The problem (and huge benefit, I may add) is that there are many unique features on Google+ which take a while to get your head around. It can be very disorientating. Once you do though, their marketing potential is vast - particularly from a business point of view. It ties in video marketing, content marketing, post targeting, community management, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Search Engine Ranking Pages (SERP) & customer interaction; and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
So I've picked out 5 of my favourite features which will hopefully persuade you that Google Plus is a keeper.
Hangouts, and Hangouts on Air
One of my favourites, Hangouts not only offer the chance for colleagues separated by long distances to interact (a la Skype), but also allow a business to offer a video one-on-one service to a customer (like IM or a conference call, but more personal). Think of the kudos you can achieve from offering such a personalised service!
On top of this, Hangouts on Air (a public video conversation/presentation, streamed live on YouTube and saved as a video afterwards) provide you with innumerable opportunities - explained in the blog link above - including live product launches, webinars, interactive Q&A sessions and 'how to' videos, all of which add to your company's growing social kudos.
What makes this even more brilliant is that, rather than doing these things via traditional social media, which is very transient and has a short shelf-life, Hangouts on Air provide you with both real-time and long-term tangible content you can use over and over again to refer customers to, via the video. Which is pretty awesome.
Circles
Circles are great because they allow you to manage those who follow you. Rather like Lists on Twitter. However, unlike Lists, which are quite passive, Circles allow you to use those sections to target specific posts to specific sections of your following.
So, for example; if you had a post geared towards your 'First Time buyers' asking for feedback on a product, you could quite easily select your 'First Time Buyers' circle and send them the post, allowing you to target specific factions of your following. Other examples could include posting product releases to high-profile bloggers, or targeting specific communities you have a presence in (more on that later).
Combine this with Google's 'Search' feature, and you have a match made in heaven to maximise potential interaction.
Communities
If your business has a strong social following already, you may want to consider setting up a community, so they can share and interact with each other - providing you with an easily-accessible base with which to interact with people who are interested in your brand.
Now, this has obvious benefits - you can manoeuvre conversations for your own benefit, let your followers know what's going on in your business quickly and easily, and you can find out the sorts of things which are concerning those who are most precious to your business and manipulate your own content accordingly. Being a community manager though is not something which is just 'done' - it requires a certain sort of person. I've hosted a workshop on community management which you can access at your leisure.
What's cool about Google Plus communities as opposed to Linkedin communities, though, is that as a moderator/owner of a group, you can set up 'subcategories' for posts, making them more easily categorised and accessible. The IB group (which you're more than welcome to join) is a good example - someone interested in technology can simply check the 'Technology' subcategory for all the posts in that area, for instance. Again, you can use these subcategories to manipulate the types of post you expect within the community as well, so use them wisely!
SEO Potential
An area which isn't my speciality, but one which is incredibly important nonetheless.
Here's a really great blog on how Google Plus can affect SEO, but here's a great taster to think about:
"Google Plus content stays around, gains page rank, gives page rank and appears in search results over a long period. It appears Google Plus posts can retain ranking indefinitely with some posts over a year old still top of search result pages. Compare this to the 14 minutes of life a standard tweet is estimated to have."Something to chew over next time you create content.
Google Authorship
I suppose this links into SEO, really - but in this age of ranking highly in search engines, I thought this merited a separate mention.
It's a bit fiddly to set up (we have a great guide from SEO expert Kate Tolley on the Ingenious Britain site), but once you've established your author tag and linked it to a site, it's incredibly quick and easy to implement for all future content. It basically assigns your content to your Google Plus personal profile, providing a little image and a bit of information about the author when searched on Google.
I'm yet to be convinced that it makes a demonstrative effect on how the content ranks at present, but it certainly increases your content's a) visibility (the author image takes up more room on the search page), and b) clickability (I'd rather read content when I knew a bit about the author, wouldn't you?); couple this with the fact that, as a result people can add you to their G+ circles more easily too (and check out more of your posts), and you're onto a winner.
Membership Has Its Privileges
Paul A Smith
Work With Me
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