Another of the social media tools we use in our BSSM (Broad Spectrum Social Media), is Google Plus. This versatile platform meshes perfectly with an overall campaign and serves to enhance efforts on Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Linkedin and others. They are all important and it’s similar to making a quilt, each individual square on the quilt makes up a contributing part of the whole. Same with SM, there is no individual site that can deliver maximum exposure and reach. The key is in knowing exactly the right ones to use for each individual client. We do this as well or better than any social media consultant in the industry. Below is a synopsis of how Google Plus Functions and the various features it offers that are unique to Google Plus.
Google Plus is a social network that is built around the concept of circles. In Google Plus you set up circles for various groups of people. You can set up a circle for friends, one for family. You can even set up a circle for your boss or co-workers. Then you can communicate with all of your circles or you can limit your posts to one. If you are into politics you can share posts with all your fellow like minded political friends while not including those that don’t care to be involved. It’s an interesting concept. I find it’s easier to segregate what I send out in Google Plus than in Facebook.
You can have friends in more than one circle. For instance, If am a motor sports enthusiast, I can set up my fellow racing friends in a circle called NASCAR. When there’s something I want to share specifically with those about NASCAR, I just share with that circle. None of my regular friends, etc will be flooded with posts in the stream that they would care less about. If you have friends in multiple circles and you send a post to all your circles, they are not seeing multiple posts so it won’t annoy them.
The circle concept also helps with how you follow the stream, a concept similar to the Facebook wall. It defaults to showing posts from all of your circles. However, you have the ability to select a circle and only view the posts coming from that circle of friends. So if you didn’t want to read what all of your political friends are posting, you can go to the stream you’ve set up for your high school classmates, etc.
When you find people you find interesting and you’d like to follow them, you add them to a circle. This is similar to following tweets on Twitter. Unless they return the favor by putting you in one of their circles, you will see what they post publically but not what they post privately in their circles. They also don’t read your posts unless they put you in a circle. If someone follows you in a circle, you get a notification that they have done so and if you’d like to connect with them, just put them in one of your circles. If you place someone in a circle, they will know you have done so but won’t know what the name of your circle is. So if you follow annoying people and place them in the annoying circle, they won’t know you think they are annoying. What a relief!!
You also have the ability to send private messages to people you follow. You can do so by typing either the + or @ symbol followed by their name, a drop down list will appear and you select the person or persons you want to send this message to. It’s that simple. You do not have to go to another menu to send these messages out. Others will not see these posts unless someone in the posts decides to share, however, you can select that your post is not one that can be shared. This is very thoughtful on Google’s part. You can also edit your post after you publish so if you make typo, you can go and correct the original post and not have to add to it that you made a typo.
Next there is the Hangout feature on Google Plus.
Hangouts is where you can have a one on one video or do a group video chat with all of your friends or a particular circle. Those people you select will see a message that you are hanging out. They click the hangout link and then they appear on your video window. This can really be handy. Let’s say you wanted to chat with your children or other family members all at the same time. Google Plus will allow this; Facebook isn’t set up for this.
You are going out for a night on the town with friends. You need to figure out where you want to meet up. Go in Google Plus and huddle with those friends and you have a chat room stream to make your plans in one area instead of having to send multiple messages to different people. A group chat makes this a whole lot easier to solve and it saves time!
We’re on top of social media because we know its intensity and immediacy can’t be overestimated. Our social media team has the inside track on the billions of social media conversations happening right now. By diving into the sea of digital chatter, we can provide you with real-time data to help you fine tune your market research. We’ll also help you uncover new customer segments, track brand health and advance your messaging.
Our solutions are backed by global data covering hundreds of millions of social media sources that fuel robust analytics. Grounded in billions of conversations across 181 million blogs, social networks and other media, we offer the industry’s most reliable view into the consumer mindset. With industry-specific insights, you can build relevant, engaging brands. You’ll also have a direct, uninhibited, real-time view into the consumer—your consumer.
This is just one more reason we can say with confidence, Relax, We’ve got this!
By Gary E. Mullins
