Googleplus for business ebook by Duncan Whyte

Why your business should harness the power of Googleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social network (and how to get started today) Includes bonus section: Hangouts for Business

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................P5 What is Google Plus? .................................................................................................................P7 Google My Business ..................................................................................................................P9 Hangouts On Air (HOA) ........................................................................................................... P11 Google Plus Communities ...................................................................................................... P15 Social Proof and the Knowledge Graph ............................................................................... P17 Semantic Search, Authority, Trust and Influence ............................................................... P19 Personalised Search and the Power of the Plus One ........................................................P21 Plus Post Ads ...........................................................................................................................P23 Segmenting with Circles..........................................................................................................P25 Images, Auto Awesome and Increasing Engagement........................................................P27 Campaigns on Google Plus ....................................................................................................P29 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ P31

Bonus Section: Hangouts On Air for Business Introduction................................................................................................................................P33 Clinique...................................................................................................................................... P34 Topman ......................................................................................................................................P35 Home Shopping Network .......................................................................................................P37 Topshop......................................................................................................................................P39 NIke Air........................................................................................................................................P40 Zales and Glamour Magazine................................................................................................. P41 Manchester United Football Club ..........................................................................................P42 Fox Sports..................................................................................................................................P43 CustomizedWalls .....................................................................................................................P45 Daria Musk.................................................................................................................................P46 Martha Stewartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pre-Oscars Hangout Party!....................................................................P47 Chelsea FC.................................................................................................................................P48

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Mashable....................................................................................................................................P49 Nestlé..........................................................................................................................................P50 Cadbury...................................................................................................................................... P51 Around the Kitchen Table........................................................................................................P52 National Geographic.................................................................................................................P53 NASA Hangout in Space..........................................................................................................P54 VictoriaHomeChat.com...........................................................................................................P55 US Consumer Product Safety Commission.........................................................................P56 Food and Booze Show.............................................................................................................P57 Dell...............................................................................................................................................P58 22 Social.....................................................................................................................................P59 SXSW Conference.................................................................................................................... P60 O’Reilly Media............................................................................................................................ P61 The New England Google+ Meetup.......................................................................................P62 Samsung Camera ....................................................................................................................P63 Comic Relief...............................................................................................................................P65

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business ©Strategy Digital 2014 Written by Kath Dawson Design and Layout by Elisabetta Bruno Edited by Thomas Beard and Nick Ellis

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Introduction

only embraced Google Plus completely the second time around. When Google Plus was first released in June 2011, I, like many other business owners, created a profile, made a few posts and and after finding not much happening I wandered off. I had more pressing things to spend my time on In October 2013, I revisited Google Plus and havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t looked back since. Google Plus is an outstanding business tool that is valuable for business owners in ways that are not always appreciated, and as a result is often bypassed in favour of other social platforms. Encouraging businesses to get involved and embrace Google Plus for the outstanding benefits it offers is something I feel quite passionately about. The benefits are many and timing is everything:

001

Google Plus IS Google - think about that for a minute

002

Discover passionate communities

003

Identify influencers with desirable networks

004

Build relationships quickly

005

Properly interact with your audience

006

Develop brand advocates to leverage your message

007

Give your business credibility and establish authority with Google

008

Increase traffic to your website via Googleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s channels

009

Your competition may or may not be active already

010

There is still time to embrace the advantage offered by early adoption

This book is for business owners, marketing managers and anyone who wants their website to do better in search and reach a wider audience. Here, I hope to provide you with a deeper understanding of the true benefits of Google Plus for your business and why you need to be on Google Plus. Kath Dawson, Creative Director, Strategy Digital

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Google Hangouts Special Features Start at page 32

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

What is Google Plus? Google Plus is Google’s own social platform, and Google appreciates the value of social as a signal

oogle’s own definition of Google Plus is “a social networking platform for discovering and sharing digital content with friends, family and coworkers.” Though this might sound similar to Facebook or Twitter, the manner in which users connect is vastly different. Google Plus is, essentially, a social layer that Google has incorporated across its entire network of products. Hardly an overnight success, Google Plus has slowly been changing how people connect with each other and exchange information online since its release in mid-2011. Google Plus is a much more open and collaborative environment, encouraging more engagement between businesses and customers than on any other social network.

Benefits To Your Business Google Plus is a platform built around engagement. The free tools that Google offers should be a staple in every marketer’s toolkit. With Google Plus, your business will be able to: Take advangate of the interconnectivity to all of Google’s other services Increase visibitily – content you post on Google Plus can rank in search Reach new audiences and make deeper connections with existing ones Have first mover advantage – not many companies are embracing the Google Plus platform

David Amerland on Google Plus: “Hangouts have been the Google+ ‘secret weapon’, offering a compelling reason not just for more online marketing and greater connectivity through the web, but for a different type of online marketing & a different type of connectivity”

Google Plus eBook Title

Build your Brand Page Grow your following by posting relevant, shareable content in order to establish your tribe of brand advocates

Through Google Plus, Cadburyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s followers, clicks and traffic are on the rise: Boosted followers by 150,000 through hangouts 10,000 new followers per day 17% uplift in CTR across AdWords campaigns Increase of 7.5% of traffic from Google URLs

Cadburyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s followers love interacting with Google Plus content: Total +1s on posts: 39,759 Average +1s per post: 74.4 Total shares: 11,243 Average shares per post: 21.3 Total comments: 18,182 Average comments per post: 34.5 Most popular post: 495 comments and 902 reshares

