According to a recent report from Vocus, three in five of Google+’s 135 million active users log in every day. Or, as one 2013 Mid-Atlantic Marketing Summit speaker said, “Google’s not going to let Google+ die.”
Author marketing with Google+ really does make sense, but as we tell clients, it often gets short changed just because it got to the party late. But its distinct advantages include:
- Google+ impact on search results (because, yeah, it’s owned by Google!) In 2012, SEOptimise founder Kevin Gibbons tested this theory by looking at the websites of his clients who do and don’t use Google+. Those without a Google+ presence saw a 19.5 percent decrease in organic traffic. Google+ users saw a 42.6 percent increase.
- It’s easy to post your latest blog link to your Google+ profile. Want credit for authorship? Of course you do, and posting a snippet and link from your latest post onto your Google+ profile helps you get there.
- You’ll be indexed quickly. When you create a post on Google+, the search engine indexes it immediately. This makes it more likely that your Google+ followers will find your content when they search Google.
- More bang for your author-marketing minutes. Time is always a consideration, and no author wants to suck up all theirs on social media. Google+ features make it stronger than Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn combined. Google+ has integrated Twitter’s hashtag (#) to track trends and also has mentions, allowing you to interact directly with another user. Google+ Communities allow people to share and discuss information like they do in groups on LinkedIn. You can even pre-edit photos before posting them.
Pundits predict that while Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube still rule the social marketing roost, Google+ will be three times more “relevant” in 2014.
Here are some free tools and resources to enhance your author marketing experience on Google + and do let us know if Google+ has enhanced your own author marketing efforts!
Google+ Marketing Guide from Vocus – Free Download
Find People on Plus: An Easy Way to Find Readers by Gender, Demographic, Even City/State!
Excellent Article: Why Google+ Will Be Critical to Your Blog’s Success in 2013
Where Writers Win’s Google Page – Jump on in, the water’s warm!