Last month we
explored how LinkedIn can help you
exploit social media. This week, I’m covering Google+.
 |
| Google+ for Business |
Remember, each social media platform has its strengths and weaknesses. And adopting every platform is neither practical nor advisable.
The main point you should consider is whether a particular platform or combination of platforms works for you.
Without further ado, let’s look at what Google+ offers your business.
Why B2B Marketers Should Consider Google+
B2B marketers
have a tough job. You need to nurture and generate leads, increase website
visibility, build brand, promote new products, services, and events, and
develop thought leadership. Oh… and create buzz.
There are lots of
social media platforms to choose from. So why pick Google+?
As you’ll
discover, Google+ has many practical
and easy-to-use features. Its usage is growing and so are its capabilities.
[Google’s vaunted R&D constantly looks at how to improve its products.]
That said,
Google+ offers B2B marketers the social media tools they need to do their jobs
effectively and efficiently. Specifically, I’ll focus on Circles, Hangouts, and
SEO – all features designed to enhance the promotion of your business.
Google+ Circles
– Targeted Updates to Selected Audiences
One of the keys
to effective marketing is effective messaging. You achieve that by aligning your message to a particular audience. Do
that and you’ll improve your marketing ROI and engagement.
Google+ has a
useful feature that allows you to create “Circles” or groups of individuals
with a common interest. For example, prospects could make up one circle and
existing customers another.
Google+ Circles
allow you to tailor your message to your audience. For a message that targets
prospects, only those in your "prospects" circle would see your post. Similarly,
a message meant for existing customers would only be seen by those in your "existing customers" circle.
As you build out
your Circles, you’ll soon see your streams organized by the groups with which you interact. Also, you can add Google+ Circles to Gmail, giving you a handy
distribution list.
Another nifty
feature of Circles is the ability to create “Hangouts”.
Google+ Hangouts
- Live Meetings
Hangouts gives
your business a powerful, real-time capability to connect with employees,
prospects, and customers. You can conduct online meetings, show videos, share
maps, etc. with up to 10 people.
This is a
valuable feature because it allows you to personalize your business in
real-time. With Hangouts you can:
- Make last minute changes to plans.
- Connect with key customers to improve customer service.
- Develop deeper relationships, reinforcing off-line contact.
- Build your brand and announce special promotions and events.
Google+ Hangouts is
versatile. You can join from your desktop or an Android or Apple device using a
Hangouts app.
In the
transportation and logistics industry, communication and collaboration are critical
to success. Hangouts’ connectivity can easily take your business to
the next level.
Google+ Search and SEO
Using Google+
search opens Google+ to you to keep
abreast of trends, changes in your industry and what your competition’s doing.
Within Google+
search you can search for people, pages and posts. And it doesn't stop there.
You can also search against Photos, Communities [more about that later], Events
and Circles.
Now a word about
boosting your findability on the web.
An
equally powerful feature is what Google+ does for your company’s findability.
As you build your presence on Google+, you obviously increase your findability.
You
have many options to improve your SEO. Here are 7 things you can do
immediately.
- Link Blogger to your Google+ page.
- Install a Google+ badge on your website.
- Link your Google+ page to your website.
- Link article bylines on your website to Google+.
- Increase social signals by posting more frequently.
- Increase social signals by growing your circles.
- Make more social comments and increase +1s of others’ posts.
Implement
these steps to improve your overall findability.
Google affords you many ways to improve your findability using Google+ and Blogger. Use these to your advantage.
I've covered many benefits of Google+. Now
it’s time to discuss Blogger.
Google’s Blogger – Competitive Work
Horse
Blogger has been around for a long time, speaking
in terms of social media. It remains a popular choice because of its ease of
use and it’s also free. And Blogger hasn’t remained stagnant. New capabilities
have been added and continue to be added.
It offers a fair amount of customization allowing for
customizing your domain name. That works well for business blogging.
It's not as full-featured as WordPress, but you still
have many options.
Here are the benefits you get with Blogger:
- Target-ability – Includes Pages to segment topics and labels (similar to hashtags).
- Reach – As expansive as the World Wide Web.
- Content variety – Easily accommodates all manner of content types.
- Thought leadership – Establish industry thought leadership with regular posting.
- Usage/Stickiness – No available stats, but this would be unique to each B2B blog.
- Google+ for Mobile – As Android devices flood the market, this feature will grow.
B2B
Social Media Trends for Google+ and Blogger
Google
came late to social media but has made great strides. And Google continues to
make great strides as it evolves. Google+ is a dynamic social media platform.
Programmers constantly look for ways to make social media friendlier and easier
to use.
Communities is
one feature I didn't cover. But here people with similar interests gather to
share their thoughts and ideas. It’s a great place to develop your business’s
thought leadership and learn from your industry peers. And you’ll likely develop new relationships
and add members to your Circles.
As sharing
information becomes the norm, Communities stands to grow as its value to
business gradually increases. Communities helps foster deeper relationships, which further binds the
ties with prospects and customers. The integration with other Google products should also help its
growth.
If your business
can benefit from visual marketing, then Google+ has the answer. Another new feature
- Collections - makes use of visual
marketing similar to Pinterest. Here you post collections of videos and photos,
organized by topic, to promote your business.
What’s next? I don’t know. But as you can see Google isn't yielding any ground on the social media front. It’s becoming a one-stop-shop
for all things social.
Again, closer
integration with Blogger and Google+ as well as other Google products are probably being planned.
Conclusion
Both Google+ and Blogger are potent on their own. However, when you combine them,
you get a social media tool that’s even more powerful.
You get
what a B2B marketer needs. This combination offers you customization,
flexibility, and variety. Used together, your content will be more effective
because it’s tailored, visual, and entertaining. They make for a compelling
social media strategy.
And don’t
forget, prospects will find your content more easily. You’ll enjoy the enhanced
search that comes with Google
integration.
Google+ and Blogger aren't the top-rated social media platforms, but there isn't anything you need
that both don’t provide. Add to that Google’s drive to give you the best of
breed, you’ll be hard-pressed not to consider this dynamic duo.
If you have any
questions, as always you may contact me by phone or email. Comments? I’d like
to know what you think. You can comment directly on my blog.
Here are some links
for additional information about Google+.
http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/
Also, checkout this article on social media strategy: How to Craft an Effective Social Media Strategy
Also, checkout this article on social media strategy: How to Craft an Effective Social Media Strategy
Thanks and have a
great week!
Alex Milo
B2B Copywriter and
Consultant
“Helping Transportation and Logistics
Companies Generate Leads with Compelling Content”
Phone:
256-886-4684
Email: amilo@b2bcopywriting-alexmilo.com
Email: amilo@b2bcopywriting-alexmilo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment