{"id":15361,"date":"2014-06-19T03:12:27","date_gmt":"2014-06-19T07:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/?p=15361"},"modified":"2021-10-19T06:51:29","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T10:51:29","slug":"google-plus-16-great-social-media-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/google-plus-16-great-social-media-tools\/","title":{"rendered":"Google+ Finally Comes Alive With These 16 Great Social Tools"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You just can&#8217;t knock Google! Yes, there are complaints about <a href=\"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/google-panda-4-0-web-savior-or-digital-bully\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Panda<\/a> but Google changed the world and will continue to do so. That&#8217;s what confuses so many that Google+ lagged for so long behind Facebook and even LinkedIn. Well, thanks to these tools, Google+ has become the most powerful social media and digital communications platform around. Why did we doubt Google would build a winner?<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>YouTube Integration<\/h2>\n<p>If you\u00a0have a YouTube channel or have thought about it, take advantage of its easy posting to Google+. Establishing yourself on YouTube or Google+ will help you reach a wider audience\u00a0when you use them in conjunction.<\/p>\n<p>When you share a YouTube video to Google+, users can view the video within Google+. Any comments on that Google+ share\u00a0show up as comments on your <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.youtube\/news-and-events\/youtube-new-comments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube video<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Take advantage of this integration ability!<\/p>\n<h2>Use Hangouts<\/h2>\n<p>Webinars are a powerful tool for building email lists, monetization and a growing audience. Webinar software, however, can be clunky and expensive but webinars are considered one of the top ways to cement a loyal following. Google+ has an easy alternative.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/accounts.google.com\/ServiceLogin?passive=1209600&amp;osid=1&amp;continue=https:\/\/plus.google.com\/about&amp;followup=https:\/\/plus.google.com\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hangouts On Air<\/a>\u00a0provides a free video broadcasting service that lets you\u00a0stream a live feed to your YouTube channel for recording.\u00a0According to\u00a0Stephan Hovnanian, using Hangouts On Air drastically\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.websighthangouts.com\/google-plus-hangouts-personal-brand\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">increases your brand\u2019s reach<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re looking to\u00a0build your own Hangouts On Air audience, visit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/hoashows.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HOAShows<\/a>\u00a0and submit your hangout to the directory. HOAShows is one of the more popular and most updated Hangouts On Air directories. From there, you can also find other great examples of Hangouts!<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"How to set up an Hangout On Air (HOA) and create Google+ event\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-5WajoJjWdw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Share More and Monetize Easily<\/h2>\n<p>With\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/accounts.google.com\/ServiceLogin?passive=1209600&amp;osid=1&amp;continue=https:\/\/plus.google.com\/%2BGoogleDrive\/&amp;followup=https:\/\/plus.google.com\/%2BGoogleDrive\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Drive<\/a>\u00a0and their superior cloud-based storage,\u00a0you can\u00a0share an incredible amount of information with your Google+ audience, including slideshows of information and presentations, PDFs and even password-protected documents (which you can monetize for ebooks, whitepapers and other written digital information.<\/p>\n<h2>Forget Photo Storage Sites<\/h2>\n<p>If you are a Googlephile, then you should want everything at your fingertips, so dump Flickr and Photobucket and store your photos and images on Google+.\u00a0Uploaded images can be highlighted, enhanced and easily shared.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, being a Googlephile, you already know you can control, add, delete or anything else right from your mobile device. Another point for Google+!<\/p>\n<h2>Share Great Content &#8212; Extend Your Reach<\/h2>\n<p>Sure, you can share your blog posts to Google+ but did you know you can share Google+ posts to your blog? Yes! The embed feature will let you increase the life of your content. Once it passes too far &#8220;below the fold&#8221; of Google+ news feeds, you can extend the content on your blog. Of course, other people can embed your article on their blog as well!<\/p>\n<p>If your followers are logged into their Google+ accounts, any +1s, shares or comments will show up on both your blog and your Google+ content.<\/p>\n<h2>Make Animations and Slideshows<\/h2>\n<p>Viewers love videos. Written content is losing out, so how can Google+ help you create videos?<\/p>\n<p>Google+\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/photos\/answer\/6128862?visit_id=637701993920213948-1761211726&amp;rd=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Auto Awesome<\/a>\u00a0feature lets you\u00a0create animated videos with photos, videos or both. It\u2019s a really cool effect and has endless possibilities for video-minded marketers.<\/p>\n<p>To create your video using Auto Awesome on Google+, you\u2019ll need to\u00a0download the Google+ app for your smartphone\u00a0and make sure you have the correct settings enabled.\u00a0Go to Settings &gt; Camera Settings and turn on Auto Backup, Auto Awesome and Auto Enhance.