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Google My Business Google’s new tool helps you to set up the right page for your business and serves up insights too

What is Google My Business?

eleased in June 2014, Google My Business greatly simplified local marketing for business owners. What used to be scattered between Google Places, Google Plus Brand Pages, Google Local and more is now consolidated into one interface, ‘Google My Business’. By creating one profile, business owners will have their information fed into all of Google’s services at once. Before you go creating a new account, check to see if there is an existing profile: simply log in to Google My Business, find the profile and request verification. If you find that several profiles exist, fear not, as Google now gives you the option to transfer the information from several profiles into your Brand Page, creating one unified account. There are different categories of pages available to business owners, each providing an important distinction that will tell Google how to display your business’s location. This new interface affords you greater control over how your business is presented by Google, a positive and welcome step.

Benefits To Your Business By being connected to the rest of Google’s services, it’s imperative that businesses have a presence on the social platform that links everything together. Google My Business also offers a suite of social and business metrics to help you monitor your company’s online presence. With Google My Business, you can: Manage the information displayed in Google Maps Manage your business’s Google Plus page Collect and respond to reviews Track views, clicks and user demographics Monitor engagement With almost 90 percent of all searches in the UK done on Google (as of July 2014), there’s huge potential to increase visibility for business just by being active on Google Plus. 9

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Convenient Insights Dashboard with relevant metrics & easy access links

The Google My Business Dashboard allows you to monitor the performance of your profile, as well as quick access to Analtyics and Adwords (not shown on image). Track visits, clicks, engagement, and more, all in one location.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Hangouts on Air (HOA) This unique and powerful tool helps you interact to build an engaged audience

What are Hangouts on Air?

hink Skype video calls recorded live on YouTube. Hangouts on Air are arguably the most powerful feature of Google Plus and completely unlike anything other social networks offer. HOA broadcast live to YouTube, the world’s second largest search engine, increasing audience reach beyond Plus. Invite a number of special guests to take part as presenters, advertise the time and place to a public audience and let the show commence; it’s like a TV programme for your business. The people watching can interact with guests by asking questions, which can be pulled up on the screen for everyone to see and for the guests to address. A new feature coming soon is ‘Shoppable Hangouts’, which will allow you to connect your products to the Hangout so people can buy them directly with just a few clicks. This new technology has been dubbed ‘See Commerce’ and will prove to be an exciting opportunity for marketers. The applications of HOA are almost endless. For inspiration, check out the playlist of HOA Examples we have put together on YouTube: http://goo.gl/jdxsZQ

Benefits To Your Business Hangouts On Air offer a host of benefits to businesses, yet they are still underutilised, especially in the UK. A must-have in every business owner’s toolbox, Google Hangouts will: Help you build your network, cement relationships and engage your target audience more swiftly than any other form of engagement Establish credibility and authority by demonstrating expertise Create a face for your brand, making a more personal and connected experience for your audience Put you ahead of your competition Create ongoing content marketing opportunities through post-production activities such as timestamping, creating video snippets, blog posts and followup engagement with the audience who attended the events

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Hangouts for Business Use your imagination to create an interactive experience

Fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff hosted a Shoppable Hangout, where viewers were treated to a runway show, interviews with models and stylists, and were even able to purchase some of the items shown without having to leave the Hangout.

With the Showcase App, you can show your viewer ‘Cards’ that hold information relevant to your Hangout. Cards can include links to your website, your latest blog post, landing page, a sponsor’s website – anything that you want to push towards your viewers. See the HOA section at the end of this ebook for more great Hangouts on Air examples.

Performance Driven Marketing Google Plus Management

Page management that allows you to leverage the power of Google Plus for business

Get in touch Find out how we can drive forward your digital marketing. Call our Business Development Manager, Mark Poppleton, between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday on 0845â&#x20AC;Ż838 0936 or via our contact form.

Performance Driven Marketing Social Media

Social Media strategies that inspire customers to engage with your business

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Google Plus Communities Tap into relevant shared-interest groups to gain insights and build awareness of your brand

What Are Communities? Google Plus Communities are groups of individuals who share a common interest. Similar to online forums, users from around the world can come together to talk about their shared interests. There are thousands of active communities on Google Plus who are liking, commenting, and sharing content. Anybody can create a Community around any topic. However, many Communities are set up only to be abandoned because they have not been managed in a strategic, well-planned manner. Creating a Community when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still very new to Google Plus is not advisable â&#x20AC;&#x201C; you want to establish a voice first, then try to get that voice heard. Guidelines for well managed Communities are quite strict, particularly when it comes to posting your own content, which is considered spamming. Engage in a Community first so members come to know your brand, hear your voice, understand how you interact and therefore come to value your opinion. Communities exist around most topics and many brands are missing out on the opportunity to engage with this ready-made audience.

Benefits To Your Business Though participating in Communities will take time and effort on your part, the returns to your business can make the effort worth your while, returns such as: Discovering new influencers and potential customers Getting quick engagement and building brand awareness Creating brand advocates through tighter relationships with fans Engaging with customers and people who like what you do creates fans Introducing Community members to a more human side of your business Helping users to see your business as a thought leader Some brands that are using communities successfully on Google Plus are winning with their fans. Cadbury, for example, use their community to identify the most popular user-generated content, which they then share on their Brand Page. They are building awareness, increasing reach, creating more backlinks and generating more traffic through Googleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s channels. 15

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Communities Service Find existing audiences then deliver content they need

Above Pre-existing Communities present a great opportunity to increase awareness and engagement for brands. There are lots of Communities revolving around niche markets, and thousands of members who could potentially engage with your brand.

