google+ for brands in 2013

7/28/2019 Google+ for Brands in 2013

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2013 Critical Mass,Inc. All Rights Reserved

Google+ For BrandsWhere It Is Now.

July 3, 2013

Thursday, 4 July, 13


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Where Google+ is Now

Table of Contents


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Google+ overview, statistics and numbers

What makes Google+ unique

Exceptional case studies

Takeaways and recommendations

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Who uses Google+?


0

1.5

3

4.5

6

GER CAN UK INDIA USA

Top CountriesMillions of Users

Active17%

Inactive

83%

63% 37%24% 18% 12% 12%6% 6%0%

25

-34

35-

44

45-5

4

55+

Distribution by age + sex

Income


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Platform Comparison


1.11 Billion 403 Multi

500 Million 21 Multi

48.7 Million 90 Image

1 Billion 180 Video

343 Million 3 Multi

TotalAudience

AverageMin/Month

ContentDelivery

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Google+ great dea

They hav

growth in

but the to

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connecte

platform

making a

up for gm

Google+ Google u

software

integrate

it almost

anything

and not s

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Major Content Differentiators

Hangouts

Google+ has one secret weapon:

Hangouts. These video chat meets-ups

operate differently then any other video

service in their ability to do everythingfrom private session to live feed. Link

them to your website and YouTube

channel and promote them with events to

get noticed across the web.

Communities

Google+ Communities are lightweight,

instantly created discussion forums. They

act much as the Facebook wall does,

housing conversation where both you andyour audience can post content. Like

mentioned before, communities can be

wide ranging like or deeply targeted.

Keeping communities highly targeted with

relevant content creates greater in post-

interaction then basic posts on your wall.

Offers

Offers are Googles d

similar to Groupon, a

directly within Google

businesses the abilitypurchase discounts a

users who are follow

account.



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2013 Critical Mass,Inc. All Rights Reserved2013 Critical Mass,Inc. All Rights Reserved

You are on Google+, now youve got to ask yourself how will people know I am here? Without an on-platform advertising

Facebook & Twitter, or even a similar sponsored-search capability like Google-owned YouTube, there isnt an obvious way

existence to the rest of the 300-million+ strong Google+ community.

Proactive Connections

Brand pages can proactively addindividual users to Circles. Searchfor advocates by name andconnect with category influencers.

Searching communities andpages can identify people that you

want in your circles - add themdirectly.

Ripples is a function attached tocontent which shows the mostinfluential people who haveshared the content.

Off-Platform

Having touchpoints across weband other social properties is agood way to direct off-platformtraffic.

Integrating a Google+ badge on abrands website, other social

networks, in emails, on productpackaging, digital and traditionaladvertising and what ever else isat the its disposal will grow pagevisibility.

YouTube

Brands wYouTube distinct aespeciallyHangoutsis compleGoogle+

YouTube searchedusers witso it is crvideo titledescriptioaction forpage on G

Exclusive Content

Given that many people mayfollow the brand on otherplatforms like Facebook andTwitter, providing unique contentcan set the Google+ page apart.

The most unique content

experience on Google+ is theHangout.


Recruitment



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Like a brand page on Facebook, the Google+ brand page is designed to

give business, brands, products and organizations a presence. The

Google+ brand page offers a few extra perks that relate to Googles

dominance in search.

Linking

Connecting your page to your website via linking increases the relevancy

of the content on your website to assist in search ranking. It also lets your

site take advantage of Direct Connect - a service that automatically

sends a user to your website when searching for your brand in the

Google+ universe.

In addition to organic search results, linking places prominence for your

brand in the search window, highlighting your Google+ page where adswould frequently appear.

Adwords

Brand pages can take advantage of having social data like follower count

appear within AdWords .


Brand Pages



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Face to Face.

Hangouts are public video chats that connect people, wherever they are, to each other.

are integrated with other Google platforms like gmail and drive, making greater collabora

possible with your audience in real time. For example, shared sketchpad during a Hango

allow people to participate in designing a concept together.

Hangouts can be linked to your YouTube channel, and embedded directly on your webs

creating connectivity in places where people are already consuming your content. They

automatically recorded and added to YouTube for instant content sharing.

Hangouts integrated seamlessly with Google+ events, creating a space to promote futur

streams and can be promoted by Google and added to a global calendar of events.

Use them for: Q&A

Customer Service

Product Launches

Video Interviews

Talent Shows


Hangouts & Events



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A place for everyone

Communities are Google+s answer to the online forum or Facebooks groups. Communiare built around topics of interest or need where all users can post freely, sharing comme

and questions relating to the topic. This is a big differentiator from Facebook. As pages a

profiles are places where the owner curates the content, communities are a place where

everyone can post. Users can also upload their own media to communities, creating an a

for open sharing.

Like groups on Facebook, communities can be public or private, however their visibility in

platform makes them a good choice for reaching audiences who are currently sharing

information relevant to your brand.


Communities



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Daily deals for connected fans

Google recently connected its daily deal off

ers with the Google+ platform, giving brands ability to directly reward their followers. Offers are searchable, purchasable and stored in

Google+ profile where you can then redeem from the mobile app at point of purchase. W

Offers excels over other platforms like Groupon or Living Social is the ability to release off

in brand Google+ feeds, allowing fans to get in on the action and share the offer with the

networks.

The Offers platform on Google+ is currently limited to a few brands but will likely evolve o

the coming months as it rolls out to additional brands.


Offers



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Monitoring and Analytics

Ripples is a data visualization tool used to show the reach, spread and

impact of content on Google+. When someone shares your content,

Ripples activates and circles appear indicating that they are connected toyour content. As the post makes its way through the network, more

circles appear.

