Google+ and Local Pages for Businesses.
We are going to break out Google + and Local pages into two separate blogs.
So let’s start with Google + and how can you use it for your business? Or more importantly why?
How?
The first thing you need to do is to set up your Google + profile. Like with Facebook you have to set up a personal account first and then go down to the pages section on the left hand side and create a page. Select your business sector and populate the page. When you're doing this think about your keywords and what you are saying; like with any content do the research.
Once your page is set up you can post to it the same way you would Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.
Why?
Google is in the process of integrating all of their products to enhance your experience as a user, Google+ is just part of this. With a reported 500 million users it equals the current user base of Twitter. What’s the main difference? Most people on Twitter use it, most people on Google+ don’t. So why should we set up a Google+ profile? Well for 1. Google wants us to and 2. They are going to make sure we do. Anyone with a Gmail account automatically has a Google+ account; they just have to activate it.
93% of people in Ireland use Google as their search engine; the 2nd most popular search engine is YouTube, which Google owns. If you have accessed any of your Google accounts recently you will notice that over the past number of months they have asked you to merge your accounts. E.g. Youtube, Google+, Local, Blogger etc. They are centralising all the information they have on you. Why? They want to know everything there is about you; your search trends, your email history, your purchase history and even what you watch. Google wants to give you the best possible return when you search for something by basing it on your habits. By making us have a Google+ account it will gather more and more information from you that you didn’t even know you were giving away. This works for companies as you are giving out information that people can like (+1), therefore validating that company or brand.
The Benefit
- Having a Google+ account and linking it to your website as well as through Google Authorship means that your validating your content in way that has not been possible before. You’re putting your profile against you work and telling Google that it’s important. It ranks content higher in its searches if they have a Google+ profile attached.
- Content that receives a +1 (Google’s like) will also feature higher in search results, so make sure to get people to +1 your page and content; but like everything else make sure your content is good. The power of the +1 is going to grow and grow.
- You can post on Google+ in a similar way as Facebook, although your privacy settings are much simpler and easier to understand and enforce. In Google+ you can send directly to a specific circle (circle of friends like Family, Clients or College); you control your own circles. This means that if you had a number of different business sectors of clients you can segregate them and speak to each sector directly. This is a powerful tool.
- Google Hangout - What a tool! You can hold an online video conference between 10 people for FREE. It’s a simple and easy to use video chat webinar tool and you can see a demo of it in your Google+ page under hangouts. But most importantly, and I’ve mentioned this already, it is FREE. Compare that to Skype’s video conference tool that costs money.
The Drawbacks
No-one is using it. The joke is that the only people who are using Google+ at the minute are people who work for Google. This is going to change dramatically in the next number of months. Google is devoting more and more time, search space and money to people or brands that have +1’s beside their name. Plus will not become Google Buzz mark 2, it will succeed. They are investing in it and are making sure that it will be a huge.
Don’t get left out in the cold or even better get left outside the circle – come join us on Google+ and bring us inside your circle; we constantly update our Google+ with relevant and useful information and blogs.