – a one-sentence description of your “Direct Connect.” If customers type business – and an “Introduction” of your company (a few “+YourBrandName” into Google (try it paragraphs). Add your contact information, including a with +Copyblogger for example), they phone number, email address, links to your website and will go directly to your page. any other links or information. Enter your address and They’ll also be able to add your company to other information exactly as it appears on your website. The their circles. Google+ users can choose to automatically add Google algorithm can look for such things. brands they search for with the “+” in front of the search into

3 You can also go to http://www.google.com/+/business/get-started.html 4 http://www.google.com/intl/en/+/business/get-started.html 5 https://plus.google.com/u/1/+PavniDiwanji/posts/47t6tSKha31?e=-RedirectToSandbox 6 https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1708844?hl=en&ref_topic=1634166 7 https://developers.google.com/+/plugins/badge/ A Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Success on Google+

a circle. As users learn this trick, having a well-connected If your product lends itself to visuals, Lynette Young suggests Google+ page will put you right into their Circles (and by creating photo albums and following the ‘best practices’ of extension, their feeds). using keyword-rich album titles and file names.

2 If you already have a Google+ page with a “meaningful” “This will help your content get found fast not only in number of followers, you can request verification with a Google+ but across the web,” she says. “Since Google+ is Google badge icon.8 Verified companies (and celebrities) multi-media friendly, high-resolution photos and graphics get an icon next to their company name in their page, will increase your ‘share-ability’ across the network as the showing customers that your Google+ page is managed by users appreciate quality content.” you and not a fake. Pro tip: put a business URL on the bottom of your photos, so people can find their way back to you. Some Best Practices for Your Google+ Page Case Study: Think Geek Google+ pages have different functionality than Facebook Pages, but from a content and engagement standpoint, One company that does they can be similar. a very good job using According to Copyblogger’s Brian Clark, “When using any visuals is Think Geek.10 social network, you typically point people towards your own site; your own home base with your content. However, The company bills itself when trying to get that G+ interaction, it may not hurt as selling “Stuff for Smart putting native-only content directly there. This is a place Masses.” Their catalog is 9 where you can ‘violate the digital sharecropper rule’ by filled with “geeky” prod- providing some original content, or longer excerpts only ucts, from chairs that look like for Google+. Star Wars characters to slippers that look like Lego “You’re looking for something to get better ‘signals’ blocks. Think Geek’s page is filled with content, and interactions going at the Google+ level, much of it pictures of the things they sell. These but of course what you’re really trying to do, items create an interesting environment for po- going forward, is get comments, and get tential customers, who then discover that Think people to come back. Some people will Geek’s content is interesting in its own right. comment on your G+ page, some will comment on your own site… You have For example, more than 486 people clicked “+1” your indicators of +1 and sharing on the on their “Lego Slippers” post, 114 people shared network itself, and I encourage people to the slippers and 25 made comments. This is on a add those buttons to their own content.” specific catalog item that links right to the sales page! A photo of Star Wars cookies was re-shared Clark notes that there are two levels of interaction: 255 times, and got more than 780 +1 ratings. people find the content on the social network and share it, or they are directed to your site and re-share the content If you use your Google+ page as a way to do pure onto whatever network they prefer. He also reminds us (see content marketing, and you find your audience, graphic) that people find their own ways into your funnel. people will share your stuff and connect with Great content can lead directly to a sale, even without social your products. sharing or search.

8 https://support.google.com/plus/contact/page_verification?rd=1&hl=en 9 http://copyblogger.com/digital-sharecropping 10 https://plus.google.com/+ThinkGeek/posts A Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Success on Google+

Part Two: How to Find, Authorship #2 Attract and Interact with If you’re using a website or blog to create content, claim Customers authorship of that content via Google+.

Congratulations: your page is set up! Let’s look at all the ways to find and attract customers.

