Google+ for Business: How Google's Social Network Changes Everything Book

Introduction 1

Chapter 1: How Did I Get Here? 3

Why Is Google+ the Next Big Thing? 4

Speculating on the Future 5

Facebook Is Better. Twitter Is Better. LinkedIn Is for Business. 6

My First Touch with Google+ 6

This Sounds Like Other Social Networks 8

Why Is Google+ So Interesting? 8

The Sharing Culture Grows and Grows 9

Another Social Network to Manage? Really? 10

What Do People Do on Google+? 10

Google+ Ghost Town: One for the Naysayers 12

The Average Isn’t All That It Seems 12

What People Are Saying and What It Might Mean to You 13

Why I’m Still Betting on Google+ 15

Endnotes 18

Chapter 2: The Opportunity of Google+ 19

Where Google+ Fits in the Business Ecosystem 20

Google+ Opportunities 21

Preparing Yourself for Opportunity 23

The Personal Touch and Personality 24

Blending Business and Personal 25

Start Early 26

What You Can Accomplish with Google+ 26

Opportunity Is What You Make of It 27

Chapter 3: A Day in the Life 29

My Personal Day in the Life of Google+ 30

Interview with Scott Monty, Ford Motor Company 31

Interview with Greg Pak, Comic Book Author and Screen Writer 32

Interview with Jenny Cisney, Kodak’s Chief Blogger 33

Interview with Darren Rowse, Problogger 34

Interview with Jacqueline Carly, Fitness Professional 36

Some Partially Fictitious Day-in-the-Life-of Suggestions 37

The Author 37

The Real Estate Agent 38

The Reporter 39

The Sales Executive 39

The Educator 40

The Photographer 41

The Business Executive 42

Wrapping Up 43

Chapter 4: Profiles and Examples of Google+ Business Users 45

Mike Elgan--Media Maker 46

Matt Dooley--Intercontinental Hotels 47

Deepak Chopra--Spiritual Advisor 48

Rick Bakas--Wine Personality 49

Bill Gross--Serial Entrepreneur 49

Jeremiah Owyang--Analyst, Altimeter 50

What About a Brand Page Doing Something Interesting? 51

Chapter 5: First Moves with Google+ 53

Profiles Matter for Business 54

Using Your Google+ Profile for Business 54

Businesses Are Made of People 54

Connections Before the Sale 55

How You Appear to Others 56

Your About Page: The Basics 60

Start at the Top 61

Your Profile Photo 61

Editing Your Name 62

Editing Your Tagline 62

The Most Important Part of Your Profile: The Introduction 63

Employment: A Useful Hack for You 64

The Links Section 64

Moving on from the Profile 65

Chapter 6: Circles 67

What Circling Means 68

How Do I Know Who Is Circling Me Back? 68

Reciprocal Follows 70

Creating Circles and Naming Them 70

Outbound Circles and Inbound Circles 71

Sharing Circles 72

Ordering Circles 72

Who Should You Follow? 74

Friendsurfing 74

Do I Know You? 74

Should You Circle Celebrities? 75

More About Outbound Circles 75

Circle Tricks 76

Circles Aren’t a One-Time Thing 77

Wrapping Up 77

Chapter 7: Posting in the Stream 79

Google+ Isn’t a Blog, and It’s More Than Twitter 80

Posting on Google+ 81

The Sharing Options Under the Main Post Area 83

Formatting Posted Text 84

Posting Photos 85

Posting Video 86

Posting Place and Location Data 86

Other Post Options 87

Disabling Comments and Reshare 88

The Importance of Sharing 88

Chapter 8: Video, Hangouts, and More 91

Adding Video to Google+ 92

YouTube and Your Business 92

Hangouts and Your Business 93

Creating Video 95

Chapter 9: A Simple Content Strategy 97

How Others Approach Content Sharing 98

Jennifer Cisney (Kodak) 98

Michael Dell (CEO, Dell) 99

Scott Monty (Ford Motor Company) 99

Bill Gerth (Social Media Lead at Comcast) 100

The Biggest Content Difference (So Far) on Google+ for Business Users 100

Restaurant Owner 101

Community Manager/Developer 102

Online Store 103

Professional Speaker or Thought Leader 104

