In 2011, Google launched a new social networking site originally codenamed Emerald Sea, now called Google Plus. Google first launched Google Plus as a private beta with limited invites.
A Google Plus account is based upon a Google profile. According to Google, the purpose of the profile was to help shape what you see when you search your own name. You can build a personal bio, share information like your address, phone number and e-mail, and add in links to your personal or professional Web sites. You can build a Google profile using only your name, Google doesn't require you to include additional information.
Your Google Plus account comes with three pre-defined circles: friends, family and acquaintances. Also you can create your own customized circles.
Circles let you share information with specific groups of people while excluding everyone else. They also let you read content from those groups. A circle can be a one-way relationship. In this way, Google Plus is like Twitter, you can follow people even if they don't follow you back.
Your Google profile becomes your "about" page on Google Plus. You can share your own status updates with specific circles or even individual users.
Tagging someone in a status update is easy too, you can either type @ or + at the beginning of the person's name and Google Plus will help you to select the right person.
You can even format your status updates within Google Plus using these tools:
- Use the underscore symbol ( _ ) to create italics: _help_ will become help.
- Use the asterisk symbol (*) to put a word in bold: *make* becomes make.
- Use the combination of underscore and asterisk (_ and *) for italicized bold: _*I will call you*_ becomes I will call you.
- Use the hyphen symbol (-) for strikethrough text.
Google Plus Communities
Communities are large groups of people based around a common theme. All you need to do is to search Google Plus and look for the “Communities” section on the right to find communities that interest you. Or, you can browse all communities on Google Plus and find ones that interest you.
Once you foud some communities based around your interests, it's to add this people in a circle. So you can follow their posts on your main feed and engage their content. The more you engage with them, the more you become part of the community
You can create Private Communities or Public Communities.
- Private Communities - These communities are geared to be an exclusive group of permitted people. As a creator, you can mark these to not be searchable within Google Plus or you can allow them to be searchable but members must ask to join to be a part of the community.
- Public Communities - These communities are open to the public. The communities are searchable within Google Plus search and as a administrator, you can leave the community open for anyone to join or you can set it so that users must request to join and be approved before they can contribute to the community.
How to use hashtags on Google+
A hashtag is a word or a phrase (without spaces) preceded by the # symbol for example, #Book -- that helps people find and join conversations about a particular topic. Clicking on a hashtag will show related content.
Use hashtags by typing them somewhere within the text of your post. Here are some examples:
- “I want to learn all about #BestBook tips.”
- “#Sunday are the best. #Sleep #ForWalk ”
Hashtags you use in your Google+ posts may also appear at the top of your post as related hashtags. Hashtags appearing at the top of a post are related to the post’s content. Clicking on a hashtag will let you explore related posts.
Hashtags with gray coloring are those used by the author of the post while hashtags with blue coloring are added by Google based on the content of the post.
The most popular activity on Google Plus is photo sharing. Utilize hashtags when you post to provide equal opportunity for your post to be viewed.
Just as you would on Twitter, use hashtags that relate to your business and your goals. This includes choices such as #tech or #socialnetwork.
Below are others tips for Google +:
Use the rel=author tag on your blog/website
This is called setting up Google Authorship and means you can have your photo next to your articles in Google search results.
Write long messages in Google+ and then Tweet the link
If you want to share a longer message on Twitter you can always write the post in Google+ and then share the link to that post on Twitter.
Use keywords you want to be associated with
Another good tip is that you should use keywords in your profile page if you want to be associated with them for your blog or business.
Use the same email address for email campaigns
When you send out an email from Aweber for your mail campaign your Gmail subscribers will see your photo and Google+ profile on the right hand side of their window.