Left Community boards let you quickly find the people who are most relevant to your business.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Social Proof and Google Plus Google only displays social signals from Google Plus in search results, nothing from Twitter or Facebook! What is Social Proof?

ocial proof is a psychological phenomenon whereby people are more likely to have a positive reaction towards a product or brand if they see that other people like or endorse it. Also known as informational social influence, social proof encourages positive engagement with your brand and increases click throughs from search. When searching for a brand or a business on Google you will often see a box to the right hand side of the search results - the Knowledge Graph - which gives more information about that business. Additional information is often pulled in from Google Plus. If you create and optimise your Google Plus profile, build a strong following and post regularly to your page then the social proof associated with your business is going to be more effective. Information that could be displayed from Google Plus includes follower count, ratings, review snippets or even your latest published post. This social proof can also be included in your AdWords campaigns if you have 100 or more followers. Now an automatic feature, once your Google Plus page and your ads are linked, Google will include all of the endorsements for your business from your Google Plus followers. These endorsements, also known as social annotations, can help persuade and inform users about your business before they even see your page.

Benefits To Your Business Follower count, ratings and reviews are all examples of social proof. Cultivating such proofs can offer myriad benefits to your business, such as: Building credibility in the eyes of new and existing customers Improving click through rates (CTR) Building trust with prospects before they even make contact Helping to build a positive brand reputation When faced with the unknown, people will often turn to others to discern whether your brand is trustworthy. As a result, the more you grow your network on Google Plus, the more likely users are to click through to your site. 17

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Social Security Social Proofs displayed in SERPs encourage confidence

Above: Bob Bob Ricard has some great social proofs showing up in the Knowledge Graph. The box on the right-hand side includes lots of positive reviews, photos, contact information, and their latest Google Plus post. Information like this increases consumer confidence and encourages users to click through to your site.

Left: Your AdWords campaigns can show social annotations. See how Ocado and Tesco have their follower count showing.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Semantic Search, Authority, Trust and Influence The pace of change in search is rapid, so build solid foundations that will stand up to changes Search continues to evolve at a pace that can be hard to keep up with, but it helps to understand how it is changing so as a business you can adapt and embrace new factors and enjoy the benefits. Since 2004, social networks have given people - and most notably consumers - a voice on the web. Over time, that has allowed â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ordinaryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; people to become influential. Combine this with ever increasing processing power and algorithmic developments and you have the evolution of semantic search, which is able to return results to a query based on what it believes the searcher is intending to find. Effectively, search engines understand more about you as an individual from your connections, interactions and search history. At a very high level, it is increasingly important for businesses to establish themselves as an authority, to be able to leverage the reach of relevant influencers, and to have the trust of their customers and followers. In addition to having a great business represented by a great website, it is important to have a strong social presence that sends the right social signals in order to win in search. Building a loyal and satisfied tribe that includes relevant influencers will extend your reach and grow your links naturally, which in turn will contibute to increased search rankings and traffic. It makes sense to build your tribe where your audience currently is, and if your audience is not yet on Google Plus then building a tribe there is building for the future.

Benefits To Your Business Building authority, trust and influence is assisted by creating an engaged community around your brand. You can do this on any social media channel but here are the benefits of doing so on Google Plus: Discovering engaged audiences and influencers to embrace your content Relationship building tools that are second to none: HOA and Circles Early adoption provides opportunities to leverage existing communities, establish a Hangout presence and engage effectively without too much noise

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Good Relations

Google Plus is an excellent platform for building relationships

Google Plus shows you the ‘ripple effect’ of each post: when it’s shared, how it’s shared, and most importantly who is connecting with your content.

Converse has built its tribe via an active community, where fans can show off their own customised Converse sneakers and post inspiration for new ‘Chuck Hacks’.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Personalised Search and the Power of the +1

Take advantage of Plus to get your content ranked in SERPs for users logged into Google What is Personalised Search? Google personalises your search results whether you are signed in to Google or not. However, if you are signed in to your Google account then your results will be even more personalised. This personalisation will be based on what Goolge knows about you, including previous searches and your connections on Google Plus. If a user is following a Brand Page and has interacted with it in the past, that brand’s Google Plus content will show up more often when the user performs a related search through Google. For example, if you have added H&M to your Circles and have interacted with their page, when you search for ‘skirts’, a result from H&M is much more likely to show up. This is why it’s so important for businesses to build relationships with customers on Google Plus and make sure their website content is easily shareable by installing a ‘Share Bar’ on relevant pages. By awarding a +1 or sharing your content, visitors are reinforcing that they find the content relevant.

Benefits To Your Business The SEO benefits to building an engaging Google Plus profile are significant. If you can grow your audience and engage with them on Google Plus then Google will reward you by placing your business in front of these users again and again (not too dissimilar from remarketing). The benefits are therefore: Improve your website’s ranking in search results for connected users Increased traffic due to increased visibility in search Exposing your content to a wider network through the share buttons More social shares mean more eyes on your content and more traffic to your website According to the 2014 Search Engine Ranking Factors, published by Searchmetrics, +1s are understood to be third most important factor in influencing page rankings in SERPs.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Who Shares Wins Getting your content shared opens up new audiences

The image above shows the original content, with the share bar to the left hand side. A share bar ensures your content is easily shareable. The image to the left shows the original content shared on Google Plus, where it received a good number of +1s, comments and reshares.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Plus Post Ads An innovative way of gaining engagement via advertising, Post Ads are new and full of promise

What are Plus Post Ads?

lus Post Ads are a relatively new addition to the Google Plus platform, launched in the Spring of 2014. With Plus Post Ads, Google has found a way to monetise Google Plus without placing a single ad into their users’ streams. Businesses can now take one of their Google Plus posts and use it as an advertisement on any of the partner sites in the Google Display Network. On the partner website, a condensed version of your Plus Post Ad is displayed according to which ad size you specified in the AdWords account manager. If someone hovers over the ad or clicks on it, the post expands to full size. Users can then see the activity on the post and can even +1, comment or share it themselves without ever having to leave the host website. This differs greatly from the Facebook and Twitter advertising models. The only way those networks are currently able to monetise their platform is by including adverts within users’ streams. Facebook also now forces businesses to pay to reach their existing fans; it’s been reported that business pages are only able to reach around five percent of their fanbase via organic posting.

Benefits To Your Business Plus Post Ads are in their infancy so testing which content resonates with which audiences will be necessary. If you get it right the benefits might include: A whole new way to reach new audiences Encouraging more engagement through your advertisements Social proof being inherint in your adverts in the form of the number of +1s, comments and shares Convenience to users who don’t have to leave the website they’re browsing in order to interact with your content It’s pretty cool that brands can let their consumers talk to them directly through their advertising. And with the Display Network including over 2 million websites that reach 90% of internet users worldwide, Google just opened the whole web to becoming a social platform. According to Toyota, “Plus Post ads increase the level of conversations online and reach those consumers wherever they are.” 23

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Social Ads Redefined Plus Post Ads have yet to be rolled out universally but there are already glimpses of the possibilities

Plus Post Ads will be hosted on any of the 2 million websites that make up the Google Display Network. Toyota were one of the first brands to trial Post Ads, as seen above.

Once the user clicks on the ad or hovers over it for two seconds, it expands to full view, where users can like, comment, or share the post on their own Google Plus profile.â&#x20AC;&#x192;

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Segmenting with Circles Group people you follow into Circles so you can share content that is relevant just to them What are Circles?

ircles are a way to organise the people you follow into separate groups or categories, and allows you to connect with a broad range of people but still appear relevant to all of them. In terms of managing a social media profile, the amount of control you have is unique to Google Plus. For example, if your business sells clothing, then you may want to segment your audience between men and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fashion. With Circles, you can pick and choose which groups you share your content with, so instead of sharing your new line of summer dresses to your entire audience, you can share it just with your female followers. This ensures everyone is receiving content that is relevant to his or her needs. Circles are also a great tool for managing your Google Plus campaigns. Once you have people who have opted-in to take part in a particular campaign, you can put them in a Circle so only they can receive that exclusive content. You can ensure this content is seen by sending them email notifications whenever you upload a new post. The opt in means this is not spammy.

Benefits To Your Business You have complete control of your Circle management strategy. Google has built a powerful platform for you to develop all sorts of tactics to communicate effectively with your target audience. Circles allow you to: Organise people you follow to make more sense of those targets Improve engagement by segmenting people by how often they engage with you. This allows you to identify and nurture new engagers more ettectively. View users content and engage on it more readily, because youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve created a curated stream for that Circle Automatically send email notifications to a Circle when you post new content (only if they opt-in) Respond quickly to new posts by setting up email notifications for specific Circles

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Circles of Life Circling specific people or groups gives you greater focus

Control the flow of your content by segmenting your audience with Circles.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Images, Auto Awesome And Increasing Engagement Google Plus understands the positive impact of visual content, and gives you tools to enhance your imagery

mages have a powerful impact on social media users. People tend to scan their streams or timelines rather than fully engrossing themselves in them, but vivid images have the power to make people stop and look more closely at your content. Consider the psychological impact of an image and how your target audience is likely to react to it. The size of the image also has an effect on how much engagement youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re likely to get with your content. If the images are of sufficient size on your website, when somebody shares your Google Plus content, the post they share will include a large image that stretches across its entirety. If the images are too small, Google Plus will post a thumbnail image, which has been proven to have a lower click-through rate than posts with large images. Google Plus has improved their image features and functionality over recent months so you can add text to images and edit to make improvements. If Google detects that a group of images are part of a series, then their unique Auto Awesome feature will stitch them together into an animated GIF. The motion of a GIF can be a great way to attract more eyes to your content. Auto Awesome will make it snow on your wintery photos, make stars and christmas tree lights twinkle and it will even rain hearts on Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s photos of couples.

Benefits To Your Business Humans respond better to images than plain text, and Google has kept this fact in mind while developing their photo editing tools. The benefits of leveraging Google Plusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s beautiful image handling are: Better interaction and increased response from your target audience Bigger images mean a higher click-through rate Auto Awesome can add an extra dimension to your content Attracting even more attention by posting animated GIFs Turning you into a graphic designer with simple photo manipulation tools Signposting to people that you have an ongoing content series by using similar imagery in each update

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Size Matters Larger images on updates means more engagement Left If the images on your site are too small, they will only display as a thumbnail

Below If theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re large enough, the image will span the full width of the post. Larger photos have been proven to encourage more engagement.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Campaigns on Google Plus Offering so many ways to interact with audiences, Google Plus is the perfect platform for campaigns

hough not unique to Google Plus, campaigns work particularly well here because of the many ways to interact. The idea behind campaigns is to specifically engage your brand advocates to make them feel even more engaged with your brand, and therefore more inclined to share your message. There are many ways to create buzz around your campaign on Google Plus. For example, you can create an event to launch the campaign and advertise any special guests you will interview or conduct Q&A sessions via Hangouts on Air. To make it more interactive, set tasks or challenges for people to complete at particular times. For example, if it were a little black dress campaign, you could ask your audience to post a photo of themselves having accessorised a little black dress, generating a collective response on a specific day and time. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important that a unique hashtag be used for the campaign so that all of the content can be easily found. If the campaign works well then you may find the topic of the campaign leads to an increased ranking in search results. However, this only happens if you have sufficient reach and relevant influencers engaged in your campaign. Google Plus guru, Martin Shervington, launched the test campaign #KraftyCooking to see just how effective campaigns on Google Plus can be. The campaign simply called for Google Plussers to get creative and incorporate Kraftâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cracker Barrel Cheese in a recipe of their own and post the results on Google Plus. Over the course of the campaign, the #KraftyCooking hashtag was trending on Google Plus and Twitter, helped raise rankings for Kraft products, and spread beyond the initial test zone of the UK and US into Africa, South America, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Benefits To Your Business One of the best things about Google Plus campaigns is that not many businesses are doing them. Although complex to organise, they are highly effective and in addition to having first mover advantage, campaigns will help your business to: Increase visibility through trending hashtags Improve search rankings for your website and drive traffic Create a new and fun way to engage with your audience Inexpensively create buzz around your business 29

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Arts and Krafts The cheesy test campaign that took off globally

Though just a test campaign, #KraftyCooking was immensely successful in generating engagement and improved search rankings.

Hundreds of people contributed Kraft recipes for the #KraftyCooking campaign.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Conclusion

ven though Google Plus is three years old, it’s still brand new. Google is constantly updating and fine-tuning the features so the experience of using the platform is a process of continuous improvement.

Companies who embrace this technology now will be way ahead of the competition down the line. Marketing has shifted. Consumers now have all of the power. They are the decision makers and it’s our job as marketers to meet their needs. Brands must do everything in their power to engage with their audience and create a reputation for being a company that cares about their customers. And for that, Google Plus is the perfect platform. Wherever your target audience hangs out online, you can use social media channels to reach and engage with them. Your audience may consist of people who are not aware of your brand, but due to Google’s open platform you have the power to reach them wherever they are.

Now you’ve seen the possibilities it offers, why not join us on Google Plus? Just click the box below

Strategy Digital The Digital Marketing Agency for Content Marketing, SEO, Social Media and PPC.

Google Plus eBook Title

Part Two

Hangouts on Air In Part Two, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll show you some of the incredible ways Google Hangouts on Air can transform how you interact with your customers

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Introduction Hangouts are the ultimate secret weapon for connecting, engaging and building relationships with customers and influencers

Hangouts for Business

usinesses can use Hangouts for a wide range of applications. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re only restricted only by your imagination. As a tool, Hangouts are versatile, available to everyone, completely free to use, and come with a wide range of features and apps. The technology needed to produce Hangouts to a high standard is relatively inexpensive. For the purpose of organising these examples of how businesses and brands are using Hangouts, we have categorised them under the headings you see below. Many of the examples cited here could easily fall into several categories and this is not an exact science, but we do hope they will inspire you to think of creative ways that you can embrace Hangouts for your business. Marketing Entertainment Interviews Branding Education Product Testing Service Broadcasting Webinars Announcements Not-For-Profit A lot of these Hangout examples have taken advantage of the following apps: Shoppable Hangouts (currently still in Beta); The Showcase App; The Q&A App; the new Applause App. These apps can help to enhance the experience of the live audience and also those catching up via the replay.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Clinique

Marketing

Clinique uses HOA to develop awareness of specific products using strong branding and engaging with key bloggers

http://goo.gl/h3qZvY

Julia Cox, Clinique Skincare Expert, hosted a Google Plus Hangout with a number of top beauty bloggers using a Q&A session format.

The Hangout video (18.33 mins) was edited into a second shorter version (9.14 mins) so that it could be repurposed. Combined, the two videos have been viewed nearly 12,000 times. In the six weeks the True View campaigns and Hangout ran, Clinique achieved 7,000 new followers on the channel. Clinique has seen a 14% uplift in conversion rate, with leads coming from Google Plus being potentially more valuable and likely to occur further down the purchase funnel. 34

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Marketing

Topman

Topman has partnered with Google Plus to get phenomenal results using Hangouts for live coverage of their fashion events

http://goo.gl/0v5yJA

The Google Plus event page was created so Topman could take viewers behind the scenes of the Topman Design AWâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;14 Show for an exclusive Shoppable Hangout.

The show included interviews with designers, models, celebrities, personal shoppers and YouTube vloggers.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Marketing

The Topman Personal Shopper dressed the Front Fow participants (seen at the bottom of the screen) and the items they wore were available to buy direct from the Hangout. The section to the right of the video shows the items. Clicking on an item would take viewers to its page on the Topman website. 85% of unique viewers clicked from the Shoppable Hangout to the products being shown.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Follow The Front Rowâ&#x20AC;? was the theme of the Hangout giving viewers a front row seat at the fashion show as well as behind the scenes interviews with the catwalk models and celebrities.

The average viewing time of live Google Plus coverage was 8:36.

Hangout participants included Becca Dudley (MTV UK Presenter), Darren Kennedy (TV Fashion Expert) and YouTube stars Joey Graceffa (left), Jim Chapman and Marcus Butler.

Total social reach for Topman is estimated at over 14 million.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Marketing

Home Shopping Network

HSN use Shoppable Hangouts to connect with their audience. Outfits modelled are available for purchase live or later via YouTube

http://goo.gl/JYuRR8

After the live event, the video can be found on YouTube for replay at the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s convenience. To activate the Shoppable Hangout, click the button indicated on the popup.

The Shoppable Hangout displays the products that the model is wearing so viewers can easily buy them.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Marketing

Clicking on the outfit box to the right of the video opens a window showing details of all the products available for that particular outfit. Clicking on the image of the sandals brings up a popup box with further details of that product.

Alternatively, click ‘save’ to add the product to your Google Shopping Shortlist – you can add your own notes here, too. Click the title of product to go straight to the product page on the HSN website, where you can buy the product immediately.

Once the products have sold out or gone out of season the links to those product pages will show that products are no longer available. Shoppable Hangouts need to remain current and form a regular part of the company’s marketing strategy to keep their audience engaged and buying.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Marketing

Topshop

Topshop take viewers behind the scenes of their AW13 Show involving fans directly with models and fashion experts

http://goo.gl/dZSQ3s

Fashion Editor Melanie Rickey and blooger Chiara Ferragni hosted the backstage and frontof-house Hangout before the Topshop Unique AW13 show at The Tate Modern. Kate Bosworth, Pixie Geldof, models Rosie Tapner and Jourdan Dunn were among their guests. To the left, Julia, a Topshop fan from San Fransisco, asks Kate Bosworth questions.

Some Facts Fashion Show itself was watched live by more than 100 million people 4 million views across all platforms 2.5 million views from YouTube G+ posts viewed over 400,000 times, a +400% increase

Comments increased by 340% per day Reshares increased by 275% per day +1s increased by over 400% per day 7,500 live views of red carpet Hangout 300,000 new G+ followers in two weeks More than 400 press mentions

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Nike Air Max

Marketing

Nike used a Shoppable Hangout to celebrate 27 years of Nike Air trainers and make the trainers available to buy at the event MTVâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rebecca Dudley presented the event which talked viewers through new ways and places to wear their Nike Air Max trainers.

http://goo.gl/fWBcZI

Jessie J dropped in wearing the Nike Airs that she designed herself for the occasion. Including celebrities on Hangouts attracts audience numbers and helps to personalise the brand in the eyes of the viewers.

The event included guest appearances by two popular bloggers who are also brand advocates - UglyFaceofBeauty and FashionFilth. They talked about their favourite Nike Airs, how they put their outfits together and got to ask questions of the experts.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Marketing

Zales and Glamour

Glamour Magazine partners with Zales to present a Hangout on how to find the perfect ring

http://goo.gl/geyqnD

Hitting during the peak of the wedding season, this content is evergreen in that the tips provided by the experts and the concerns expressed by the bride-to-be would apply for some time to come. Zales uses strong imagery of diamond rings with their expert presenting from their shop but their branding is not as overt as the Clinique Hangout. The content of the Hangout is very relevant to the target audience, with guests including a bride-to-be, an independent expert and the expert from Zales. This is clearly a marketing and promotional video but it provides very useful content to both the audience of Glamour Magazine and Zales, providing a winwin for both brands

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Marketing

Manchester United Football Club Man United are not the first club to use Hangouts to engage with fans but they are the first to create the Front Row experience

http://goo.gl/kMIbvm

Man United fans from around the world were selected to take part in this Front Row experience. Live videos of the fans would appear on the stadium’s advertising hordings at intervals throughout the game, allowing them to show their support live and say that they had been in the ‘front row’ as their favourite team played. As this image taken during the game shows, the Hangout fans were clearly visible during the game. They appeared a total of seven times in the 90 minutes and for only 10 seconds each time. Blink and you could have missed it, but it was a world first and gave Google Plus Hangouts massive exposure.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Marketing

Fox Sports

Fox Soccer hosted Man United stars and six fans for a quiz prior to a match with AS Roma, utilising the new Showcase App This event invited the watching audience to join Ashley Cole and Danny Welbeck from Manchester United and six soccer fans in a game of trivia hosted by FOX Soccer’s Rob Stone to test both player and fan knowledge of their clubs. http://goo.gl/ADUXGp

The video on YouTube shows a button you can click that says “Be part of the conversation”. This opens the Showcase App, which opens up alongside the video, much like the Shoppable Hangout did for Topman and HSN.

The Showcase App and Shoppable Hangouts open up back on Google Plus. It’s only the video that shows on YouTube, which can confuse viewers if they hear about the options to buy tickets and kit but can’t see how to view that.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Marketing

Although the tickets are no longer available because the match is in the past, you can still buy other items while watching the replay of this Hangout. The Showcase App is straightforward to set up and can link to any webpage. The link from the AS Roma Kit image will take you here. The appearance of the Showcase App in the Hangout is similar to the overall appearance achieved using Shoppable Hangouts. However, instead of taking you via Google Shopping you go directly to the website you specify when setting up the Hangout and Showcase App before the show.

The link from the Manchester United kit image on the screen above will take you to the official Man United online shop.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Marketing

CustomizedWalls

This company hosts a regular Hangout show to build brand awareness rather than directly sell to people

http://goo.gl/CfKDpg

CustomizedWalls. com is a moderator of the 26,000 strong Interior Design Community and they hold regular Hangouts aimed at that community. From discussions about trending colours, to Christmas decorations and special guests, these are popular shows.

Hangouts are aimed at the interests of the community and involve guests and other moderators so they too can raise their profiles within that community. The range of topics covered is broad and the watching audience gets to know the participants at a personal level, which strengthens connections quickly.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Daria Musk

Entertainment

Daris Musk performed her 1st Hangout to an initially empty room, her 2nd was watched by 9,000 and her 3rd attracted 200,000 Daria Musk is a singer/ songwriter who has used Google Plus to build her fan base and connect with a worldwide audience.

http://goo.gl/PbztLc

Daria is constantly connected to her fans and engages with them regularly with messages such as this: “Wow G+niuses, what an amazing road this is. You’ve been with me every mile and it’s that connection with you that always keeps me going.”

Daria has a following of over 3.5 million and her profile has attracted nearly 45 million views, showing that there is an audience for her and that Google Plus is no ghost town!

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Entertainment

Martha Stewartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pre-Oscars Hangout Party!

The team at Martha Stewart used a Hangout to share tips and recipes for hosting a pre-Oscars party

http://goo.gl/YwwVSD

Presenters shared their party-perfect recipes for appetizers and cocktails while chatting about who they think would turn heads on the red carpet, and who would take home the Oscars.

YouTube Style Maven Mr Kate joins the party to share tips and drink cocktails.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Interviews

Chelsea FC Premiership football clubs are embracing Hangouts as a way to connect fans with their favourite players

http://goo.gl/Kw7lVp

Goalkeeper Petr Cech takes questions from fans around the world.

Fans are delighted to have such personal access to their idols and these experiences make great prizes for competitions.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Interviews

Mashable

Mashable has special guests on their Book Club Hangout. This one was with BJ Novak, author and star of The Office

http://goo.gl/yQQlmh

BJ Novak talks about his latest project and takes questions from Hangout guests.

Mashable used the Q&A App to allow viewers of the live Hangout to ask guests questions. A more popular way to interact with Hangout audiences tends to be using the event page and the comment tracker.

Some Facts Google+ is one of Mashableâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top 10 referral sites Mashable grew their Google+ followers by 38% after adding the Google+ badge

Mashable sees significantly higher engagement ratios through Google+ than on other social networks

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Education

Nestlé Nestlé’s Wellness Campaign is all about eating healthier, moving more and living better. Here, five guests cook along at home

http://goo.gl/TN3HXB

Hosted by renowned blogger, Xiaxue, Nestlé Singapore’s show welcomes celebrity chef Bobby Chinn as he introduces his simple recipes for cooking healthy food at home.

Five cook-along guests are hanging out and cooking along from their own kitchens. Guests are a mix of bloggers, journalists and parents.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Branding

Cadbury

Cadbury has cracked Google Plus after trying a number of different ways to connect with their audience

http://goo.gl/pwiSKM

Cadbury are a genuine advocate of Google Plus, having found great success with its brand page (3.5m followers), its community ‘Cakes & Baking - The Cadbury Kitchen’ (181k members) and having boosted followers by 150,000 through Hangouts.

Cadbury ran its #cremeeggbake campaign in the run up to Easter. This involved generating a buzz using Hangouts to launch the campaign. Participants posted recipes of their own which used Crème Eggs, tagging them with the #cremeeggbake hashtag. Winners were selected and Hangouts held. It was a massive success. The results: 7.9 million views on social platforms, with its Google Plus activity achieving 3 million organic views and 36,000 engagements, including 3,000 comments, 5,000 shares and 28,000 +1s, giving a fivefold increase in organic reach.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Education

Around the Kitchen Table This cooking demo by Chef Dennis Littley shows how easy it is to use Hangout technology to teach and demonstrate expertise

http://goo.gl/b8eJNG

Chef Dennis is controlling the Hangout right from his kitchen. See the mouse on his chopping board and the silver Yeti microphone right there?

Using a second camera positioned above the frying pan, Chef can show the watching audience exactly whatever he’s cooking should look like (here it’s some swordfish). It’s just like a cooking show on TV.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Education

National Geographic Explorers from all seven continents came together to celebrate exploration on this epic Google Plus Hangout

http://goo.gl/XrCDzI

125 years to the day that the magazine was launched, National Geographic brought together representatives from Africa, India, Antarctica, USA, England, Australia and Peru

Explorers shared their experiences in the hour long Hangout, which was also edited into a 15 minute version for easier distribution and sharing.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Education

NASA Hangout in Space

NASA connected fans with astronauts on the ground and three who were orbiting in the ISS 240 miles above the Earth

http://goo.gl/K3kXcH

Astronaut Nicole Stott from Houston Texas answers questions about space travel from all corners of NASAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social media channels as well as from special guests in the film strip at the bottom.

