In just one month Google+ illustrated exponential growth reaching 20 million users in early August 2011. Following this event, Google removed several business accounts from Google plus (such as Ford and Sesame Street), but left other brands such as Mashable (because it transferred the brand to a person – Pete Cashmore) to play in beta. Though there has been an announcement that Google+ will be open to the public shortly, many businesses are wondering when they can create their own proper business page. Let’s explore the importance of preparing your brand for that eventuality and some things you can do in the mean time to prepare. So why should your brand really care about being on another social platform anyway? Is this just another channel for engagement? Well, if you care about your company’s online reputation and its search ranking, consider these downloading our PDF.

1. Google+ for Business Presented by: Ja-Nae Duane Director of Social Media, Overdrive Interactive 38 Everett St. | Allston, Massachusetts 02134 | 617-254-5000 | www.OverdriveInteractive.com

2. Google+ Overview

3. What is Google+ and why should I care? Google+ is Google's Social Networking Initiative. Currently, Google+ is available to individuals for personal accounts. Soon, there will be a version for businesses.

4. Google+ Components "Huddles" allow for text chatting with a friend or group of friends via mobile or desktop. "Posts" are for posting status updates. "Circles" allow targeted grouping to sort and manage friends along with sharing information with specific circles. Sparks" for offering videos and articles users might like. "Photos" are shared libraries from those in your circles and those you post to them. "Hangouts" are for group video chatting with up to 10 people. You can also watch YouTube videos together. And if you "like" something?

5. In one month, Google+ has grown to 20 million users. Google Growth: Fast and Furious

6. Google Growth vs Facebook and Twitter It took Facebook and Twitter over two years to reach 20 million users.

7. Google+ Advantage: Social Search Impact Tremendous Impact on Social Search Simply put, Google+ is a search engine integrated with real time cloud based communication for sharing all types of media. Whether you are posting about your brand or a customer is posting about your brand, there are significant search engine optimization (SEO) implications. Those implications involve getting better search engine rankings and faster, real-time results in those rankings.

8. Google+ Advantage: Friends with Benefits Friends on G+ = Better Rankings Since 2009, Google’s Social Search results have had content from people you know to rank higher, when you’re logged into Google. Let’s say I’m logged into my Google Account, and I search on Google for [uncle zhou queens]. I’ve heard a lot of great things about this restaurant, and we’re visiting NYC soon, so we want to figure out all the best eats in town. I also happen to have Andrew Hyatt in one of my Google+ circles. Oh, and it turns out he just made a public post on his Google+ account about Uncle Zhou in Queens [...] Now not only do I get some great reviews on the web, I get a review from a friend about a restaurant with recommendations about what dishes to order. Source: Huffington Post An example:

9. Most you are familiar with Google for its search engine, Gmail and Google Docs among its large group of product offerings. For the last few years they have offered most of those products to businesses in a platform called Google Apps for Business. It is a cloud-based platform of Google products and partner solutions that allow you to connect, collaborate and manage your business. Google+ Advantage: Google Apps for Business This is compelling because you would have one central place to manage your business, promote your products, communicate with customers and really have everything you need in one platform. For instance, what if you ran your web site on Google Sites. Using Google+ could make engagement with your customers incredibly simple and productive. Another example is using Google Cloud Connect along with the Google+ “Huddle” feature – instant webinar or video conversation to get your presentation ready.

10. GETTING YOUR BUSINESS READY FOR GOOGLE+

11. Google+ is not available for businesses... yet . But there are things you can do to prepare your brand for Google+

12. Google +1 is an entirely different program that Google+ which allows for anyone, even if they are not in Google+ to indicate that they like a page directly to Google. Utilize the Google+ Button We know that “Liking” something (page, comment, wall post) on Facebook does impact the relevance in the Google algorithm in a positive way. Google has previously said that gaining +1s can help improve your ranking for those who have directly clicked the +1 button for your content, as well as for those they are connected to . In addition, it can show even those who aren’t connected or using +1 an overall count for your page, should it appear for them naturally. It has interesting SEO implications because you are indicating in the same fashion to Facebook’s “Like” button that a piece of content should have more relevance.

13. People need to feel a personal connection to a product or service and having someone that would be a face of the brand (like Mashable is doing with Pete Cashmore) is important to be a part of the conversation with customers. This might seem familiar to you if you were utilizing Facebook for your business in early days when it was just individual pages and groups. By having employees out there as brand representatives it allows you to be on Google+ now and get a lead on your competitors while Google gets the formal business offering ready. Create a “Face of the Brand”

14. There are default Circles for “Friends”, “Family” and “Following” but you can create any kind of circle. Circles on interests or likes, circles on specific interests or likes. This will allow you to segment out how you interact and what content you distribute to them. Why is this really powerful? Form Google “Circles” Circles are extremely compelling because you add people dynamically it doesn’t require a two-part permission.

15. Google+ posts, equivalent to the Facebook wall is the feature likely to be used the most. Links found here are valuable links for SEO and this is also likely to be the place where the most dynamic links are found. Add Value to the Conversation with Posts Because of this, it is likely that Google may only assign short-term weight to these links. A caution to those who might think that this is a place to flood the world with content and not realize it – if you are noisy people will turn you off or just delete you as quickly from their circle as they added you.

16. Complete Your "About Me" Page You will want to make sure that your profile page is complete and robust. This may be of great advantage to users with their own blogs, and indeed brands and businesses who have subscribed for the opportunity to set up business pages on Google+ akin to brand pages on Facebook. Depending on the authority of the user or brand, these static links may be of more value than those in Google+ posts. This is especially important if you are representing your brand as is will essentially be your business brand page for now.

17. When you initially click on the “Sparks” conversation you are presented with very generalized topics to help you find relevant information you might have an interest in. However, the search box at the top is where the magic happens. Type in a search term like your company name or terms you have used in some social media monitoring and viola – you have not only instant feeds of information you just created a personalized social media monitoring channel. Monitor Conversations with Google+ “Sparks”

20. Do the following with your brand: Google+ Readiness Checklist Get Personal Profile Page Completed Start Building Your Circles Post Content, +1 Content and Add Value Run some Hangouts and Huddles Add Sparks to Monitor Conversations Identify Brand Ambassadors Engage on a Daily Basis!

22. Questions and Answers Ja-Naé Duane Director of Social Media at @ ovrdrv http://www.OverdriveInteractive.com Twitter: @TheSunQueen Facebook.com: www.Facebook.com/JaNaeDuane