Google Plus

5 tips on quickly enhancing Google+ Branded Company Pages.

November 8, 2011 by Raul Colon

Since Google + was launched a few months ago, the presence of any business was initially left out of the equation. Yesterday Google opened up its Business Pages to the Public and our staff and myself have been creating pages of some of our clients and our own CIMA IT Solutions Google+ Profile.

We wanted to share with you 5 initial tips on quickly enhancing your Google+ Branded Company pages.

Take a look at the video we included below with simple instructions on creating a page. Below are some more details on how we set up our page.

Create a Short link for your page

As soon as we set up our page we went ahead and created a shortcut on http://gplus.to for CIMA IT Solutions Corp. We ended up getting a shorter link that is http://gplus.to/cimapr. Google + is known for having long urls to reach the profile.

Another option towards creating your own short link is if you use the Genesis Framework like we do on wordpress. By creating a Redirect url (a trick I learned from my friend @ChrisBrogan) like this one http://cimapr.net/gplus . This link will move people towards your Google+ branded page.

Complete your Business Profile

To give your profile and page some credibility, I highly recommend including as much information as possible but keep it brief. Feel free to include enough information to spark the interest of those that landed on your Google+ Branded Page. We made sure to give it the human touch and added links to the profiles of our teams and leadership.

Share Your Content

If you already have content created on a blog feel free to add a few of your best past posts. We will be sharing past posts and new ones as they become available. This is yet another way to get new people interested in the previous content you have created.

Add Some Photos

What a better way than to add life to your Business Page Profile in Google+ than adding photos of the company or organization’s events. Make sure to share the story behind the pictures. This might spark a few conversations and keep Google+ users interested in what you are currently doing or generate questions about past experiences.

We will be writing and sharing a series of posts on this new channel for business. If you need help in enhancing your Google + Branded Pages feel free to contact us or in the comments area.

Also feel free to subscribe to our newsletter to get future posts on the subject.

Additional Resources we found online

A post on Google+ from Susan Beebe

Pages are extremely similar to profiles, but they have some key differences:

– Pages can’t add people to circles until the page is added first or mentioned. Learn more.

– Pages can be made for a variety of different entities whereas profiles can only be made for people.

– The default privacy setting for elements on your page profile is public.

– Pages have the +1 button.

– Pages can’t +1 other pages, nor can they +1 stuff on the Web.

– Pages can’t play games.

– Pages don’t have the option to share to ‘Extended circles’.

– Pages don’t receive notifications via email, text, or in the Google bar.

– Pages can’t hangout on a mobile device.

– Local pages have special fields that help people find the business’ physical location.

– Learn more about local pages.

Video to Set Up Your Google+ Branded Page from John S. Haydon

Reinventing the Wheel or in this case the Circle

July 18, 2011 by Raul Colon

One of the main concerns individuals who are not early adopters have with Google Plus is the fact of having to build your contacts again. I really think that Google needs to analyze how to make this process as simple and effective as possible to get more people to jump on board.

Google does provide the option of including contacts you may know by using contacts in your gmail. In my case I have used Gmail for so many things since I started using in 2003. I have many contacts on Gmail that I have only spoken to once and have no direct contact with. I use to copy my emails from other efforts into gmail so I have thousands of contacts, which I think would be very spammy if I sent them a request so they could join me in Google Plus. There are other contacts that I probably don’t want to connect with. In the past I have had issues using gmail contacts to connect in social networks so I will not use this function again.

If Google had a way to connect your Facebook & Twitter contacts the same way Facebook and now Twitter connect with Gmail contacts, that might help with the process of building your contacts on Google Plus. Since Google Plus is still in beta, it might launch a cross platform tool to alert your friends on Facebook and Twitter to come and join you on Google Plus.

In the meantime here are a few things you can do to bring your contacts over from other platforms and even your blog.

Get your short Google Plus Nickname.

Go to http://gplus.to and insert your Google + ID Number and choose a Nickname. For example, mine is http://gplus.to/raul . This makes it easier when sharing your profile with other people so they can connect.

Share Your Profile on Social Channels

Share your Profile nickname on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn or any other social channel so people know where to find you.

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/rj_c/status/93072557783261184″]

Include it in Your Email Signature

If you have a blog I would include the blog url in the email signature if you want people to connect with you in Google Plus. Make sure you include it in your email signature.

Change your Avatar

Many of us changed the avatar on Twitter and Facebook with the “I have Moved” Image. I modified the I Have Moved version of my avatar and included my Gplus Nickname so people could find me on Google Plus.

Add a Widget or Badge to your Blog

If your blog works on WordPress you can easily integrate Google Cards into your WordPress blog as a widget. With some PHP knowledge, integrate it into any part of your WordPress site.

If you are interested in learning more about the plugin visit: http://plusdevs.com/google-wordpress-plugin/

My first weeks in Google+ I have had such great conversations with a small group of new people I met. I found it worth moving over and waiting for the rest to come along.

If you need any invite feel free to Contact me I will gladly send you one.

photo credit by p22earl

Adding Circles to Your Gmail Chat (Gtalk)?

July 15, 2011 by Raul Colon

Update: It seems that Google did remove the functions we mentioned in this post.

Updated from Google:

We wanted to offer you more control over who you can chat with in Google Plus. So we’ve made a change that requires you to explicitly invite people in order for them to appear in your chat list. For Gmail, Orkut and iGoogle users, we’ll continue to include the people who you can already chat with in those properties.

Original Post

The other day using Google + I started using gmail chat which I got the option to include everyone in my circles into my GTalk contacts. A few hours later I got a message from Steven (a member of Kitchen Table Companies → Affiliate Link) asking me how did I on how I adding myself to his Gtalk contacts.

I quickly ran him through the steps and he gave me a few reasons why this could really help him use even more GPlus. (many of them where on the business side).

Adding Your Google+ Circles to Gtalk

If you go to the chat area on your left side of your Google+ screen you will see an arrow giving you the option to see your Circles, Setting, or to Log Out of Gtalk.

If you click on Circles you will get the options to choose the circles you want to chat with. This automatically enables the people in your circle to see that you are online.

Something you have to take into consideration when enabling your circles in Gtalk is the fact that people might be able to discover your email address. So make sure you only enable people you trust.

If you need to adjust setting of your Gtalk you can also do that by hitting the chat settings button.

This integration on Google+ will help me keep in touch with many of my contacts that I had lost touch for a while since I hardly use Gtalk.

What other benefits and/or disadvantages do you see in having Gtalk integrated with your circles?

Should You bring your Business to Google Plus

July 15, 2011 by Raul Colon

Google had planned to implement their business version of Google+ in a few months. They had asked companies to wait on that phase before they created business profiles.

As we found out via mashable this week, Christian Oestlien, group product manager at Google wrote in a blog that they would be accelerating the program for use even earlier.

If you read the post you have until today July 15 to register your business, although it seems that the form has been turned off as of this post.

If you need more information regarding Google Plus for Business use, feel free to take a look at Christian’s other post where he explained Google’s stance on business users until the next phase.

If you are not in the selected bunch of users who will test phase, I recommend you to build the business on the personal side by creating relationships and really caring about those people you interact with online. Communicating as an individual can lead to healthy business opportunities for the company you own or represent. It can also extend the relationship into a positive perception of the brands you represent.

A good example was Morgan Johnston from Jetblue using it to convey a special deal from his personal account.

Not only will people identify with you as a person, but they will also identify with your company because they know you as a person not as a logo.

I see many benefits of Google + so it is key for any smart business to stay up to date and once it is available, I highly recommend you to sign your business up.