Grow Your Circles

Business pages on Google+ can follow users (and users can follow businesses) by putting them into Circles. The benefit is that your Google+ headshot will appear next to content you write online, helping it stand out in search Circling is not a two-way street. You can add someone and results. Authorship is currently connected to a person, not they don’t have to add you back. Customers can add you to a business, so this is done via your personal profile. Claim their circles, but you don’t have to add them all back. authorship by verifying your email address at the page Circles help you organize what you see and what you share. provided by Google,11 or by customizing a little bit of script on your website (available in that same page). Use the Search built into Google+ to find people interested in topics relevant to your business. Google+ “The most important thing in Google+ is this concept of uses hashtags, so searching for people using authorship,” states Copyblogger Media’s Brian Clark. “Being hashtagged industry keywords is a good start. able to identify through your profile the content you Friends publish on the open web, and saying ‘This is Google+ power user, author and consultant to 56 the same author (on Google+) who did this Motorola (a Google company) Guy Kawasaki content over on the web that was shared Family suggests circling lots of people. 10 and well received’ is important. “Don’t think too much. Just circle people who “It ties into something which no one can post interesting things and who share your tell if it is reality yet: Google’s ‘Author sensibilities. If they are not consistently good, uncircle Rank.’ That’s where Google’s decision on them. It’s no big deal to add or subtract people. There is no who you are factors into the algorithm, pressure to circle people who have circled you - this isn’t where you have a demonstrated expertise, junior high school anymore.” and you’re expressing it in content.” Over 4.6 million people have Guy in one of their circles. In other words, if you write a lot about your “My circle strategy is to initially place people your Page industry, and your ID is tied to that content online, and follows in a general Circle,” said Lynette Young. “As they the content has good links and sharing, your content will be promote themselves to active contributors, move them into favored in searches on that topic and elsewhere that your other circles where you can keep a closer eye on them by authorship is verified. viewing content from ONLY that circle.” Clark says that it is crucial to develop subject matter You may wish to create a circle for your Team Members authority. Don’t just share and curate any old content; or employees, one for customers and one for followers share things relevant to your business. Google will notice, (people following you whom you wish to follow back.) in theory. Note: Don’t name your circles things like “competition” or According to Chow, Google is still working on how “bad customers.” Circle names are private, but someone to handle “authorship for business” and how it will be might see them via a screenshot, or at your location.

11 Author information in search results, https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1408986?hl=en A Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Success on Google+

related to verified business entities. They are considering can use my website to help you, for example, science.alltop. the appropriate verification methods and how to handle com or socialmedia.alltop.com.” different levels of verification and authorship. Tagging (typing a + sign then typing out the name or Page of a person you’d like to tag) people within content is a Engage Effectively on Google+ surefire way to get someone’s attention,” says Young. “That’s because +Mentions generally create direct emails of the 1. Content content to that person or Page’s inbox. Using multimedia Google+ engagement revolves around relevant and content (either directly uploaded to Google+ or via YouTube) interesting content that benefits your page visitors. can also grab the attention of Google+ users.”

Many content experts follow an 80-20 rule, where more than 80 percent of the content is something that can 2. Hangouts and Hangouts On Air engage your customers, teach them something or make Hangouts are the video equivalent of a chat room or them happy. 20 percent is about you and your business. a meeting. Crazy Egg, a marketing software provider, fills A hangout can have as many as 10 (15 if you are a Google its page with relevant posts on marketing, Apps customer) people all connected via a laptop, tablet or some created in-house and some shared mobile device’s video camera. Hangouts let you “hand the from other sources. One recent post mic” to any participant, who can also share their screen talks about the reasons users leave your instead of their image. website quickly. It is filled with great information and very relevant to all Hangouts are now built into Gmail, so anyone using Gmail web marketers. or Google Apps (where the administrator has enabled Hangouts) can start a hangout with an instant message and They will occasionally talk about their change over to video or screen sharing as needed. own software on their Google+ page, but that’s the exception rather than the rule. Many Hangouts On Air are a connection between Google+’s of their articles bring you to their blog, which is just regular hangouts and YouTube. The Hangout is the same one click from their site (and a sale). Their Google+ presence format, with up to 10 people talking and collaborating, live- delivers enough revenue per year to cover an employee. streamed to YouTube as a broadcast. Anyone with the page address can watch the Hangout live. The Hangout is then As Brian Clark mentioned, think about content as something recorded and saved on YouTube, so you can that directs people back to your own site. You can measure add it to your Google+ page or a website. via analytics specifically how much traffic is coming from Google+ versus other social networks like Twitter. Companies use Hangouts On Air to share information, and even to It’s difficult to constantly think of engaging content. capture celebrity appearances for However, not all the content has to be yours. their brand. “The best way [to keep people engaged] is to post interesting Comedian Jim Gaffigan promoted ‘shiitake,’” says Kawasaki. “You should stand out as an his book launch via a Hangout excellent curator: an arbiter of good or intelligent taste. On Air with Hollywood.com.12 UK People should think: Thanks for pointing out this story, grocery retailer Ocado used top chefs video or picture. Pick a few topics and always be curating to cook during Hangouts On Air, with (ABC) stories that help people interested in those topics. You

