Google+ for Small Businesses

by Young, Lynette

• ISBN13: 9780133100327
• ISBN10: 0133100324
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-05-15
• Publisher: Que Publishing

Summary

Small business owners: Use Google+ to generate and convert leads, build buzz, and deliver flat-out unbeatable service and support! World-renowned Google+ marketing expert (and small businessperson) Lynette Young helps you target the specific tasks that'll deliver the greatest and most immediate returns, and execute on a tiny (make that non-existent) budget, even if you have practically no technical expertise. No huge corporate case studies here: This is 100% do-it-yourself, ridiculously easy, fast, and cheap! Goals, objectives, strategies, tactics: They're all here, all streamlined for your real-world small business.

 

Discover how to listen, search, and scope out your Google+ environment…connect and network with Circles…create, teach, shorten sales cycles, and close business with Hangouts…collaborate on Pages to make your offerings even more valuable…build a winning business profile…use Events…leverage Google+ integration with Google Search…add value to your client's day…attract qualified referrals…and a whole lot more.

 

Google+ social networking gives your small business a huge potential advantage over your slower, less clued-in competitors. Grab that advantage right now, with Google+ for Small Business !

Author Biography

Lynette Young works as a social technology specialist and a business strategist with focus on digital publishing and implementation services. She is an outspoken advocate of Google+ and sees it as a vital piece for business on the Web today.

 

Ms. Young’s company, Purple Stripe Productions, has been the engaged by clients large and small for social media, technology and digital publishing training seminars since 2006.

 

Ms. Young is also the founder of Women of Google+ , a community designed to educate and celebrate professional women embracing social networking to amplify their voice and message. She is also one of the most followed people worldwide in Google+ with more than 1.5 million followers.

 

An engaging and informative speaker, her specialties include social networking platforms with a focus on Google+, current and future technologies, digital communication trends, as well a women’s empowerment, and motivational talks.

 

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

    What Is So Special About Google+? .....................................2

    Why Does My Small Business Need Google+? ....................2

    What Will You Learn in This Book? ............................4

1 What Can I Do in Google+? 5

    Posting ...................................................................6

    Comments .............................................................11

    Shares..........................................12

    +1 ................................................................12

    +Tags ...................................................12

    Hangouts .................................................13

    Hangout on Air ......................................14

    Profile ...................................................15

    Circles.................................................................15

    Pages .............................................................16

    Ripples ...............................................................................16

2 What Should I Use Google+ For? 19

    Benefits of Being a Small Business in Google+ ...................20

    GHOST in the Machine ..........................................................21

    Content Creation and Community Curation..................23

        Consume = Listen/Search ..............................23

        Connect = Circle/+1 .......................................................25

        Create = Teach ............................................................26

        Contribute = Comment/Share .......................26

        Collaborate = Pages ...................................................26

3 Should I Be Me or My Company? 29

    Functional Differences Between Personal Profiles and Pages ...............30

        Google+ Profiles ...........................................30

        Google+ Pages ........................................31

    Creating Your Google+ Profile and Page ..............................32

    When to Communicate as Your Google+ Profile ...............37

    When to Communicate as a Google+ Page .........................38

4 Google+ Ideas for Lead Generation 39

    Assigning the GHOST Method ...................................40

    Publishing Great Content .................................................41

    Use Video To Grab Attention .......................................43

    Schedule Their Attention .....................................................45

    Search and Explore ...............................................46

    Organizing Leads .............................................................47

    Local Business Leads ..........................................49

5 Google+ Ideas for Creating Buzz (Public Relations) 51

    Grab Attention .............................................................52

    Celebrate Success .........................................................53

    Add Value to Your Client’s Day .......................................54

    Share Content That Isn’t Your Own .............................56

    The Listening Part of PR ................................................57

6 Google+ Ideas for Making Your Customers Happy (Customer Service and Support)      59

    Tips for Social Media Customer Service and Support ...........60

    Google+ Searches ................................62

    Trending Topics ................................................63

    Hangouts for Customer Support and Service ...................63

    Google+ Local for Reviews .......................................64

    YouTube Video Integration .............................65

    In Conclusion .................................................65

7 Planning Your Time 67

    Schedule Your Time .....................................................68

    One Month Action Plan ..........................................68

        Week 1: Set Up Google+ ......................................................69

        Week 2: Get Comfortable with Google+ Features ...................70

        Week 3: Create Content for Google+ ...............................72

        Week 4: Add Multimedia .............................................73