Google Plus 101: What You Need to Know

Google+ is the official social networking platform of Google, one of the world’s largest and most popular search engines. Google+ officially debuted in June 2011 and is intended to pull all of Google’s peripheral products (Gmail, Google Maps, search, Google Calendar, etc.) into one cohesive network, meant to be as open and as connected as possible, incorporating everything that searchers use at Google into a comprehensive social and content dashboard. Google+ is a ‘social layer’ that sits on top of many of Google’s products. You may have noticed the ‘+ Share’ button appearing in the top right of many Google properties and the many privately-owned websites with the +1 button on their pages.

Why Use Google Plus for Your Business

Since its launch in 2011, Google Plus has been gradually moving towards being one of the most active social networks with hundreds of millions of people having active accounts. But what is Google+? And is it any different to any other social network? Well, as you will see in this video guide, it is very different indeed, but you may need to let go of what you are expecting… It’s incredible how much the web has evolved. More specifically, it’s incredible how many new products Google has introduced in the past year.

In order to use Google+ efficiently, you’ll need to understand a few of the Google+ terms: Circles, Stream, Hangouts, Streams, Profiles, and +1’s.

Reasons why you should be using Google Plus – Key Benefits and Features

To initially join Google+ you need a Google account, such as accessing Gmail. The main page that appears when you sign in consists of a ‘stream’ of updates, conversations and shared content, which is similar in many respects to the Facebook and Twitter news feed. Another reason why you should be using Google+ is that in only a year and a half it grew exponentially and established itself as the second biggest social network in the world. And guess what? You have the chance to be part of this new experience, one which sooner or later EVERYBODY will be part of. Remember Twitter’s story? In the beginning, no one was sure about how to use it or why to use it. But, the brands that got there first got the best part of the deal.

Google+ Circles

Google+ Circles are simply a way of organizing your personal and professional connections within Google+. Work, family, hobbies, anything you might be interested in, they all get their own Circle. You choose who you’d like to share content with; for example, someone in your Work Circle will probably not be interested in something you’re thinking about sharing with your Family Circle. Because relationships are at the core of any social networking service, Circles aims to make sharing with the people in your life as intuitive as possible. Users can create Circles based on their connections, and then choose which content they want to share with those Circles.

Google+ Stream

The Google+ Stream is similar to the Facebook news feed in that it’s meant to be one centralized dashboard for all content shared by the people you’ve made connections with on Google+. Information found in the stream could include text, images, videos, links and maps. There are a few things that set Google+ Stream apart from other social media counterparts; you can see content from people who are not connected to you, but who want to share something with you from Google+ Circles. You have complete control over how your content is filtered and who gets to see it. You can start chatting instantly with anyone you know online via Hangouts.

How Blue Whale Media can Help you with Google+

Google+ is Google’s very own social media platform. Anything the world’s most powerful search engine puts its name to needs to be taken seriously and incorporated into any online strategy. As a registered Google Partner, we stay ahead of the curve with regular updates regarding the developments of all Google platforms. The Blue Whale Media Team have a proven track record of increases business exposure from start to finish. Our social media executives are all based in-house. Why is this a plus? Having our experts in-house means they are only a phone call away nine to five, five days a week. Should you need to discuss your campaign with an executive, you know exactly where to find them.

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