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When Google launched its social networking service, Google Plus, during the summer of 2011, tens of millions of people clamoured to sign up for an account. But within months, critics had panned the new service, pointing to user pages bereft of meaningful content and exchanges. They said the new social site just wasn't, well, social. It seemed as though Facebook had cornered the market -- Google was too late to the party. Perhaps not. According to data released this week by Internet analytics firm GlobalWebIndex, Google Plus is racking up large numbers of new users and continues to outpace Twitter as the world's number two social network, behind perennial titan Facebook. The reasons behind Google Plus's growth -- it now can boast 359 million active users, up 33 percent from 269 million users at the end of June 2012, according to GlobalWebIndex -- are complex and tied to Google's effort to build a connecting layer across all its services, including search, YouTube, maps and other products. Log into one, and you've logged into the lot....
Will Google fold YouTube, Gmail and Places into Google Plus? Suddenly 1.5 billion users on one platform, with Businesses having only one Page to manage. Good or no? Oh, and Google’s Authorship Markup suddenly screws with your SEO (search engine optimisation) and SMO (social media optimisation) in ways that you can only imagine. (Google’s SMO search algorithm) The images show the eery similarity between the rebranding of YouTube into OneChannel and Google Plus. Of course Google Plus could get a new name of OneChannel instead?...
If all of the business to business marketers could come up to the front of the room please? Now, could you raise your hand if you think Twitter is the number one social platform for business? Hmm…wow, B2B Marketing is right. 85% of you chose Twitter as your number one social platform. LinkedIn? A close second with 82%. YouTube and Facebook? 77% and 71%. Finally, Google+? (Quick count) Yep, 36%. That’s actually higher than I expected so go Google....
Marketing trend? 'Glamour' is monetizing its Hangouts by bringing product placements into the mix.... In the two years since its launch, publishers large and small have experimented with Google Hangout to host group video chats with well-known guests, readers and staff, hoping to engage readers and attract new followers. Now, Google is helping publishers monetize their efforts. On Monday, Glamour magazine is launching a month-long series of Hangouts featuring staffers, online personalities — and products. Eight of the nine Hangouts are sponsored by a company, whose products are featured centrally in the content. In a Hangout for Unilever-owned Suave, for example, DIY blogger Erica Domesek will show how to make hair accessories for hair styled by Suave stylists. A L'Oreal-sponsored Hangout with Glamour stylist Annabel Tollman will show viewers how to wear ombré hair, as colored by Loreal's Féria Wild Ombré product....
How many of you want to use Google Plus but don’t know how to get started; even if it’s only creating your Google Plus profile? Setting out to use a complex and robust social media platform like Google+ is daunting. My Polish grandmother used to say, “You can’t start to use what you haven’t built, and you can’t build anything without a blueprint.” I wanted to give you the blueprint to help you build your Google+ profile. Google reports that 235 million users are using Google+ to +1 content, video chat with friends, and share content among friends. While only 135 million people are using the platform monthly, the newest update (and this blueprint to build the perfect Google Plus profile) might activate a larger and more engaged audience! Building and using an optimized Google Plus profile will help to make you more accessible to others. Your contacts will find it easy to discover your content and updates with a well-built Google Plus profile page....
If you've been sitting on the sidelines expecting Google+ to fade away, forget it. No serious marketer can afford to ignore the implications of Google+ and authorship. This guide will help you navigate the often confusing landscape that is Google+.
Google’s algorithm that informs how search results are ranked constantly evolves. However, one element is clearly important: how your business fares on Google+. So in case 250 million users, 150 million of which are active, isn’t enough reason to entice you to incorporate Google+ into your company’s social media marketing, ranking higher in search results is definitely a reason to get involved. That and the fact that Google adds more than 10 million new users each month. While Google hasn’t come out and said exactly how Google+ figures into its SEO equation, social media experts have a pretty good idea of how it all works. “Google is using the number of +1s, shares and general activity on Google+ as a ranking factor in the personal results of logged-in users,” said Mike Arnesen, senior SEO analyst at SwellPath. “This even extends out to the second degree, so friends of your friends will be affected when you +1 pages.”...
