23 - Google+ 101 With The Stacey Harris

As a person who has opened up Google+ numerous times, then walked away after completely being overwhelmed, I personally had a ton to learn during this Tip Tuesday.  The Stacey Harris joined us to break down why Google+ is so important, how you should be utilizing it, and the important areas you should concentrate on when filling out your profile and page.

Why do you need to be on Google+? ‘Because it’s a social media network backed by a search engine.’  Google Authorship, along with the search capabilities within it, are mind blowing. 

What are the terms we really need to understand in Google+?  Profiles are profiles just like they are in Facebook.  From there, you can set up a Page for your business, again, just like in Facebook.  When you connect with people instead of ‘friending’, you circle with people.  Groups like in Facebook care called Communities.  Chats, are called Hangouts in Google Plus.

The benefits to Google+ are that in Facebook there’s a rule that you cannot market your business on your personal profile.  In Google+, that’s not the case.  In Pages, you can set someone else as a manager versus logging into your account.  Also pages are transferable.  You can just transfer that page to another page, you wouldn’t have to lose that and start over.  It’s also very simple to schedule to Google+ pages.  The big social media managers (pre schedule promotions) you can do that with pages, but it’s a lot harder to do with profiles.

Where do you start on Google+ profile or page?  They both do layout very similarly.  With pages you won’t see as many things.  The first place you want to go to is the About area, you’ll see a place called Story.  Make sure you fill in your tagline (and make sure that’s short).  Then you enter your introduction.  This is your chance to tell people who you are and what you do.  This is also customizable (you can bold and italicize and even link).  Fill in your work (all of this is searchable).  Make sure you put in all of your contact information. 

How do you go about finding people to circle with?  Always advice people to start with their other networks.  If you’re active on Facebook, put a post out there with your Google+ link.  You’ll also have the opportunity to go to communities.  You can then connect with people there.  You can search for communities by using the search functionality within Google+.

How should you set up your circles? Stacey suggests setting up a ton of different circles.  That way you can post specifically to different groups and target your content.   (Plus you can get a good idea of what your target client is struggling with.)

Google Authorship is set-up through your profile.  So at least fill out your information, so if they’re arriving there through Google Authorship, you have that info filled out.

Stacey suggests also taking advantage of Google Hangouts, and using them for webinars. 

What you’re posting on Google+ should be content driven with image along with hashtags.  You can also create a call to action.  

More About Stacey:  The Stacey Harris is a powerhouse online entrepreneur helping her clients reach rock star status with communities full of raving fans who follow them anywhere. She has a passion for building and being active in communities and teaching folks to use networking to build relationships that grow businesses.

Her passion for rock stars goes back to her roots, she graduated with a degree in audio engineering ready to take the music scene by storm. She quickly started working with an up and coming record label finding bands to sign and feature on their web radio station. Now returning to her web radio roots Stacey is the host of her own show Hit the Mic with The Stacey Harris.

You can find out more and connect with The Stacey Harris at www.thestaceyharris.com and over on Twitter at @TheStaceyHarris.