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The 100% Updated, Start-to-Finish Guide to Profiting from Google+!
Google+ is quickly maturing into an incredibly valuable channel for profitable business--and, because many of your competitors haven’t discovered it yet, it offers you huge new opportunities. Google+ for Business, Second Edition, will help you grab those opportunities right now. Top social media speaker and business advisor Chris Brogan will help you get great results fast, without wasting time or money. This fully updated second edition distills the experiences of leading-edge Google+ business adopters into powerful tactical recipes for everything from lead generation and nurturing to direct sales. Packed with new examples and case studies, it guides you through using Google+ for promotion, customer service, community building, referrals, collaboration, and much more. From start to finish, the focus is on results: generating more customers and more cash at the lowest possible cost!
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: How Did I Get Here? 3
Why Is Google+ the Next Big Thing? 4
Speculating on the Future 5
Facebook Is Better. Twitter Is Better. LinkedIn Is for Business. 6
My First Touch with Google+ 6
This Sounds Like Other Social Networks 8
Why Is Google+ So Interesting? 8
The Sharing Culture Grows and Grows 9
Another Social Network to Manage? Really? 10
What Do People Do on Google+? 10
Google+ Ghost Town: One for the Naysayers 12
The Average Isn’t All That It Seems 12
What People Are Saying and What It Might Mean to You 13
Why I’m Still Betting on Google+ 15
Endnotes 18
Chapter 2: The Opportunity of Google+ 19
Where Google+ Fits in the Business Ecosystem 20
Google+ Opportunities 21
Preparing Yourself for Opportunity 23
The Personal Touch and Personality 24
Blending Business and Personal 25
Start Early 26
What You Can Accomplish with Google+ 26
Opportunity Is What You Make of It 27
Chapter 3: A Day in the Life 29
My Personal Day in the Life of Google+ 30
Interview with Scott Monty, Ford Motor Company 31
Interview with Greg Pak, Comic Book Author and Screen Writer 32
Interview with Jenny Cisney, Kodak’s Chief Blogger 33
Interview with Darren Rowse, Problogger 34
Interview with Jacqueline Carly, Fitness Professional 36
Some Partially Fictitious Day-in-the-Life-of Suggestions 37
The Author 37
The Real Estate Agent 38
The Reporter 39
The Sales Executive 39
The Educator 40
The Photographer 41
The Business Executive 42
Wrapping Up 43
Chapter 4: Profiles and Examples of Google+ Business Users 45
Mike Elgan--Media Maker 46
Matt Dooley--Intercontinental Hotels 47
Deepak Chopra--Spiritual Advisor 48
Rick Bakas--Wine Personality 49
Bill Gross--Serial Entrepreneur 49
Jeremiah Owyang--Analyst, Altimeter 50
What About a Brand Page Doing Something Interesting? 51
Chapter 5: First Moves with Google+ 53
Profiles Matter for Business 54
Using Your Google+ Profile for Business 54
Businesses Are Made of People 54
Connections Before the Sale 55
How You Appear to Others 56
Your About Page: The Basics 60
Start at the Top 61
Your Profile Photo 61
Editing Your Name 62
Editing Your Tagline 62
The Most Important Part of Your Profile: The Introduction 63
Employment: A Useful Hack for You 64
The Links Section 64
Moving on from the Profile 65
Chapter 6: Circles 67
What Circling Means 68
How Do I Know Who Is Circling Me Back? 68
Reciprocal Follows 70
Creating Circles and Naming Them 70
Outbound Circles and Inbound Circles 71
Sharing Circles 72
Ordering Circles 72
Who Should You Follow? 74
Friendsurfing 74
Do I Know You? 74
Should You Circle Celebrities? 75
More About Outbound Circles 75
Circle Tricks 76
Circles Aren’t a One-Time Thing 77
Wrapping Up 77
Chapter 7: Posting in the Stream 79
Google+ Isn’t a Blog, and It’s More Than Twitter 80
Posting on Google+ 81
The Sharing Options Under the Main Post Area 83
Formatting Posted Text 84
Posting Photos 85
Posting Video 86
Posting Place and Location Data 86
Other Post Options 87
Disabling Comments and Reshare 88
The Importance of Sharing 88
Chapter 8: Video, Hangouts, and More 91
Adding Video to Google+ 92
YouTube and Your Business 92
Hangouts and Your Business 93
Creating Video 95
Chapter 9: A Simple Content Strategy 97
How Others Approach Content Sharing 98
Jennifer Cisney (Kodak) 98
Michael Dell (CEO, Dell) 99
Scott Monty (Ford Motor Company) 99
Bill Gerth (Social Media Lead at Comcast) 100
The Biggest Content Difference (So Far) on Google+ for Business Users 100
Restaurant Owner 101
Community Manager/Developer 102
