Google for Business. Name:

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1 Google for Business Name:

2 Workshop:»Google For Business«Contents: Powerpoint slides Task 1 Creating groups with Circles in Google+? Task 2 Joining an existing Community in Google++? Task 3 Creating, sharing and collaborating on a document in Google Drive+? Help Guides: A guide: Google for Business Tips and strategies Web links Learning Objectives The learning objectives of this workshop are: Learning objective 1 To learn about additional services within the Google environment Learning objective 2 To understand how these services can be used for business promotion Learning objective 3 To assess the relevance of Google+ for your business Learning objective 4 To understand how the individual services can be used together in order to promote your business

3 Creating your Gmail account With your Gmail account, you will gain access to several Google services some of them will be covered in this course. If you don t have your Gmail account yet, please take some time to set it up now. When you are logged with your Gmail account, you have quick access to different services. Click through them now, later we will have a look at some of them in greater detail.

4 Google+ Google+ has a total of 500 million registered users 235 million are active on a monthly basis Your Google+ page is your brand s home on Google. Create a Google+ page for your company to get started. Including a website and detailed description can help customers find you across Google. Getting started on Google+ To get your business on Google+ you first need to set up your personal Google+ page. If you don t have the personal Google+ page, take some time to do it now. Now let s set up the Google+ page for your business together. Creating a Google+ page for your business On the left hand side of your personal profile, click on the Pages icon. Click Create new page in the upper right corner of the screen.

5 Select a category that best describes the type of page you want to create. Enter your business name, business website select a category, and click Create. Upload logo of your company and the cover photo. Enter description and your contact information. Click Finish when done.

6 How to switch between your personal and business page? There are two ways to switch from your Google+ page to your personal profile and vice versa: 1. Hover over the pages icon in the navigation ribbon and click your personal profile or Google+ page you would like to manage 2. In the upper right hand corner of your screen click on the name of your page or profile photo, and select the page you want to manage Just a few more essential steps to make sure your page captures the essence of your brand and is useful to your visitors: Click the Profile icon on the navigation ribbon to the left Next, click the blue Edit profile button at the top of your page a blue banner will appear to let you know you are in edit mode. This is also how you can edit your page in the future Next fill out your 'About' section. Click About below your cover photo Click Introduction and add additional details about your business include anything that will be useful to people visiting your page. Google+ Tips Add links to all the places your business is present on the web such as your blog, YouTube channel or other social media. Make your page even better by adding photos and videos. Click the Photos tab, and upload photo albums. Click the Videos tab and upload videos. The more engaging the content on your page, the more likely you are to get followers and ultimately new customers! Once your 'About' section is filled out completely, click Done editing on the blue banner at the top of the page.

7 Creating posts on your page Click posts or the Home icon at the top of the navigation panel. Click Share what s new...' and start typing your post. Add a picture, video or link by clicking the icons on the right of the share box. Tips for posting Think about your brand: Start by thinking about your brand, what makes your business unique, and the personality you want to convey to your customers and followers. It s best to stay consistent in your messaging so that your posts feel personal and authentic. Set goals: What are your reasons for creating the page? You can use your page to do many things, such as find new customers, build your brand and relationships with current customers, promote events and special offers, communicate with internal

8 teams, and much more. Whatever your goals are, it s helpful to be detailed and specific so you can devise an actionable plan for reaching these goals. Know your customer: Once you have a few goals in mind, think about your customer and what kind of things they want to see from you. What will get them excited? What will keep them engaged? To get you started here are some ideas: post images and videos, host Hangouts, share exclusive deals or give a behind-thescenes tour. Check out the Tips and Strategies Guide for more ways to engage your following. Mark your calendar: Take out your calendar and decide how often and what type of content you want to post each day. Plan it out and write it down. We recommend posting at least every other day so your business stays top of mind and your followers have fresh content to keep them engaged. It s also important not to post all your content at once to avoid overwhelming your followers. Google+ features Let s take a look at most popular Google+ features. You can use them with your business as well as with your personal profile. Google+ Circles Circles are an easy way to organize the people you know like in real life. They make it easy for you to choose who you want to share with, every time you share, whether you re sending an inside joke to your family circle or sharing news about your company with everyone. On Google+ you can share as broadly or narrowly as you want. If you have something to say that the world needs to hear, choose Public. To keep your message to a specific group, choose one of your circles. You can even share with individuals - just type in someone s name or address to select them.

9 Task 1: Form groups and pick a name for your group. Each participant should create a circle, name it after her group and put other group members into the circle. Please include the mentors in all your circles. (for the purpose of this task let s use personal profiles). Write a quick post and share it with your team members.

