GOOGLE+ NOT JUST YOUR AVERAGE SOCIAL NETWORK PLATFORM

Act now and be an expert on Google+ (or Google plus), it is looking to out do Facebook and although it looks like slow beginnings, it is ranked 2nd in the world.

They act as the background for other Google services including YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, Android, Google Play, Google Music, Hangouts and many more. Set up authorship on Google+ to share your blogging content and remember to add ‘Come find me on …’ They are encapsulating all the things we love together and communication is being made a whole lot easier, especially if you are branding yourself.

The access launch for all was in 2011, their biggest users are in the US and India. Within the year they had reached 90 million users.
Currently there are over 1 billion accounts and of this figure 359 million regular monthly active users. It still is a male dominated platform, with the 25 and 34 year old age group leading the way forward.

Make it easy and link your other social media accounts, blogs or wherever else you share content. This is known as Google authorship. Google want to see rich content and sift out all the spam we are bombarded with. They want to see you are truly human and make real connections with you.
Here are quick snippets on how you can ‘Get to know Google’

• PROFILE
• CIRCLES
• COMMUNITIES
• PHOTOS
• HANGOUTS
• MOBILE

HOW TO BEGIN? – CREATE YOUR PROFILE

Begin by creating your own profile, some basic information on yourself, add a profile just as you have done before on

the likes of Facebook, add a background photograph and you are ready to go.

Have your account more customised by adding your own URL, this makes it easier to direct people to your account and you are more easily searchable. It looks good as well, instead of the numbers and symbols that normally would follow.

CIRCLES AND STREAM

How many circles do you want, need, or able to maintain? This is the beauty of circles and streams, you have the control of what you share and where. People in your circles will show in the stream, you can choose how to operate this, how often you want shares updated?

 

WHY WOULD YOU CREATE VARIOUS CIRCLES?

• Professional
• Personal

You might choose to share only selected material and information with certain circles. What you share with friends might not be

appropriate to share with your boss or other work colleagues.

Search for people by clicking the icon, and then simply Add to whichever circle you want to place them.

They won’t know which circle they have been added to. You have control over the visibility of who can see your circles.

You can also choose to use other search features like, ‘Find Coworkers’,‘Find Classmates’.

Do you have any special interests, hobbies or subjects that you would like to keep up to date with? Start a ‘Following’ circle.

Organise your circles, people in your shared circles may also appear in shared endorsements. Google sometimes displays reviews and recommendations. It’s keeping it social and building your community and network relationships.

You can enable or disable the Share setting, just click the box ‘Based upon my activity’, then ‘Save’. Just un-check the box to disable and ‘Save’.

COMMUNITIES

Joining the right community for you can help grow your business, they are a bit like going to a conference, which come up from time to time. Now you can attend any number of conferences worldwide anytime.

Google+ cleverly can predict the right communities for you once you have established yourself online.

If you are up for a discussion, want to share ideas then you can find your niche on Google+.

Follow like-minded people

SHARING

A useful tip is to use ‘+’or ‘@’when you are sharing and you want the notification to be received by a particular person or to add someone into a post. It only functions when the original post is not locked by the publisher. Only people with accounts on Google+ can be mentioned.

You can still share the information even if they have no account, by adding their email after ‘+’or ‘@’signs.

Share this post. Click to the right of the comment box.  Add a comment, it’s good to add your own comments, then choose the circle or people to share to Your Circles.

Sharing from the Stream, +number is on the lower right side of the post to +1 it. Follow as a normal post and share. Just like a facebook share.

Mobile sharing, add comments, select circles or people to Share.

When you share a post they will not see any comments from the original post, only the poster. Anyone from the original post can see you shared, but not who you shared it with.

You can Edit and Delete comments you make.

If you don’t want your posts to be shared, lock the post, using Google+ on desktop.

In general you have far more control overall on how the communication is fed to you and delivered.

AUTHORSHIP

Be authentic and you are more likely to be noticed and clicked on. Let the world see the real face in your profile and make an emotional connection.

Once you have published your own content on your own website or WordPress blog page, you can link it to your Google+ profile. WordPress have plug-ins available as well, just add your Google+ URL to your user profile.

Connecting this way makes your site eligible for Google+ Direct Connect.

Two ways to set up are with VERIFIED MAIL or LINKS and you can check you are set up correctly by using Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.

Some statistics –

Of the Top 500 Tech Writers 87% have a Google+ account, 74% established Authorship.

HANGOUTS

Broadcast LIVE and link it to your YouTube channel and your own website.

You may choose to promote yourself or interview others and select who is on the screen and customise it with banners.

You can message people even if they aren’t connected at that moment. It connects on computers, Android and Apple devices, choose a video call or voice call, up to 10 people can connect and they are alerted, even if they aren’t available. There is no limit on the numbers able to listen in or to watch.

You can access Hangouts from Gmail, by upgrading Chat to Hangouts just click on the photo icon in the chat list.

PHOTO EDITNG

Turn your photographs into expressive, artistic works of art with Google+’s selection of editing features.

Maybe you want to simply fine tune it and add more detail and sharpness, adjust the brightness or contrast.

You can become more creative, adding a little more drama, focus and texture. The theme very prevalent at the moment is retro and vintage, whatever your style you can frame it and share it.

To use these features on your desktop you will need  to be using Chrome or the Google+ app for Android.

MOBILE

Everyone loves their mobile and this is where the future is at. Stay connected while you are out and about. Those moments when you just want to capture a picture or share something of interest. By the time you are home the moments past, or your day has been so hectic you have forgot about it.

With all the advanced features, your conference calls, event planning and sharing can all be done when you are on the go. No time or office constraints need apply!

 

Is this a new SEO tool? The more you influence online, the more followers you can target. Your network can give you the platform to potentially access to the connections of your followers. People who you don’t know, or were ever likely. These people all become potential customers or clients.

Author Rank is the search engine algorithm that affects your search rankings. Created to sift out spam and look for great content. You will be positioned in the top rankings the more you earn a fantastic reputation. To get this you need your audience to interact.

So from a Digital Marketing point of view this gives you a great strategy.