12 http://www.hollywood.com/news/celebrities/55017888/jim-gaffigan-dad-is-fat-google-hangout?page=all A Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Success on Google+

multiple customers participating and the rest watching The specific offers are related to the Google Offers product,16 via YouTube. a deal site similar to Groupon. Offers on Google+ launched in May with Zagat, Art.com, Hello Kitty, Nook and Adafruit, “Ocado promoted the hangouts via True View ads on and the Google+ team will be making this available to more YouTube, which resulted in 167k engaged views,” says a merchants in the future. When a user clicks an offer, they Google+ case study. “Their YouTube channel views went can redeem it via an email notification, or in-store via the from 50k to 230k in the space of a week thanks to the Google Offers app on Android or IOS. hangout, without including the people livestreaming, which was consistently about 60 people at any time.”13 Part 3: How to Measure #3 3. Communities Engagement Communities are areas where Google+ users can talk about topics of interest. Google gives you a few tools to measure interaction with Like other places online, customers don’t always flock to a your audience. Additionally, you can use Google Analytics’ company-branded discussion board to interact. social reports dashboard17 to see traffic from Google+ to your website. Let’s explore what we can learn. Author Lynette Young suggests, “Rather than create (and manage) a Community based around your company and appearing blatantly self-serving, it is 1. Activity a better tactic to find and participate in When you publish content on your page, people who share Communities that have begun via fans the post generate activity and ripples. Clicking on “View or power users… it is a great way to get Post Activity” will show you the names of people who have a solid sense of sentiment about your re-shared or “plus-ed” your post (or any public post). company, brand, business or even a lateral industry. It’s also a great place to While it would be nice to have a list of all your posts and see ‘fish’ for active influencers.” the activity by post right from Google+, similar to Facebook Insights, that’s not yet possible. “We’re looking at different Copyblogger founder Clark is drawn to analytics tools for Google+. There’s not an easy way to look the “Author Rank and Google Authorship” at +1s and shares, and we’re trying to make it more robust,” community,14 as it is something he’s directly says Chow. interested in. Guy Kawasaki says that it should be clear what kind of He notes that it is well moderated, with a high level of signal content your audience prefers. “By far, the best way is to see and low “noise.” Looking through the community, there are how many people re-share your post. A +1 is like tipping a lot of content-rich articles from reputable publications, someone a $1 for bringing your car around. A re-share is with comments or +1s on many submissions. This is the saying, ‘I am willing to risk my reputation by telling you to kind of thing people look for in joining a community – a read this.’” “bright, well-lit place” where they can learn something. This community is a good example of how to run one. Google’s Chow told us that when looking at their web analytics, Epicurious.com found that Google+ is a top 10 referrer in their stream. Visitors from Google+ spend 12 4. Offers percent longer than from many other sources, with higher Google+ has started to roll out Offers: deals and discounts quality engagement. from businesses which users Circle.15

13 Google+ Case Study on Ocado, http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/ocado_casestudy.pdf 14 https://plus.google.com/communities/118134051431071636535 15 https://plus.google.com/+DennisTroper/posts/XM6YA9R5wnt 16 https://plus.google.com/u/0/+GoogleOffers/posts/ayd2iEjRU3z?cfem=1 17 http://www.google.com/analytics/features/social.html A Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Success on Google+

2. Ripples

Ripples are a very visual way of analyzing content flow. In Case Study: Crazy Egg this picture, Google’s official business page has shared some content. You can see how it is shared, and re-shared again. Crazy Egg software sells a “heatmap” product that The slider on the left lets users zoom in to see which tracks what customers members of this network shared the information, and who look at and what they in their network passed it along or responded. On the ripple click on for websites. It is page, you can also see a running list of the activity such as a visual representation of comments from users. You can dive into those posts and “what’s hot and what’s not.” shares and comment directly on the content to your fans or critics. While they take a little getting used to, ripples are a Crazy Egg co-founder Neil Pa- powerful way to track popular posts. tel told me his site is getting about 4.3k visitors a month from Google+, which is lower than Facebook or Twitter, but he’s happy to have them. The visitors from Google+ convert at about the same rate as his customers from the other social networks, giving him about a $60K lift per year in revenue with very little extra effort.