10 Google+ Communities Google+ Communities allows a business to be focused in targeting and managing current and prospective clientele and allows brands to engage in other communities thereby increasing its reach (if moderator permits). Within a community you have the opportunity to post information about your activity, promote new product or discuss with other members in order to raise your profile as expert. Google+ Communities Tips Build your own Communities owned by your brand page Post regularly both your own and similar topical content to your Communities Participate as your brand in other Communities Invite the outside world to your Community Use Communities for customer service

11 Task 2: Find a community E-BEL Google. It is a community we created for the purpose of this course. Since it is a private community, you have to ask to join in just click the button on the upper right corner. We will use this community for further interaction alongside the circles you ve created.

12 Google+ Hangouts Hangouts let you catch up with friends and family, whether you re at home on your computer or mobile device. Up to 10 people can join a hangout, and it s easy to invite specific friends or circles. Team collaboration gets better when you re face to face. Hangouts offers a suite of productivity apps that let you share what s on your screen, collaborate in Google Docs, view presentations and diagram together. To access these, simply click the Add app button inside your hangout to browse and add new apps. When you start the hangout, you can Enable Hangouts on Air to stream your hangout publicly on your Google+ profile, your YouTube channel and your website. Later the video can be uploaded to YouTube and Google+ profile, so you can share and discuss your video with others. Google+ Events Google Events can be a good way to complement your events in the real world with online elements in order to increase level of engagement and loyalty of your customers. Google+ Events Features Automatically add your events to Google Calendar o Google+ Events you ve created or have been invited to appear in your Google Calendar. When replying or creating an event in Google+, you can check your schedule right from the event invitation. Share photos in real time o Party Mode lets you share pictures and videos you take during an event instantly with everyone at the party. On your mobile device you can use the Party Mode when an event you re attending starts. Everyone's pictures, together at last o With Google+ Events, everybody going to the event can share photos to one single photo collection. Photos can be added in real time during the event using Party Mode, or afterwards on the event page or from any album page.

13 Google+ Events How it works? You can watch example of how Google Events work in the following video: The demonstration is related to a private event, but the same features can easily be used, when you host a promotional event, a conference or any other gathering with your customers or business partners. Google+ for businessestips and strategies Grow Your Following and Promote Your Page 1. Share your page. Share your page with friends, family and current customers. Send them an with a link to your new page, and ask them to follow and +1 it. 2. Link to your page. Post a link to your page everywhere you have a presence on the web. This might include your website, blog or other social networks. You should also add a link to your page in the footer of your s this is a super effective way of getting followers. 3. Get the Google+ badge. The Google+ badge connects your website and your Google+ page, making it easier for customers to follow and +1 your business. After installing the badge on your website people can add your page to their circles directly from your site. The badge also helps Google consolidate +1 s from your site and your page. The more +1 s you get the better! To get your badge all you have to do is add a snippet of code to your website. 4. Promote your page offline. In your store, on fliers, business cards, receipts, shopping bags and everywhere else you do offline advertising for your business. 5. Follow other Google+ pages. A Google+ page can add other pages to circles at anytime no need for them to add you first. Follow businesses that interest and inspire you and businesses with similar customers to yours. The more you engage with these pages, re-sharing and commenting on posts, the more visibility you will get in the streams of their followers. After all, their followers could be your next customers.

14 6. Turn on social extensions. If you use AdWords to promote your business, this an essential step. Social Extensions combine +1 s from your ads, Google+ page, and site and increases the likelihood of social annotations showing on your ads. Search ads with social annotations show a 5-10% increase in click-through rate (CTR). By adding the power of recommendations, Google+ can improve the marketing you do with Google. 7. Engage your following. Share cool content regularly and show interest in and comment on your followers posts. Commenting on others posts will make you visible to the people in their circles, and visibility increases your chances of getting followed. For more tips on engaging your following read the next section of this guide. Engage Your Following 1. Post often and keep it fresh. It sounds obvious, but the key to keeping your following engaged is posting interesting content, regularly. Each time you post it shows up in your followers streams, and keeps your business top of mind. Every time someone reaches your page they should be able to learn something new. We recommend posting at least every other day and don t forget weekends! 2. Target your posts. Once people add your business to their circles you can add them to circles of your own, and segment your audience. You can segment by geography, gender, age whatever is most relevant for your business. This allows you to only deliver content that is interesting to each customer. Try reaching out to your most valued customers with an exclusive event just for them. 3. Use rich media. Rich media such as photos, videos or graphs will catch people s attention and make them more likely to comment on, share, and learn from your page. Whenever you post, try to add an image or video to illustrate your point. 4. Host Hangouts.