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford of NASA, Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn of NASA and Flight Engineer Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency, fielded questions from social media during a Google Plus Hangout on February 22. It was a first for the ISS.

Students from the University High School in Orlando, a NASA Explorer School, got to ask their heroes questions.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Education

VictoriaHomeChat.com This realtor uses mobile Hangout technology to show off the homes they have for sale

http://goo.gl/k90mEx

McCallum is using his mobile phone as a Hangout camera and he is walking through the home to show it off to potential buyers. At the same time, Home Stager Diana Zinck is commenting on each room.

The ease with which this Hangout technology can be applied to this situation makes you wonder what other opportunities there are to get creative with mobile Hangouts. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ideal for real estate or estate agents and potentially so many other businesses, too.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Product Testing

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Just days before Christmas this hangout first brings consumers a behind the scenes look at the product testing of toys.

http://goo.gl/TZork0

Spokeswoman Nikki Fleming, who has nearly two decades of experience talking about toy safety, takes questions about general toy shopping, product recalls and injury.

CPSC expert engineer, John Massale, explains some toy testing scenarios and talks about common toy hazards to watch out for.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Product Testing

The Food and Booze Show The Food and Booze Show goes on location in pubs and restaurants to review whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on their menus Mia Voss samples Beer live from a pub in Denver. The gentle background noise provides great atmosphere for this authentic show.

http://goo.gl/AISxw3

The fact that mobile technology can work well for this kind of event means there are many opportunities for restaurants to use Hangouts in their marketing. James Dearsley is in his local pub near London, UK. Although on a flaky wifi connection, he manages to stay for most of the show. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s drinking warm, flat beer which is how we like it in the UK!

This is a very interactive show, with the watching audience commenting and asking questions, which the hosts can bring up on the screen during the show. This is the Comment Tracker app in action .

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Service

Dell

Dell has been using Hangouts for Customer Service and support, and to discuss specific topics with their tech audience

http://goo.gl/cKISKP

Dell staff discuss the new Dell Chromebook in this particular Hangout, but topics vary according to customer interest.

Chetan is a Dell Technical Support Supervisor from Bangalore. He and employees in different locations can easily join his colleagues to offer a public support platform covering multiple terroritories.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Service

22 Social

22 Social presents its weekly customer service Hangout with a little more pizazz than Dell, but the principle is similar

http://goo.gl/n3ghBY

Rob and Andrew present their Hangout from the same room. See Andrew in the background? They switch between the two of them to mix it up and have some fun.

Presented from its San Diego office, 22 Social addresses questions collected from the previous week as well as questions that are addressed live during the live show.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Broadcasting

SXSW Conference

Broadcasting live from the Streets of Austin, Texas, Ronnie Bincer interviews notable attendees of the SXSW Conference

http://goo.gl/l5VW7r

Canva’s Guy Kawasaki is interviewed on the street to get his views on Google Plus. Guy is an advocate for Google Plus and feels that “Hangouts are a killer app for Google Plus.”

Inside the conference, Ronnie stops by the Cottonelle Refresh Lounge, where a member of the Hangout’s audience poses a question for the rep (they’re listening to the question via the little purple mic).

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Broadcasting

Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Reilly Media

This Hangout is aimed at getting some clear messages out to the audience of the Strata Conference on big data

http://goo.gl/oKYYne

Alistair talks about the detail that they value in proposal submissions for speaking at the conference â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this should improve the submissions and help applicants be more successful.

Ben and Roger share their thoughts on growing trends in their sector. This Hangout is designed to align the expectations of the conference, the speakers and attendees so they all get the best experience.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Webinars

The New England Google+ Meetup

Any Hangout that teaches something to an audience could be classed as a webinar but this is a really interesting example

http://goo.gl/qiArjd

A business networking meeting in New England was turned into a new Hangout experience when they all sat together to, er, hang out with Ronnie Bincer, who was in Colorado.

Ronnie attended the meetup as a special guest speaker so he could share his experience of running Hangouts on Air for business.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Announcements

Samsung Camera

Samsung used a Hangout event to live stream the worldwide launch of its new NX camera

http://goo.gl/2pq93d

Through a series of live Hangouts, Samsung Camera is embracing Google Plus as a platform on which to launch its newest product.

Samsung Camera used the new Applause App to let the audience, both live and on the replay, applaud or boo the presentation as they watched it. This section about the lens gets some good applause!

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Announcements

With so many popular Communities dedicated to photography, Samsung Camera knows it has a captive audience on Google Plus.

Samsung Camera created the Hangout event on Google Plus and promoted it widely using hastags #NXinvitation #NewNX #Photokina2014.

Google Plus: The Secret Weapon For Your Business

Not-For-Profit

Comic Relief

William and Harry made their Google Hangout debut for the launch of The Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Young Leaders Programme

http://goo.gl/NU49Wm

The Princes talked to young people from across the Commonwealth about the new programme.

Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a behind-the-scenes look at the setup for the royal hangout. Just one or two helpers and spectators on hand!

Performance Driven Marketing Google Hangouts

Use Hangouts on Air to transform the way you connect to your customers. Use our expertise to show you how.