“What’s working for us on Google+ is sharing general information that appeals to our audience of marketers,” says Neil. “For example, we share articles like ‘3 Ways Live Chat Can Improve Conver- sion.’” We’ve found that the content we’re sharing builds our audience, so when we do share something about our own products or company, it helps us to build more traffic.”

Crazy Egg puts similar content on Facebook and 3. Google+ and Google Analytics Google+, so there’s not a huge additional cost, but Finally, you can track your Google+ activity to an extent via he’s “almost paying for another employee” with the Google Analytics,18 under “Traffic Sources.” extra revenue. Patel is positive about authorship in Google+. “If you have multiple authors, and they have Analytics can give you more data about Google+ and other Google+ profiles, you’re reaching their base as well.” networks, which integrate into its Analytics Social Data Hub program. This program, used by Digg, Google+, Reddit and He knows that the content sharing and authorship other networks, gives you even deeper insights into how is giving positive signals to the Google search al- people are engaging with your content on those networks, gorithm, although he hasn’t seen a specific uptick right in your Google Analytics dashboard. in the company’s SEO rankings that he can track to Google+. “If you want to do well here, just publish There’s more to do with the Social Reports in Analytics great content. And engage your readers. Reach out beyond the scope of this paper. to the ones who are commenting. It’s about interaction and content.”

18 http://www.google.com/analytics/features/social.html A Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Success on Google+

#4 Part 4: Going Forward Special Thanks to Google+ is a growing network and set of tools. The network is currently ad-free, so the only way for businesses to reach Brian Clark, founder, Copyblogger Media customers is to have great content, which gets shared and Marvin Chow, Google+ global marketing director passed along. Guy Kawasaki, author and consultant at Motorola Neal Patel, co-founder, Crazy Egg We’ve seen Crazy Egg and Ocado create Lynette Young, CEO, Purple Stripe Productions and author, compelling content offerings, which “Google+ for Small Business” bring people from Google+ to their sales funnel. About the Author

But Google+ isn’t just about creat- Howard Greenstein is a marketing technology strategist ing sales. and president of the Harbrooke Group, which helps companies communicate with their customers using the latest Google’s authorship drives con- Web technologies. nections between good content and your authority. If you’re not a great He has worked with clients from the Fortune 500, Cable writer, photos are a large part of Goo- Networks and Wall Street, as well as major advocacy gle+ and can drive sales, as they do for Think groups. He teaches social media at the Heyman Center for Geek. Hangouts and Hangouts On Air are another tool for Philanthropy and Fundraising at NYU SCPS, and is a regular creating great content and customer connections. contributor to Inc.com.

Google+ is an evolving platform and the technology is rap- About Vocus idly changing. Marketing has evolved. To succeed on a local or national Marvin Chow’s Google+ marketing team told us, “The level in today’s world, marketers need to make digital chan- Google+ business page or our Google+ page are great nels work together to generate brand awareness, demand places for businesses to keep up with the latest features and revenue. and news for pages. You can also get technical updates on our Google Developers page. And you can see all Google+ Vocus offers a unique solution. Our software inte- updates via the #googleplusupdate hashtag.” You can grates powerful features of digital marketing, including also find the Google+ Playbook for Business on the social, search, email and publicity. It sends real-time resources page. marketing opportunities directly to you in the form of leads, prospects, social media conversations, curated content and As a rule, be active and keep your customers engaged media inquiries. and sharing your content. This can change the way that Google’s search algorithm looks at your website and content With our marketing consulting and services team ready to for the better. This is a goal all digital marketers should work help, Vocus delivers marketing success. to achieve. Find out more at vocus.com

Connect with us:

19 http://www.google.com/+/business/resources.html