\u00a0After uploading your images to Google+, wait a few minutes and then check your photo album to make sure all of the photos have been successfully uploaded. Google+ will automatically make the video.<\/p>\n<p>Check out this helpful tutorial&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"How to Create Auto Awesome Videos\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_rQOxPDBbXQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"How to create Animated Cover Photos for Google+ Profile\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VpViPcAreUs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JzJrQRf97lQ<\/p>\n<h2>Create an Impressive Image Gallery<\/h2>\n<p>Google+ is different from Facebook and other social sharing sites. It doesn\u2019t auto-crop your images or require you to resize them before posting. The result is a gallery of full images, which will engage followers and is great for portfolios for freelance creatives and businesses that want to show their products in the best light.<\/p>\n<h2>Maximize Your Content Formatting<\/h2>\n<p>LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook don\u2019t let you format your post content with eye-catching type formatting. That means you can\u2019t draw the reader\u2019s attention to important parts of your posts.<\/p>\n<p>Google+ allows you to\u00a0add simple variables such as<strong> \u201c*\u201d for bold <\/strong>and<strong> \u201c_\u201d <\/strong>for <em>italics<\/em> to grab the attention of readers who scan articles to see if it will interest them.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Google+ Basics Tips and Tricks Formatting a Google Plus Post: Bold, Strikethrough &amp; Italic\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UeRpe2HU3DM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Hashtag Heaven<\/h2>\n<p>Just like Twitter and Instagram, hashtags can\u00a0have a big impact on reaching a targeted audience on Google+. The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/google-gets-new-explore-experience-web-promotes-major-topics-content-discovery#!ynvSm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Explore feature<\/a>\u00a0uses hashtags to help Google+ users quickly find and join hot topics, which is where your content will be. Facebook does use hashtags but if you have your privacy settings to only friend, then the general Facebook public won&#8217;t see hashtaged content.<\/p>\n<h2>Circles Target Your Audience<\/h2>\n<p>At first, some people were against the idea of anyone being able to see your content without your permission, as with Facebook but Google+ Circles allows you to place your targeted audience into one circle for targeted email marketing (although many experts say you should get followers permission first).<\/p>\n<p>To\u00a0distribute permission-based, targeted traffic to your posts, just\u00a0include the \u201ccircle\u201d in the &#8220;<em>also<\/em>\u00a0<em>send email to&#8230; &#8220;<\/em><i>\u00a0<\/i>button when posting new content. Again, some people think this is bad Google+ manners unless you have an opt-in list. Instead, try posting in one of Google+&#8217;s groups.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"What are circles?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ljvFCIuN8I8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>If you want to find more targeted people to add to your circle(s) <a href=\"https:\/\/accounts.google.com\/ServiceLogin?passive=1209600&amp;osid=1&amp;continue=https:\/\/plus.google.com\/%2BCircleCount&amp;followup=https:\/\/plus.google.com\/%2BCircleCount\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Circlecount<\/a> provides Google + statistics. \u00a0You can view standard statistics provided and run various searches by user, location and\/or keyword to find details of Google + users.<\/p>\n<h2>Share From Google+ to Other Social Media Platforms<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/friendsplus.me\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Friends+Me<\/a>\u00a0has the incredible ability to automatically share content from Google+ to other social networks. By checking your Google+ business page and\/or personal profile at regular interval, new posts are found and reposted to any social networks you\u2019ve linked to Friends+Me.<\/p>\n<p>Friends+Me has some excellent configuration options but you\u2019ll need to spend some time setting them up with the learning curve. Once that\u2019s done, Friends+Me is a great time-saver to\u00a0share your Google+ updates across multiple social platforms.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from the links available, \u00a0you can integrate bit.ly tracking links. You can share content using either the Friends+Me web address shortener or you can use bit.ly. Both link shorteners let you track how your audience responds to your linked content but why not just stick with the geniuses at Google and make Google+ your home base?<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Friends Plus Me Setup Tutorial\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PcFLAupHdVg?list=PLJKX_lNv-G5DcJ2mtg7QddSNTo3hBs159\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The most incredible advantage of\u00a0Friends+Me is that you can\u00a0schedule each platform to share your Google+ updates at different times.\u00a0With this tool, you can post to different platforms when it&#8217;s the best time for the most share possibilities.<\/p>\n<h2>Check Your Posting Times<\/h2>\n<p>Every social media platform has optimum times for posting, so to get the maximum benefit from posting across any of the social networks you need to work out the timing to the very moment your audience is online and the most receptive.<\/p>\n<p>Timing+\u00a0analyses your last 100 posts on Google Plus to identify the best time to post. Just login to your Google + account and Timing+ analyses your posts.