What the new Google+ Redesign Means for Social Media Marketing
On November 17th, Google+ rolled out a brand new experience for its uses. Based on increasing interests in its Collections and Communities features, the company decided to bring them to the forefront, in addition to simplifying the website’s design. This new focus enhances the site’s emerging identity as a social media platform, and encourages users to share content and join communities.
Sound familiar? It’s pretty similar to current social media platforms—it seems like what would happen if we put Reddit and Pinterest together. So what does this mean for social media marketing? More opportunities for content exposure, and a little more work.
Communities, Collections, and Social Media Marketing
Communities and Collections have been a part of Google+ for a while, but you may not have known about them until now. That’s because they weren’t an organized social media marketing tool until now.
Communities serve as the forum for Google+ uses who want to see posts, questions, and content about a specific topic. For instance, within a “OMG Kittens” communities, you might see posts made by people who own kittens, pictures of cute kittens, questions from new kitten owners, etc. While it would involve some work and time, you can increase exposure to your content by sharing it to these communities, or linking to content you own that answers a user’s question.
Be careful—if you’re spammy about it, or just seem like you’re constantly advertising rather than sharing productive content, moderators can delete your posts and remove you from the community.
Collections are a way to organize your Google+ posts based on their topic. These collections can be shared, and once a new collection is created, it shows up on your Google+ home page. This is the ‘Pinterest-esque’ part of the redesign; think about “boards” and “pins”. The way they help social media marketing is by providing an easy way for reader to see more of your posts about that topic, encouraging them to explore more of your content.
Both of these features have benefits for social media marketing, when used correctly. And even if you don’t wise to utilize these Google+ features, the new design is at least more user-friendly.
Still not sure where to start?
If you need additional help with social media marketing and new Google+ features, this is a reminder there is an awesome, free guide for redesigning your website right here on Adventure Web Interactive. Emphasis on the free.
We also offer marketing solutions for you, including blog writing and social media management. That way, you don’t have to worry about using Google+ the right way, we’ll do that for you.
Still want Adventure Web to really make a funny cat video? We haven’t forgotten (how could we?). Tag us on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Youtube with something along the lines of #wewantcats! We do have some pretty silly cats to share.
