What Google+ Means for You (Marketers)

What means for you Alisa Leonard Vice President, Marketing Strategy iCrossing

The basics…

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Streams – connect with people


Circles – manage people


Sparks – discover content


Hangouts – connect in real-time

So what does it mean for you?


Perspective Google+ is not another social destination site

Google+ promises to continue to enhance the relationship between search and social

Combined with use of +1, Google+ promises to drive greater bought, earned & owned media synergy

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Not another social destination Building a social web


Laying the foundation for a social web

•  Focused on creating a social layer – social data that could permeate nearly every Google product

•  Social identity, content and activities connect across web services– from Google+ to Search and Maps

•  This means a more customized, user-centric web experience


The new social CRM – hyper customization

CIRCLES ALLOW MARKETERS TO CUSTOMIZE SOCIAL CONTENT TO SPECIFIC AUDIENCE SEGEMENTS


Search + Social Algorithm + Human Interaction


The question for marketers:

Can you improve your short- and long-term natural search performance by becoming active in Google+?


The answer:

Yes. The backbone of search & social synergy is content & social signals


Sparks – social content

•  Similar to “most shared” stories in LinkedIn, “most re-tweeted” in Twitter

•  Tends to rank and display

content based on social signal velocity

•  Users can subscribe to topics

at keyword level •  Expected to become a signal

for web search in the future


+1 – social signal

•  The +1 appears to be Google’s primary social signal

•  +1’s live in Google+, Google Search and now your web site

•  Aggregated +1’s increase

visibility in search & social

•  Receiving +1’s requires better content and active engagement


Content best practices

•  Editorial Insights. Develop a content program based on search and social insights that cater to your target audience (segments)

•  Customization. Customize editorial programs by Circle segmentation; create multiple editorial calendars that map messaging to audience segment

•  Ritualized Content. Communities respond best to ritualized content;

identify top topics and content formats that receive the most interaction and create recurring content events (e.g. “Tuesday Tips”)

•  Publishing Primetime. Monitor and measure when content posts receive the most interaction and adjust publishing schedule to maximize social signals


Community management best practices

•  Balanced Diet. A community must have a “balanced diet” of content

and conversation. Community managers should turn published brand content into consumer-centered conversations

•  A/B Testing. Just like paid media, content and engagement tactics should be tested, refined and formalized into day to day execution best practices.

•  Escalation. Establish a clear path for escalation so that no comment goes left unanswered or ignored. Unanswered comments lead to mismanagement and lost opportunities


Bought, Earned & Owned Synergy An illustration


The relationship between Google+ and the +1 means that a consumer’s social graph could be connected with actions across natural search, paid media, and web content (Let’s see what this could look like)


Bought + earned

A paid media program using +1 could extend its reach through targeting a user’s social graph who +1’d an ad, and capture audiences in a social database (the +Page) for ongoing messaging and engagement beyond the paid campaign


Amplified earned: search + social

All of that brand content and engagement shared through the +Page in turn creates visibility in natural search (“flooding the zone” of a SERP with all brand touch points – from site to social)


Earned + owned

•  A customer that +1’s content (or a product) broadcasts a recommendation to friends, generating earned media impressions and word-of-mouth

•  Additionally, that customer may be asked to join the brand's +Page circles (capture for CRM)

•  Your site content benefits from improved search visibility from social signals


In summary


Remember the 3Cs of Google+

Content. Success in Google+ is predicated on quality, frequently published content.

Community. Building community is crucial– it impacts brand engagement and how content moves and spreads across the web (including how visible it becomes in search).

Customization. Google+ will offer more flexibility and customized brand engagement with specific audiences due to the Circles feature.

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Get started

•  Get personal. Set up a personal account and familiarize

yourself with the platform until +Pages are launched.

•  Asses your current social media programs. Are your programs centered around content and proper engagement techniques? Are you thinking about your current social programs in a holistic manner with search?

•  Test & learn. iCrossing’s Live Media Studio & SEO teams have developed Google+ best practices and starter programs

Thank you! Alisa Leonard

[email protected] @alisamleo

“We Build Connected Brands”

iCrossing

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What Google+ Means for You (Marketers)