Writer, Photographer, and Artist 105

Posting to Build Connections 106

Value Your Audience’s Attention 106

Chapter 10: The “Warm” Sell 107

Attention Is a Gift 108

Make It About Them 108

Turn Self-Promotion into Appreciation 108

Don’t Waste Chances to Sell 109

The Warm Sell--Warming Up a Sale 109

Getting to Know You 110

The Difficult Sell 110

Affiliate Marketing and Google+ 112

The Two-Tier Sale 113

A Power Move--Mention Your Competitor 114

If You’re Not Directly in Sales 115

Chapter 11: Growing an Audience 117

Quality over Quantity 118

Measuring the Size of Your Audience 118

Value Your Audience 119

What Interests Your Audience 120

What Community Means to People 121

Bring a Campfire 122

Connecting People Is Key 122

The Time in Between Is Important 123

You Are a Media Company 124

Make Your Buyer the Hero 124

Sailing the High C’s of Audience Building 124

Chapter 12: Sharing 127

The Value of Content Curation 128

Sharing as a Practice 130

Building Interest 131

You Are a Magazine Publisher 131

Commenting on What You Share 132

What Does Your Magazine Look Like? 133

Two Resources to Help with Your Sharing 133

A Sharing Workflow 134

Can Sharing Add Direct Business Value? 135

Chapter 13: Power Plays in Google+ 137

John Herman: The Hangout Entertainer 138

Michael Dell: The Wide Open CEO 139

Muhammad Yunus: Changing the World 139

Mark Horvath: Handing Out Pizza, Socks, and Hope 140

Robert Scoble and Rackspace 142

My Power Plays 143

Chapter 14: Setting Up Your Business Page 147

The Look and Feel of the Business Pages 148

Rules for Business Pages 148

Coming Soon (or Already Here) 149

How Businesses Might Use These Pages 150

Interesting Business Pages of Note 151

The Corcoran Group: https://plus.google.com/106654503918907830147/posts 151

The Dallas Cowboys: https://plus.google.com/106281600940449244340/posts 152

Intel: https://plus.google.com/111660275132722215045/posts 152

Edelman Digital: https://plus.google.com/106069281351191490929/posts 153

Forbes: https://plus.google.com/116243183460563505245/posts 153

NASA: https://plus.google.com/102371865054310418159/posts 153

The Role of Your Business Page in Doing Business 154

A Robust Business Card 155

Chapter 15: Feeling Lucky? 157

Home Bases, Outposts, and Search 158

Social Signals 158

Shifting Sands 160

How People Come to Matter 161

Serving Suggestions for Using Google+ to Improve Your Search Results 162

Use Your Profile 163

Taking Full Advantage of Google+ to Help Your Business 163

Stay Organic 164

Chapter 16: Tactics 167

Searchability 168

Lead Generation 169

Informational Offerings 170

Lead Nurturing 171

Prospecting 171

Customer Service and Community Management 172

Direct Selling 173

Traffic Enhancement to Your Main Site 174

There’s More 175

Chapter 17: Recipes for Using Google+ 177

How to Find More People to Circle on Google+ 178

How to Be Ready for Business on Google+ 179

Promoting Yourself and Your Business on Google+ 182

Hangouts on Google+: The Best Opportunity You Rarely Take 184

How to Use Google+ for Sales 186

How to Set Up Your Local Business on Google+ 187

How to Use a Google+ Business Page to Your Best Advantage 188

The Personal Versus Business Page Recipe 190

Are There More Recipes You Want? 191

Chapter 18: Next Steps 193

Starting Moves 194

Listening 195

Posting 196

Sharing 197

Video 198

Hangouts 199

Photos 200

Commenting 201

Business Pages 202

Some Final Thoughts 202

A Note About This Book 203

Appendix A: Interesting People to Circle on Google+ 205

Additional Plus Starter Packs 207

Artists 207

Brands 207

Businesses 207

Celebs 207

Photographers 208

Other Sites and Resources to Check Out 208

Index 209