Savvy business owners and marketers would be wise to learn how to use Google+ effectively.
With an appetizing combination of massive search engine capabilities and a familiar social media interface, Google+ can help any company connect with relevant communities, contact major industry players, and track audience reception to its online product.
[tweetable alt="#SEO #marketers can use #GooglePlus #networking to boost their @google ranking, more than @facebook and @twitter" hashtag=""]And by maximizing the networking service’s clear benefits–more so than Facebook’s or Twitter’s–marketers can take a shortcut on Google SEO.[/tweetable] For this reason, business owners looking for the latest marketing angle should heed these five advanced tips for exploiting the advantages of Google+.Make Use of Analytics
Although the minutiae of analytics are undeniably daunting, it’s best to tackle the monster head-on. [tweetable alt="#GooglePlus from @google has plenty of juicy #analytics capabilities, don't for get to use them!" hashtag=""]Google+ has plenty of juicy analytics capabilities[/tweetable] collectively called “post ripples.” These ripples assess a post’s effectiveness in a number of ways, including tracking the speed of content sharing across the web and keeping tabs on a market’s top influencers.
Some marketers view Google+ analytics as merely a bonus. But in reality, any digital marketer should consider the analytic toolkit an essential function, on the same level as accounting or sales in terms of monitoring company performance.
Become an Influencer and Relate with Others
So-called industry influencers who use Google+ are easy to identify and engage, and one of the best ways to gain the status of expert in your field is to become one of these influencers. To garner the recognition of a force on Google+, you have to start creating opinions and driving traffic, and to achieve this goal, start relating with other industry influencers by grouping them into your relevant circles and following their posts and other sharing activities.
Re-sharing is also a great mechanism for success, as is commenting on posts that truly interest you, or to which you can bring a fresh take. Before long, all of that positive activity will gain you the attention of an influencer in your own right.
Think in Terms of Community
One of the best things about Google+ is its focus on connecting people with similar interests. To facilitate this process, start participating in the Google communities where like-minded people meet up to discuss, debate, and share.
To effectively engage in these communities, ensure that your company’s involvement accurately represents your business or industry. This means that your company should only connect with high-class communities and limit its engagement to helpful and relevant posting. And of course, steer clear of heated debates and outright arguments; the point is to engage, not alienate.
Focus on Link Building
Based on the concept that the more links coming into a webpage, the better, link building has for some time now helped company webpages improve their rankings in general SEO search. Google+ can do the same for webmasters and marketers seeking link-building opportunities. The basic strategy is to use your Google+ posts to not only link to your website, but also to your earlier Google+ posts.
For example, if you wrote a post on January 1 about the science of solar power, you should then include the page’s link in a March 15 post debating the economic viability of wind versus solar. Pointing out these clear threads in your content serves to not only strengthen your profile and website, but also draw in specific audiences by emphasizing your focused subject matter.
Use the +Mention
Google developed the “+Mention” specifically to empower you to grab the attention of another person or organization. To activate this function, simply type “+” or “@” when writing to the third party in the body of a comment or post.
Depending on the person’s notification settings, they may receive a notification that you have mentioned them and informing them of what you wrote. This is a very powerful tool that, if used properly, can grab the attention of your target audience and help start conversations with powerful influencers.