More than 150 million users use Google Plus every day and it’s your businesses’ time to jump on the Google Plus train to increase SEO rankings. You’ve created a Google Plus Business Profile… now what? Below I’ve highlighted five simple steps to get you started on your newest social platform.
1. Complete Your Profile – It may seem like an obvious suggestion, but simply completing your Google+ Business Profile with strong keywords will help you appear higher in SEO results. Take time to create a custom graphic for your cover photo and update your avatar to your logo or something recognizable for consumers.
2. Join Communities – Search, join and repeat. While your business may be a newbie to the Google+ game, there are several businesses and individuals with common interests out there interacting and sharing content with “Communities.” Communities are a great way to read up on your industry’s news, engage with brands and users and share stories on your page. (More on that in Point 5). Eventually, you’ll be invited to communities and you can create communities with a specific focus.
3. Circles are for People – Just like you “friend” or “follow” folks on Facebook and Twitter, Google Circles are meant to follow people. After searching for friends, business colleagues, influencers and so on in the search bar, you can categorize them by creating specific “Circles.” Consider the Circles as a way to organize people by topics. You can also tag people in your Google+ posts. (More on that in Point 5).
4. Use Hashtags – Why? Because it helps reach target audiences. Different content marketers have different opinions on integrating hashtags into sentences or waiting to hashtag them at the end of a sentence or paragraph. Bottom line, including hashtags helps to increase search terms.
5. Give Credit Where It’s Due – Relating back to Point 2 and 3, there are three basic principles to follow when using Google+:
- The +1 option is a way of indicating you like the post. When you are in communities or on a specific business or user’s page, +1 content you like and share a quick comment in the “Add a comment…” section. Sure, brands will appreciate your +1, but they’ll be flattered if you share your opinion on their content in the comment section.
- The right arrow is a way to share content from other business or user’s pages on your Google+ page. Add your own sentence about why you are sharing the content or why it appealed to you.
- Finally, don’t forget to mention users when you +1 or share their content. Similar to Twitter and using the “@” symbol, Google+ uses the “+” symbol. (Hence, Google+). You can tag users from your Circles and Communities.
Does your business not have the time to manage another social platform like Google+? Let us take care of the work! Reach out to me on Twitter at @whatupTUT or e-mail me at chelsea.tuttle@stratablue.com. Better yet, be sure to add StrataBlue’s Google+ page to your circles!