Google was founded on a simple principle -- some web pages are more important than others. How is that importance quantified? Ideally, it's based on the
Via Barb Lack
Let’s start with a test: type Coca Cola into the magic Google form. The results are just a calibrated mix of brand websites and PR initiatives such as micro-sites, social media accounts, news, images and videos. One new feature you might notice however, is the latest introductions to Google+ – the authorship mark-up. Among its functions as a social media platform, is that the authorship system makes it possible to connect online journalists’ Google+ profiles into their published articles. In turn it provides journalists with abnormal ranking power for articles they are signing off on, using their Google+ profile These can quickly build up ranking levels proportionally to the importance of their publishers and to the number of people in their Google+ circles. Journalists with a high number of Google+ followers are gaining huge visibility online and their articles can jump straight....
A PR Pro's Guide to Google+ Communities and our prediction for its success ...The concept of a group discussion site is nothing new (think Facebook Groups, Yahoo! Groups and LinkedIn groups) but what sets Google+ Communities apart is the integration of the topical groups into the social platform. For example, members of a group can capitalize on the hangout feature of Google+ and take part in a video chat within the group. Additionally, because the communities ‘live’ on Google, the Events calendar feature is enabled within communities, allowing photo sharing and event management to happen more easily. One of the biggest differences in Google+ Communities versus other discussion groups is that you don’t have to actually visit the community’s URL to take part in the conversation. Users can share links directly with their communities simply using the +1 button that is now integrated into most social sharing technologies. Another function unique to Google+ Communities is that conversations can be tagged and categorized, so members can find pieces of the discussion that are most relevant to them....
2012 was Google+'s first full year in operation, so what did Google's young social network achieve in the past year? How many active users does Google+ have ...2012 was Google+’s first full year in operation, and it’s been an eventful one for the site. Google has spent much of the year rolling out new features and heavily promoting those already available on the site. But in spite of its barrage of promotion, we are still unsure how many people actually use the site....
So who is actually using the site? According to an infographic released by Google 500 million users have “upgraded” to Google+, meaning they have logged in and had a look around the site. Of this half billion, Google says that it has 235 million active users posting on the site....
On the same day that Larry Page became Google’s CEO for the second time, he ordered a redesign of all its products.
Google Search’s designers are treating what was once just an ugly list of links like a software application.
Google+ is a social media network that most people don't seem to understand. It has now been with us in the social web ecosystem for over 12 months and has now reached over 400 million users. Google+ offeres capabilities that make connecting and engaging online globally, richer and easier than in the past.
The following three features are valued by many users on Google+....
[This INFOgraphic offers terrific tips to maximize the impact and reach of Google+ ~ Jeff]
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As users and marketers are maturing in the use of social media, platform providers are also entering a new stage in their life cycles. In the following, you will find three pertinent social media trends that will shape the social media world as we know it.... Google+ looks like it's building momentum as the social media channel of the future...
First, there was the internet. Then, social media came along. Now, the newest untamed frontier is ‘human media.’ That is to say, human media is a closer, more personal form of social media, but where people communicate face to face, as opposed to communicating through text. And more and more people and businesses are starting to realize just how big human media is and is going to be. What Is Human Media? Human media connects people more intimately than regular social media sites. Through platforms like Google+, and using tools like G+ Hangouts, people and businesses are able to defy geographic distances to talk face to face. The entire world is at your disposal, as you can join or watch Hangouts in an infinite number of topics. You can join or watch Hangouts that are cooking lessons, virtual knitting circles, financial advice, DIY projects, medical care, and so much more. If you can think of it, a G+ Hangout can be done on it....
...While Morter's campaigns began on Twitter, changes in the social networks have altered his approach, with Facebook sidelined in favour of Twitter and the rising Google+. "It's only going to get bigger," Morter says. "It was a slow start but I genuinely think Google+ is going to be one of the big players. It's so integrated with Google itself now and with their tie-in to YouTube it will get bigger. Unofficially, I believe the Google +1 button really does help your search engine optimisation on Google, I've got no doubts about that whatsoever, so for that side of things I think it's a vital tool." Google announced in December last year that the number of active monthly users on the site had increased to 135 million. The network integrates with other Google products, such as search, gmail, calendar and drive, and all new gmail accounts are Google+ enabled....