In addition to this visualization, Ripples contains more analytics tools like

influencer identification, time spread for the post and more.


Ripples



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Social search.

Proper hashtag usage is an important part of every branded Google+ post. Hashtags ensure that every video, image, link

post is connected to a search on the platform. Hashtags are filterable and live, so users can monitor them for the most cur

information. Hashtags can also end up on a trending list, where search and sharing push them to visible areas of the platfo

New platform updates include auto-hashtagging, where Google will scan your posts (including images) and create hashtag

automatically.

When compared to untagged posts, hashtagged content correlates with higher engagement and transfer rates. These rate

monitored directly, as hashtags are able to be tracked and analyzed using Google+ Ripples.

How to use them: Make the hashtag relevant to the brand. Creating a brand hashtag can lead people to great campaign c

generic tags that are being used organically by the community allow you to penetrate conversations.



One More Thing: Hashtags



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Should you consider using Google+ as one of your social platforms, it isimportant to think about how your brand lives within the variousproducts and features of the social platform. At the centre is your Brandpage - the identity and experience centre - where users expect to findrelevant content and information relating to your brand. Users thenengage in communities, relevant topic areas where they can share andinteract with their own content and you as a brand can developengagement and source user-generated content. Communities arerelevant areas for content delivery that relate to, and drive traffic to yourbrand. The content delivery devices are Hangouts, video, posts andhashtags and connect to these community topics and share contentacross your social network. These content delivery systems also pushoutside of the network, driving traffic across the web to other platforms.

communities

vid

hash

posts

hangouts

Your Brand


The Universe



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The following Google+ brand pages stand out as exceptional in their respective spaces. Success criteria not only include

of followers, but the conversations and shares their posts generated. Certain pages, such as Cadbury UK, successfully lev

communities as well as their brand page by encouraging sharing on both pages and achieving high engagement by doing

elements have been reflected in the study.

Global Page Rank was also used as a benchmarking tool and is based solely on number of followers.


Case Studies: Evaluation Criteria



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Delicious Posts

Cadbury UK has captured an audience on Google+ that isof its chocolate in baking applications.While the content h

with its Facebook profile with regards to promotional post

focused on this delivery and has the numbers to show ho

been.

Cadbury also runs a branded community on Google+ call

With 40,000 members they have created a forum where p

focused on the uses of Cadbury chocolate in baking.

Verdict: Unique content has led to one of the few big bran

significantly greater number of followers on Google+ than

Stats (Page) Global Pag

Number of

Average Number of Comment

Average Number of +

posts + commu


Case Studies - Cadbury UK



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Case Studies - ESPN


First Star for Hangouts

ESPN has taken advantage of the Hangout better then moGoogle+ platform. Leveraging its on-air talent, ESPN hold

discussions and exclusive interviews with star athletes wh

participate by asking questions. Videos are then archived

channel, which has more than 270 million views.

Verdict: Google+ offers a few unique products and ESPN

of them by seamlessly mixing them into their existing onlin

Stats Global Pag

Number of


Average Number of +

ha



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A Personal Brand Gone Viral

Matthew Inman - The Oatmeal - runs a highly successful oone of the early adopters of Google+, Inman quickly grew

wanted access to his work in a social environment.

Inman posts his trademark comics simultaneously on Goo

Facebook. But he takes the time to comment individually

is one of the only presences weve looked at that doesnt

Hangouts. All the same, hes racked up more than a millio

Verdict: A large audience can be created on Google+ with

and by bringing followers from a web platform into the sp

Stats Global Pag

Number of


Average Number of +

posts + has


Case Studies - The Oatmeal



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Cuteness Carries Over

Hello Kitty has attracted more than two million followers bwith fashion photography, interspersing pulse points like E

Its Google+ presence is tremendously consistent in brand

channel and across other properties.

Hello Kitty really shines on Google+ by giving its followers

in-store items.

Verdict: Exclusive content is needed to break barriers. Tre

firsts to attract interest.

Stats Global Pag

Number of


Average Number of +

posts + v


Case Studies - Hello Kitty



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1

Add it to your

social footprint

Google+ lite Wait and see

2 32013 Critical Mass,Inc. All Rights Reserved

Is Google+ for you? It depends. Google+ has some features that make it a valuable platform for aiding search and produc

content. Its well integrated with the Google suite of products, and if you spend a lot of time producing on these channels

benefit from the Authorship- and Hangout-linking platform functionality. However, if social engagement is the end goal, G

the best option and Facebook and Twitter should continue to be your platforms of choice

With this in mind, consider the following options:

If you have the resources, utilize the contentdifferentiators to their fullest potential.

Build out a brand profile. Decide on a theme andpopulate that profile with content that is relevant to thetheme and brand. Get your brand page verified.

Reach out to influencers and add them to your Circles.

Participate in our create communities and actively reachout to people talking about the same topics elsewhere.

Host Hangouts and publish content.

If you desperately want to be on Google+ but do not havethe resources to run it as its own platform, syndicatecontent across your social channels and take advantageof things like Hangouts to add dynamic content to yourYouTube channel.

Most likely youve landed afor you, it is the smart one


Takeaways.



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Thank You


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Thank You




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Appendix


Google+ Resources

Hangouts: http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/

Circles: http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/circles/

Communities: http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/communities/

Ripples: http://www.google.com/+/business/get-insights.html

Offers: https://plus.google.com/+GoogleOffers

https://plus.google.com/+GoogleOffershttps://plus.google.com/+GoogleOffershttp://www.google.com/+/business/get-insights.htmlhttp://www.google.com/+/business/get-insights.htmlhttp://www.google.com/+/learnmore/communities/http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/communities/http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/circleshttp://www.google.com/+/learnmore/circleshttp://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/

google+ for brands in 2013

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