1. How To Market Your Business On Google+ Plus
May 23, 2012 Google+ Marketing
Although it’s only been a year since Google launched its social network,
Google+, back in the summer of 2011, and just months since pages became
available through Google Apps in November, Google+ provides marketers with some
definite advantages. Often referred to as one of the top social networks for
businesses, Google+ allows you to easily communicate, collaborate, promote, and
track your progress.
Google+ Plus button picture
If you have a page on Google+, then you’re ready to start taking advantage of
the enhanced communication and collaboration tools, like the stream, circles,
and hangouts, available on Google+. You can use the stream to share information
as text, photos, or videos with the world. Make use of the stream to share
general updates and messages publicly, with everyone, or to share specific,
targeted messages with designated circles.
Circles, a unique Google+ feature, allows you to organize people into specific
groups, or circles. This feature is especially helpful when it comes to
targeted marketing efforts and for adding a more personal touch to your social
media campaign.
If you’re a business marketing on Google+, you may choose to group people based
on their prior purchases or how often they make purchases. The options are
endless, and so are the amount of personalized and/or targeted messages you can
share. If you’re interested in taking that personal connection a step further,
Google+ has just the tool.
With hangouts, you can host multi-person video chats and engage in screen
sharing to communicate and collaborate with others in real-time, wherever you
may be. A prominent chat list, explore page, and customizable navigation ribbon
are just some of the new features from the recent Google+ redesign that will
only enhance your ability to communicate on this social network.
Once you’ve established your presence on Google+, it’s important to promote your
page. And, once again, Google+ makes this marketing step easy with promotional
tools for both you and your customers. One simple way to let people know you’re
on Google+ is with a Google+ badge or icon, both of which can be placed on your
website. When your website visitors click on the badge they can add your
Google+ page to their circles without leaving your website, and when people
click on the icon they are taken directly to your Google+ page.
Your customers can also take part in promotion with the +1 button. Every time
someone gives your business a +1, they are sharing with the world that they
support your work, are pleased with something you posted, or would recommend you
to friends. This online word-of-mouth marketing tool is powerful, but there’s a
simple step you can take to greatly increase its impact.
By linking the +1s people give your website, any advertisements, and your
Google+ page, you significantly increase the benefits you’ll receive. This is
because when your business comes up in a Google search, people will be able to
see how many people have +1’d your business ’ and the more, the better. After
all, you can never have too many recommendations.
Yet another area of online marketing where Google+ stands apart from other
social networks is tracking your progress. When you use a Google+ page, you
gain access to Ripples and Analytics ’ two features that can help you determine
how much your efforts have paid off and what improvements you can make.
Ripples details the path that information you’ve shared takes on Google+. For
example, Ripples allows you to see who shared information, what information they
shared, and the people with whom they shared. These details are important

2. because they can help you determine what type of content is creating the most
buzz and which of your customers is helping to disperse your content.
Armed with this information, you can improve your marketing on Google+ by
posting more “buzz-generating“ content and by sharing more information with your
top promoters. In addition to using Ripples to track your progress, you can
take advantage of Analytics to stay abreast of the activity on your page and
manage the +1s you receive.
Thanks to its ideal communication and collaboration features, easy-to-use
promotional tools, and helpful ways to determine the success of your efforts,
marketing on Google“s social network is a definite plus.
About The Author: Cloud Sherpas is a leading cloud service provider and was
named the “Google Enterprise 2011 Partner of the Year.“ As one of the first
Google Enterprise partners, Cloud Sherpas has migrated over one million users
across a variety of industries from legacy, on-premise messaging systems to
Google Apps, helping organizations adopt cloud computing to innovate and
dramatically reduce their IT expenses. A Google Apps Reseller in Atlanta, GA,
Cloud Sherpas has regional offices in locations including San Francisco, New
York, Chicago, Austin and Sydney, and has more Google Apps Certified Deployment
Specialists than any other partner in the world.