Online Store 103
Professional Speaker or Thought Leader 104
Writer, Photographer, and Artist 105
Posting to Build Connections 106
Value Your Audience’s Attention 106
Chapter 10: The “Warm” Sell 107
Attention Is a Gift 108
Make It About Them 108
Turn Self-Promotion into Appreciation 108
Don’t Waste Chances to Sell 109
The Warm Sell--Warming Up a Sale 109
Getting to Know You 110
The Difficult Sell 110
Affiliate Marketing and Google+ 112
The Two-Tier Sale 113
A Power Move--Mention Your Competitor 114
If You’re Not Directly in Sales 115
Chapter 11: Growing an Audience 117
Quality over Quantity 118
Measuring the Size of Your Audience 118
Value Your Audience 119
What Interests Your Audience 120
What Community Means to People 121
Bring a Campfire 122
Connecting People Is Key 122
The Time in Between Is Important 123
You Are a Media Company 124
Make Your Buyer the Hero 124
Sailing the High C’s of Audience Building 124
Chapter 12: Sharing 127
The Value of Content Curation 128
Sharing as a Practice 130
Building Interest 131
You Are a Magazine Publisher 131
Commenting on What You Share 132
What Does Your Magazine Look Like? 133
Two Resources to Help with Your Sharing 133
A Sharing Workflow 134
Can Sharing Add Direct Business Value? 135
Chapter 13: Power Plays in Google+ 137
John Herman: The Hangout Entertainer 138
Michael Dell: The Wide Open CEO 139
Muhammad Yunus: Changing the World 139
Mark Horvath: Handing Out Pizza, Socks, and Hope 140
Robert Scoble and Rackspace 142
My Power Plays 143
Chapter 14: Setting Up Your Business Page 147
The Look and Feel of the Business Pages 148
Rules for Business Pages 148
Coming Soon (or Already Here) 149
How Businesses Might Use These Pages 150
Interesting Business Pages of Note 151
The Corcoran Group: https://plus.google.com/106654503918907830147/posts 151
The Dallas Cowboys: https://plus.google.com/106281600940449244340/posts 152
Intel: https://plus.google.com/111660275132722215045/posts 152
Edelman Digital: https://plus.google.com/106069281351191490929/posts 153
Forbes: https://plus.google.com/116243183460563505245/posts 153
NASA: https://plus.google.com/102371865054310418159/posts 153
The Role of Your Business Page in Doing Business 154
A Robust Business Card 155
Chapter 15: Feeling Lucky? 157
Home Bases, Outposts, and Search 158
Social Signals 158
Shifting Sands 160
How People Come to Matter 161
Serving Suggestions for Using Google+ to Improve Your Search Results 162
Use Your Profile 163
Taking Full Advantage of Google+ to Help Your Business 163
Stay Organic 164
Chapter 16: Tactics 167
Searchability 168
Lead Generation 169
Informational Offerings 170
Lead Nurturing 171
Prospecting 171
Customer Service and Community Management 172
Direct Selling 173
Traffic Enhancement to Your Main Site 174
There’s More 175
Chapter 17: Recipes for Using Google+ 177
How to Find More People to Circle on Google+ 178
How to Be Ready for Business on Google+ 179
Promoting Yourself and Your Business on Google+ 182
Hangouts on Google+: The Best Opportunity You Rarely Take 184
How to Use Google+ for Sales 186
How to Set Up Your Local Business on Google+ 187
How to Use a Google+ Business Page to Your Best Advantage 188
The Personal Versus Business Page Recipe 190
Are There More Recipes You Want? 191
Chapter 18: Next Steps 193
Starting Moves 194
Listening 195
Posting 196
Sharing 197
Video 198
Hangouts 199
Photos 200
Commenting 201
Business Pages 202
Some Final Thoughts 202
A Note About This Book 203
Appendix A: Interesting People to Circle on Google+ 205
Additional Plus Starter Packs 207
Artists 207
Brands 207
Businesses 207
Celebs 207
Photographers 208
Other Sites and Resources to Check Out 208
Index 209
BusinessReview4U
Posted January 19, 2012
This book was well written, had some solid information, yet I was hoping for more examples. It is not a page turner. More an introduction to get your feet wet.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 13, 2012
Great overview...everything you want to know about leveraging Google+ in a business setting. Chris has an approachable and understandable writing style.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Overview
The 100% Updated, Start-to-Finish Guide to Profiting from Google+!
Google+ is quickly maturing into an incredibly valuable channel for profitable business--and, because many of your competitors haven’t discovered it yet, it offers you huge new opportunities. Google+ for Business, Second Edition, will help you grab those opportunities right now. Top social media speaker and business advisor Chris Brogan will ...