Google Plus & A + Online Marketing Tool

After being used to Face Book which in my opinion was first to open doors of social networking I was bit sceptical about Google + whence it was introduced. Probably brought about to compete with the universally popular FB the networking site G+ had a slow rise. 

G+ however did not lag behind albeit its did not prove to as good as FB regarding user engagement, however it has come out good for content marketing.  In fact at the initial stage users spent just few minutes on G+ as compared to FB where they spent few hours. 

G+ managed to subscribe to users very quickly and could garner as many 500 million plus by 2013 but the platform did not find that many users. I think the quick rise in subscriber base was due googles connected services on one single platform. Notebly USA and India have the largest user base at Google Plus.  

The FB page has a simpler interface which an average user can master quickly while the G+ interface requires getting familiar with, but then the impact is much better and colorful. Unlike FB the probability of social interactions is much less on G+ but nevertheless it is excellent as far as niche users and webmasters are concerned. As the time goes by it will get prominence for promoting contents used in marketing online. 

Profile

Like in any other networking site the platform offers profile creation with an about us section and a cover photo. All your details are in the About Us section: Contact, Sites, Albums etc.

https://aboutme.google.com/?referer=gplus

The profile page shows your activities like posting of articles, videos and images.         

https://plus.google.com/+udaypatel

The above link constitutes a Google Plus Page

Collections

All your collections are located here. A collection is of niche contents under one head. Hence you post similar articles, blog entries and images pertaining to one collection that is best suited. If you make a collection on Indian Wildlife than all your content on Indian Wildlife goes here. 

https://plus.google.com/collection/s5yyRB

Collections belonging to others are also listed probably the one's you are following. This is followed by a list of communities which you have subscribed to. Then follows articles and blog entries that you have recently submitted to your collections or G+ Home.

Note: There is an option to post contents to collections, communities or people here. You can see the edit sign on the bottom right hand side. This will help you to target your marketing niche or target audience effectively.

CIRCLE

Circles or Organizing People in your contact at this networking website.

Whence you follow a person you can place the cursor on link to get an option for adding him or her into a niche called circle. This way your marketing content will be served to the right audience. This will be effective targeting as the content will not go to an uninterested person. The closed group of people addressed by their niche is called a Circle. 

Creating New Circles

When you click on the three dots on the top right hand side you will get an option for circle settings here you can create new circle as per your niche.  

At Circle Stream you can click on a circle to see contents promoted by the people there. These posts are from the communities. There is no limit as to how many people you can add to your circles or how many people you can add in this network unlike in Face Book.

Posts

All the posts have comment and like features as in other networking portals.The plus one button is used to like posts on this networking site.   There are many other features on G+ which one comes to understand whence moving deeper into the portal. 

Home: 

This is like Face Book Home where you get assemblage of all posts based on G+ algorithms. Added advantage is that you can search for niche posts from the search box on the top.

Discover

At this option you can search for information on particular niche that is present within the scope of this networking portal.

People

In this section you can search for communities, collections, people and pages by name or a niche. 

Marketing Tool

G+ is a perfect marketing tool as you can target specific preferred contents to niche audience thereby increasing your appeal, online reputation and effective conversations.

Making Most of The Social Media

That social media is a new media for marketing is slowly sliding down peoples throat. For many people it still remains a medium for entertainment and personal indulgence. But careful crafting will lead to unprecedented gains.   

Blogs, Twitter tweets, Facebook likes, You Tube Videos, Stumbling, Instagram Photos and so on these are the finest medium for online reputation building through effective communications. The long arm reach obtained leads to effective marketing of your services and products.    

But is it that easy? 

Long years of practice and skill development are the key to success. As a matter of fact they are a must. But what takes the cake is content creation and marketing through social media. Visitors are not sitting there to note your offerings or brand...they need to be engaged through effective, interactive and anecdotal writing. These are the skills that make your social media participation a robust exercise.    

Besides content, photos and videos make your entries entertaining and hence informative. Visitors like to receive a package that justifies the time spent listening to you. 

Blogging, article writing, journals are all pervasive medium that let you float your contents on diverse platforms. You can bookmark on reputed sites or network using contents on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and elsewhere. Get involved with groups that conform to your offerings or participate on relevant forums. This what Internet or Digital Marketing is all about.  

Another important point to understand is optimisation. An optimised output is always relevant and well focused. Topical relevancy is a must for search engines to understand and hence index and rank in the right manner. Success here means immense outreach on SERPs, and hence increase in networking that will float the message to your followers worldwide.      

You can be a good writer (u need to be), an excellent photographer or a video man, good at content curation and so on...well all that appeals to the audience.     

Most important is online research, a continuous exercise in order to discover mediums where you can leave an effective messages and appealing conversations. This is what will attract the right audience which you can convert to business or your services.   

Social Networking: How To?

In spite of the popularity of the social media or networking sites many users are still in dark about the potential the Social Media online. The basic interface of the social networking portals is simple to use but advance usage requires some knowledge.  

Before going into social networking deciding what you want from the activity helps a lot.

Do you wish to make friends?
Do you wish to connect with family and old friends?
Do you wish to make business contacts?
Do you seek information online?
Do you wish to propagate ideas, thoughts or beliefs and ideology?
Or any other purpose that you deem fit worth exploring on the Social Media.

Once you have finalized your goal look for social networking sites online on the Net. Going through the site will help you discover the niche and popularity of the website. Find out what the site delivers best. This can be done by visiting and exploring the site in order to find out its character. Read online reviews and articles. You can also visit forums on social networks and read discussion or inquire from members about the site. More so find out the member base is it growing or stagnant. A new social networking site would have fewer members but the numbers would grow in regular intervals.           

Once you have finalized the site join it. Register as member and create a profile. Your profile should be detailed, descriptive and appealing. Add your photo members without photos appear untrustworthy online. If the option to link to your site or blog is there than you should?

Once you have become member than begin exploring the activities online. Read about and explore the functions that the site offers. Once you have gained insights to the site become a part of its online activities.  
One basic aspect of all social networking sites is feature to connect with other members. There is an option to invite friends and family members as well for more personal inter connectivity.

If your are interested in searching for friends, business connections or professionals etc than there is an option to search. Use it using the right keywords like males in India or females India or handicrafts suppliers etc. The search option may or may not give you many options so you have to search within the limitations.
Once the results are drawn you can carefully scrutinize the profile and then request for friendship. After approval you will become online friends.

Similarly you can join groups or online communities matching your interest or profession. Clicking on the groups’ link will fetch you online communities by category. Joining a group is good way to connect with like minded people. It is good for promoting your profession or business to targeted audience. There are interesting articles and blog entries in the group pages where you can gather information or disseminate.

Some sites offer forum feature for discussion these are valuable for information gathering, advice, tips and tutorials. All these features if you utilize properly will give a good community feeling online.

Many niche sites offer free photo hosting features where you can upload your images. Similarly you can upload videos in order to preserve, store or share them online. 

Social networks offer good opportunity for website optimization and Internet marketing. The virtual communities are good for promoting one’s business and promotion a valuable Internet marketing input. To succeed in Internet marketing one needs skills and experience.

Hence these portals are multi-purpose tools and tremendously interactive. Many new sites with advance features are being uploaded on Internet periodically. Discover these sites and expand your online presence.    

Social Networking make most of it

Social Networking has created a new paradigm amongst the humans to interact with each other. The sites offer a platform to meet and mingle.  The online communities engage within with each other in order to converse on topics close to their heart. 

Social websites offer diverse benefits apart from friend connect. If utilized properly using social media utilities the platform can yield rich dividends.  One can promote one's profession and business with effective usage. It is a smart strategy which costs little.  

Using social media and useful content one can promote himself or herself in topic related circles. This is where one can highlight one's objective already having popularized one's skill using the social media. 

Facebook has already shown how potent a tool it can be for promoting one's objective and goals. Making a large member base helps one to target more potential clients, advertise one's wares, find buyers - the benefits as limitless. 

Publishing content is the key to success. Content were social media has been used effectively. There are a large number of networking website where one can promote oneself effectively. Most of the sites are free but membership fee has to be paid in some niche website which cater to a specific topic. Before paying for membership one should utilize the free option in order to get the feel of how strong the platform is.