Using Google+ for Effective Social Media Marketing

Oct 28, 2014

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With over 540 million monthly active users and the fact that Google favours Google+ pages in search results, it would be silly not to use Google+ to connect with your prospects and customers.

Google+ is Google’s answer to the growing demands of social media marketing. Google adopted many features from Facebook and Twitter and mixed them with its own unique features in order to build the “best” social network.

When it made its first appearance back in 2011, SEO experts were the first ones to use it. People believed that Google+ was basically a technical platform meant to be used by techies and men alone.

Today, Google+ has more than 1.6 billion total users including an impressive ratio of men and women.

Is Google+ worth your Attention

Google+ may not be as big as Facebook (as of October, 2014), but it is growing up at a rapid pace. Take a look at the stats below.

6 billion+ total users
Of which 540 million are monthly active users
800,000 new users join Google+ every month
About 70% of brands have Google+ page
A total of 48 Fortune Global 100 companies are on Google+
Google+ witnesses 1.5 billion image uploads per week
Google+ users are ranked higher in Google search results as compared to other social media platforms
Second largest social media network (after Facebook)

Using Google+ Effectively

When used effectively, Google+ can increase your site traffic, build your brand and help you create a community of happy people that will build your business.

Create a Google+ page for business. Also create a personal Google+ page. Why? You need a personal profile to act as the owner of the business page.
After creating a business page, verify it. Verification offers many features including visibility in Google search plus numerous social extensions and custom URLs.
Don’t forget to customize your Google+ profile with rich visuals. Beautiful profile photo and cover photo help your page make a strong impression every time.
Share attractive and rich content. Beautiful photos, inspiring videos and infographics serve this purpose very well. Such content catches people’s attention. Not to mention, makes them share it as well.
Post regularly, at least once a day. Google recommends posting between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. You can of course create a posting schedule that works with your audience. One way to find that out is to share something valuable at a certain time of the day and observing users’ level of involvement.
Keep the conversations going. You can ensure that by asking questions, responding to user comments and thanking your supporters.
Make your content shareable on Google+. Add the Google+ badge on your website or blog because it lets people +1 and add you to their Circles.
Google+ is a perfect place for running exclusive promotions. When you provide special incentives or discounts to your customers, there is no reason why they won’t love you.
Connect with your audience using Hangouts. Most successful brands host a weekly or fortnightly event where they interact with their community members using Hangouts.
Use Circles as they let you neatly categorize people. With Circles, you can decide which group of people to interact with rather than communicating with everybody at once.
Follow your competitors’ G+ pages. That way you can keep an eye on their best practices and learn a great deal.
Above all, do not forget to measure your success. Ripples and other social reports in Google Analytics provide plenty of valuable information that can help you create better strategies.