<\/p>\n<h2>Easy Google+ Analytics<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.steadydemand.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Steady Demand<\/a>\u00a0is a Google+ audit and analytics tool. The audit function is free &#8212; the analytics tool (for business pages) is a premium paid service.<\/p>\n<p>To use the Free Audit Tool, \u00a0go to\u00a0Steady Demand\u00a0and click on Launch Tool to reach the audit page. Enter your Google+ brand page URL and click TEST.\u00a0The results will show you an complete overview of what\u2019s working on your page&#8230; and what\u2019s not. Remember, you can always delete and report a reworked piece of content if it&#8217;s doing poorly.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Google Plus Business Brand Page Audit Tool - Average Statistics Update\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6kuNzMrzYrA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Learn Google+ Success From Others<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.allmyplus.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener\">Allmyplus<\/a>\u00a0allows you to search for a particular user on Google + and display detailed information on that user. \u00a0Information, such as the posts they made, when they made them, the interactions they had and much more will be available. Picking a popular Google + user in your niche will help you understand how they grow their following.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, you can also get first hand information about your competitors and view their entire activity log. It&#8217;s a great way to see how your competitors post are doing in comparison to yours and adjust your content for maximum success.<\/p>\n<h2>Aggregating Your Google+ Into an RSS Feed<\/h2>\n<p>When you are on a Google + profile have a look at the web address. Copy the numbers displayed within this web address and paste into\u00a0MyGplusFeed\u00a0in yahoo pipes. Underneath this you will see options for adding to an RSS feed, for example Google reader.<\/p>\n<p>When you open up your reader application you will see the latest posts from the Google + accounts that you added to your RSS feed.<\/p>\n<h2>Get Rid of Inactive Followers<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/circloscope.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Circloscope, <\/a>as the name suggests, is a &#8220;circle&#8221; management tool. Circloscope helps by allowing you to remove inactive users, un-circle people who do not circle you back and a lot of other management functions. It gives you complete information and analysis of your circles, followers, people with whom you engage. Cutting out inactive followers will cut your quantity but give you better quality for your posts.<\/p>\n<h2>More Google+ Resources<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/accounts.google.com\/ServiceLogin?passive=1209600&amp;osid=1&amp;continue=https:\/\/plus.google.com\/about&amp;followup=https:\/\/plus.google.com\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3rd Party Management Tools for Google+ Pages<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/2014\/06\/16\/google-my-business-new-tools-for-small-business-owners\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google My Business: New Tools for Small Business Owners<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/simplymeasured.com\/freebies\/google-plus-analytics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Free\u00a0Google+ Page Report<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/uber.la\">The Quick-Start Guide to Google+<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Permanent Link to Google Adds GIF &amp; Collage Creation Tools to Its Google+ Android App\" href=\"https:\/\/petapixel.com\/2014\/05\/21\/google-adds-gif-and-collage-creation-tools-to-its-android-app\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Google Adds GIF &amp; Collage Creation Tools to Its Google+ Android App<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>*WebHostingGeeks does not support or sponsor any products or services mentioned in this article. The items shared are provided for information only.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Top Image \u00a9GL Stock Images<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10432 lazyload\" alt=\"whg.bannerad.1.prelim\" data-src=\"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/whg.bannerad.1.prelim.jpg\" width=\"635\" height=\"144\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/whg.bannerad.1.prelim.jpg 635w, https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/whg.bannerad.1.prelim-128x29.jpg 128w, https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/whg.bannerad.1.prelim-420x95.jpg 420w, https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/whg.bannerad.1.prelim-540x122.jpg 540w, https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/whg.bannerad.1.prelim-372x84.jpg 372w, https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/whg.bannerad.1.prelim-328x74.jpg 328w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 635px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 635\/144;\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You just can&#8217;t knock Google! Yes, there are complaints about Google Panda but Google changed the world and will continue to do so. That&#8217;s what confuses so many that Google+&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":15372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3556,2733],"tags":[130,7199,7200,328,1239],"class_list":["post-15361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-media-2","category-tools","tag-google","tag-google-plus","tag-google-tools","tag-marketing","tag-social-media"],"views":147,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}