On April 4th at 6:30pm Pacific Time I put up a blog post on this site and shared it on Twitter and Google+ (note: this was 12:30pm on April 5th in Sydney, where I hit publish). Over the next 24 hours, something very curious and new occurred – Google+ drove as many visits to the post as Twitter did, and received a matching amount of engagement, despite the fact that my follower counts on the two networks is dramatically different (Twitter is nearly 2X Google+)...
Four steps to improve your Google Plus profile visibility in search engines and make your online profile stand out from the others....
There are many public relations professionals who joined Google+ and share articles and interesting findings on this network. Communities are great places to keep in touch with PR peeps who share the same passion and interests, to exchange ideas, get tips and feel the pulse of the industry. Below are ten Google+ Communities you should consider joining. They are listed based on the number of members, and cover a wide range of PR, communications and marketing aspects so that all the PR people on Google+ can find something that meets their interests.
No matter how much encouraging news appears online about Google+, it's become hard for people, marketing-inclined or not, to shake the feeling that G+ "isn't worth the time." Most marketers and community managers say one of several things about...
I’m always amazed by Google+ profiles with over a million followers. How do people do it when most of us have a mere handful of friends on there? Viral marketing? Group eBook writing and promotion? Running on stage during one of those political debates? None of these seemed to account for arriving at that many followers. (Because it actually boils down to a whole lot more) In this post I’ll explain how to black belt in Google+. I’m no master, yet, but I have realized there are a few strategies out there to judo chop this social network that don’t exist at all on Facebook and Twitter. Let’s take a look....
Now, we’ve never kept it a secret here at Weidert Group that we were not big Google+ fans when it first debuted. While we’ve had a business page and most of us have personal pages, we’ve not given Google+ the love and attention we’ve dedicated to other platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter and even Facebook. But as we’ve watched the growth in features and effectiveness, relegating this social media channel to a second-tier status just doesn’t seem to be a good strategy anymore. Successful Inbound Marketing is predicated on being found when relevant prospects conduct an Internet search. Why not dedicate some time to a social media tool that will improve your chances? We know it’s going to take some convincing, but here are 4 reasons you should add Google+ to your social media marketing resolutions for 2013...
By now, you’re probably aware that Google+ Hangouts on Air are the LIVE version of regular Hangouts and they allow any individual (or brand) to broadcast live anywhere, anytime. This sounds fun and easy, but the amount of time required for pre-planning is directly related to how successful your (or your client’s) broadcast will be. Having just pulled off a successful live broadcast on behalf of our client Xerox, we wanted to share our top 5 things to keep in mind when planning one to make sure you’re fully prepared and ensure no last-minute surprises come up. Here are our Top 5 tips to keep in mind when planning a live broadcast (such as the Xerox “Ask the Experts” Episode we executed)...
...What if I told you there is now a place where all those things you did from your Facebook Groups to develop a relevant and interested audience for your business, could be done easier, smarter, more effectively, and free of charge?
Google+ Communities, because of the added services available to Google+ Users and integration with all the other benefits of the Google infrastructure, simply blows Facebook Groups out of the water.
There are four types of Google+ Communities available: Two are private Communities, and another two are Public. Anyone can join a Public Community and create posts, leave comments on others posts, share images and video, join a Hangout. The owner of a public community has the option of leaving the community unrestricted, or can make community membership subject to an invitation, or approval from a Community Moderator.... [J.C. Kendall provides an in depth look at the advantages of the new Google+ Communities. A must-read if you're a business frustrated with Facebook ~ Jeff]
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Google Plus is beginning to overtake Twitter. Why? Well, they're horses for courses. For micro-communications and riffing, there's no question that Twitter fits the behaviour of people perfectly. But for focus, more intimate sharing, discussion and depth - real socialisation, rather than intermittent chatting - Google Plus is far more effective.
The real question is: what kind of conversation is more rewarding - and what do people and businesses respond to in the form of brand identification, purchasing and loyalty?
There is room for both. We need both short-term and longer-term communications and understanding. As to which is more useful? As with any argument the best idea is that they reinforce each other.