15 A Hangout is a multi-person video chat that lets you chat face-to-face- to-face with up to nine people at a time. Share your expertise, get customer feedback, announce a new product, show behind the scenes footage, and much more so get creative! 5. Be responsive. If someone comments on your post, make sure to respond in a timely fashion. Even just a few words are enough to keep the conversation going. And don t forget to thank your followers for their comments by +mentioning them in a post. For example Thank you +John Smith for your feedback on our new cake! So glad you like it. Let us know how you like this weeks special! 6. Ask questions. The best way to get lots of people to comment on your posts is by asking questions. When posing a question, it s important to make it clear that you want to hear from your audience. For example, What kind of post do you most like seeing on our page? Please tell us! 7. Poll your audience. Try asking customers and followers to +1 the picture, link, or post they like the best. For example, you could post an album of different product designs then ask, Which design do like the best? +1 your favorite! 8. Share insider content. Provide your customers and followers with content they can t find anywhere else. Announce new products, give a behind-the-scenes tour of your business, and invite people to exclusive events, just for Google+ followers. 9. Run exclusive promotions. Make customers feel like insiders with special discounts. For example, post promotions on Google+ such as, 20% off if you use the code G+Page and only have that code available in a post on Google+. Make sure to let your customers know that you are offering exclusive deals on Google+ by posting signs in your store, on your website or by sending an to existing customers. 10. Create episodic content. Generate sustained interest and keep customers coming back for more. Try hosting weekly Hangouts on a certain topic or hold customer service sessions on a Hangout at a specific time each week, so your customers can pop in to ask questions and get support. Perhaps post a video every few days documenting the creation of a new

16 product. Or run a weekly competition in your store or on your website, then announce the winners on your page. 11. Learn from others. Follow other pages on Google+ that are active and have a large following. See what they are doing and how people respond to their posts. Get ideas and adapt them for your business. Get New Customers 1. Post publicly. Make all of your posts pubic so the world can see what your business has to say. This makes your content searchable and helps people interested in your content find you. 2. Enlist current customers. Try reaching out to your followers on Google+, other social media, customers on your website or in your store. Explicitly ask them to follow your page and recommend it to their friends and followers. Then encourage them to +1, comment on and reshare your posts. This gives your page visibility in the streams of their followers your potential new customers. 3. Thank your supporters. Give the followers who recommend you a big thank you, publicly in your stream by +mentioning them in a comment or post. For example, Huge thank you to +John Smith for recommending +King Arther Flour. Showing your appreciation is great for your brand and encourages people to keep spreading the word about your business. 4. Add the Google+ badge to your site. The Google+ badge connects your website and your Google+ page, making it easier for your customers to follow and +1 your page. After installing the badge on your site people can add your page to their circles directly from your website. The badge also helps Google consolidate +1 s from your site and your Google+ page. The more +1s you get the better! All you have to do is add a snippet of code to your website. 5. Get the +1 button.

17 Adding the +1 button to content on your website lets users recommend your content, knowing that their friends and contacts will see their recommendation when it s most relevant in the context of Google search results. If a user wants to share your content right away, they can also use the +1 button to add a comment, pick the right circles, and post to Google+ where people can discuss it with friends and reshare it with their own social circles all without leaving your site. 6. Follow other Google+ Pages. A Google+ page can add other pages to circles at anytime no need for them to add you first. Follow businesses that interest and inspire you and businesses with similar customers to yours. The more you engage with these pages, re-sharing and commenting on posts, the more visibility you will get in the streams of their followers. After all, their followers could be your next customers. 7. Turn on social extensions. If you use AdWords to promote your business, this an essential step. Social Extensions combine +1 s from your ads, Google+ page, and site and increases the likelihood of social annotations showing on your ads. Search ads with personal recommendations show a 5-10% increase in click-through rate (CTR). By adding the power of recommendations, Google+ can improve the marketing you do with Google. 8. Add your page to AdWords Sitelinks. The sitelinks ad extension lets you show links to pages beneath the text of your ads. You should add your Google+ page as a sitelink so when people search for your business, your page will be more visible. You can activate sitelinks by logging into your AdWords account, selecting campaign settings, then clicking the Ad extensions tab. Then edit your link text and URLs to include your page. 9. Engage your following. Share cool content regularly and show interest and comment on what your followers share in their posts. This will make you visible to the people in their circles and increase the chances of your getting new customers. Launch a New Offering or Product 1. Make announcements on Google+ first. And let your followers know that something new is on the way. This will generate hype and buzz and encourage your followers to regularly check back for updates.

18 2. Start a countdown. This will create excitement as you get closer to the launch date. 3. Poll your followers. Encourage your customers to contribute to the evolution of the new offering before you launch it. Use +1s to let them vote for their favorite features or designs. 4. Host a focus group. Use Hangouts to host a mini-focus group. Chat face-to-face-to- face with customers to get their feedback. Encourage active discussion among your guests and watch as new ideas form and excitement builds around your product. Click here for tips on launching a Hangout. 5. Show appreciation. Thank your followers for their feedback. Let specific people know when you have implemented their suggestions. They ll be thrilled to know you value their opinion. 6. Target influencers. Ripples lets you see how your posts spread across Google+, who s sharing and resharing your content and whose opinions matter. