Assembling Your Social Media Playbook with Google Plus and Brand Pages

Editor's Notes

• #3: On June 28, 2011 Google launched a social platform called Google + in beta, on Sept 20, 2011 it went public.The development of circles is likely based on social theories by Paul Adams, a former Google social technology researcher (now at Facebook)who wanted to allow our online communication to respect the same boundaries that our offline social lives do. You wouldn’t tell your church friends the same story you tell your frat buddies, would you? You might say things differently to a networking group versus your family right?Google plus was built with these social norms in mind, and has a solution for social structure- called circles, which I’ll talk more about later on.This is a model was much different from telling everyone everything on Facebook news streams and in October Facebook launched “groups” to compete with the Google+ model.
• #4: I know what you’re thinking…AHHHH ANOTHER social network that I don’t have time or patients for…here’s why you should……Every 60 seconds there are 694,455 searches performed on Google….Don’t you want your business to have the best chance of being seen there? Did you know that Google indexes all Google + posts…they DO NOT index facebook or twitter posts.
• #5: In San Diego the demographic of a Home buyers looks similar to Google+ demographics for example Over half of the “Plan to Buy” group is age 18-34,43% are single, incomes are $50-$100K and as we look at the Google + demographics, you’ll see that the stats are similar…45% single, average age 25-34 incomes between$30-149k……..61% of the top 100 brands have joined google +, In December Google + has 40 million users worldwide with 6.8 million in the US.
• #7: 5 Things we like about Google Plus:Hangouts - video conference calls are great for client business meetings or for communicating with employees in other countries or even those that are working at home or on a business trip. It’s free and up to 10 people can participate at one time.Circles - this segmentation ability allows you to target your marketing messages to specific people. You are on one network but can control what information your family, friends, colleagues, clients, prospects and industry peers see.SEO - social and sharing activities that are taking place on Google itself are being indexed and allows Google to collect more data and information about you and your network. This could affect page rankings and search results as Google tries to give results more relevant results based on  various social signals, your interests and your social graph.Detailed conversations – Twitter updates and Facebook statuses limit you to a certain number of available characters. Which is also one of its advantages; receiving information in a succint and concise manner. In Google+ you have the option to be as succinct or as elaborate as you like. You can post shorter updates and comments or you can post more detailed questions and comments to encourage debate and interaction within your network.Plus 1 - in your Google plus profile there is a ‘+1′ tab which stores all the links, articles, websites, videos and photos that a user has +1′ed. This is a good way of keeping track of what kind of content  people like and makes it easier for others to see what their friends and peers have +1′ed. Are you more likely to click on a link if you have seen that someone you trust finds it relevant?
• #14: Brand pages were launched after Google + on October 20th, 2011. This brought their traffic up in the us from 5.1 million users to 6.5 million users…allowing brands to play a role in the Google + network was a great strategic move for Google +.
• #15: The brand page is where you announce your specialty. This is where you share your expert advice, promote your community knowledge, tell the story of why You are the agent, broker, real estate company of choice.Brands cannot add people into circles
• #16: include links to your G+ page where ever you can. Just like your doing with other social media avenues….use on email signatures, blogs, websites, resumes, business cards, and other social networks.Same Social rules apply: Use language that is consistent with the rest of your branding & marketing language, and that pitches your company to people in the most brief way possible (the “tagline” for your business should be short, sweet, descriptive and should draw people in). Make sure your image is a clear and appropriate representation of your company. Once you have built up your page, filled out all your info, added some pictures, and shared some content, “promote your page” by having all company employees share it on their Google + streams (and other social networks). If your employees don’t have Google + accounts – change that. Everyone should be participating, as getting your brand page off the ground is truly a group effort.As soon as you get enough followers and garner enough interest, try to hold a hangout with those interested in your business – and make sure the people involved are at the top tier of your management hierarchy. If you are a creative-based company, host hangouts among fans and your designers, writers, etc – let people pick the collective brain of those behind your company’s creative output. Don’t make a commercial, though (like the Muppets reportedly did, in the first hangout ever held by a business page) – make sure you are truly talking about what people want to be discussing with you, and let them actively participate in the conversation.Use your Google + page like it’s any other form of social media – which means, continually updating it (never just create a page and leave it alone thinking its existence is enough – it’s 2011 people, get with it!), respond to those talking about your company on Google +, and be engaging. Try to create value for your page by answering people on other social networks – like Twitter, and then directing them to Google + for a more comprehensive response/a blog post on the topic, etc.
• #17: The “About” section in Google Plus is much more robust than the “Info” section in your Facebook page. Increase your sites visibility by using +1, all the links you post on Google+ from your website tell everyone to +1 your posts!
• #18: Circles are a great way to ensure your posts are segmented to people in the circles you establish. Remember no one in a google circle can see each other, so your decisions remain private. Gogole Circles are more akin to private twitter lists or facebook friends lists. Find a balance between how many people are in a single circle and the number of circles you have overall. Bring various aspects of communication into your circles, including podcasts, photos. Use circles in prospecting or to collect information for a strategic venture. Circles are an excelelnt way to maintain fresh connections with family and friends you don’t see often.
• #21: It’s easy to get caught up in social networking and spending hours and hours of endless time posting, sharing, creating, but if at the end of the day it doesn’t help you meet prospective buyers or sellers, it’s not worth it….With every new social opportunity, you will need to revisit your social strategy and have a plan. Be sure you are asking yourself, who is your target audience? How will I use social networks to meet/engage with my target audience, and then…develop a plan, how much time/money will you spend on social networks?