Recently, I started looking into learning more about Google+. With new business opportunities and more chances to place content on different platforms, I decided to also expand the social media platforms that I was syndicating content on.
After using the platform for a period of time, I wanted more info on what I could be doing better, so I did some research. I’ve put together this post for anyone who has ever thought about using Google+ but doesn’t know where to start.
Here are the tips that I learned after reading the ‘How to Optimize Your Social Channels for Lead Generation’ e-book:
1) Complete the About Page: The about page is a fantastic opportunity to give a quick overview of what your business is all about. You can also link back to specific pages and services from this page directing potential customers to the most important pages on your website.
Take advantage of the fact that Google+ allows you to use bullets in your description which makes it simple to create an easy to read list of your products and services. You can also include links to specific pages and a contact form.
2) Google Events: The Events feature which allows G+ users to send out customized invitations to anyone regardless of whether or not they are G+ users. It syncs beautifully with Google Calendar and shows up automatically when a user confirms for an event. In addition to sending out invites to webinars, work functions, parties, etc., Google Events can also send out invites for Google Hangouts.
The “Party mode” feature of Events allows everyone in attendance to instantly upload pictures to the same album using the Google+ mobile app, creating a living, real-time photo journal of a specific time and place.
3) Post Often and Optimize: It’s important to include keywords within your posts so that they will show up in your followers’ search results. Google’s search algorithm includes personalized search results specifically pulled from Google+ activity. The more relevant and content-based your Google+ posts are, the more search results you are likely to show up in.
4) Claim your ownership of content. Google Authorship is how Google authenticates and will increasingly begin to “trust” you as a quality source of content. You set up Google Authorship identifying yourself to Google through your Google+ profile and then link back to it from your content and vice versa. Google authorship is the easiest way to take advantage of the SEO benefits of Google+. Doing so will allow the author’s picture to show up next to his blog posts in Google search results, causing higher rankings and click through rates.
5) How to Claim Google Authorship through 2 Easy Steps:
Step 1: Add a link to your Google Plus profile on each of your blog posts. On each of your blog posts, add a link to your Google Plus profile with “rel=author” attached to the end of thelink URL. E.g., https://plus.google.com/111498947729292607681?rel=author. For example the end result would look like this: “By Jason Miller”
Step 2: Link from your Google Plus profile back to your blog. After you add a link to your Google Plus profile on each one of your blog posts, the last step is to link from the opposite direction, from your Google Plus profile to your blog. You do this by adding a link to your blog in the “Contributor to” section of your Google plus profile.
I hope this helps those of you struggling on how to use Google+. I know it opened my eyes on how to effectively incorporate another social media platform to my strategy for my business.
-Lilian
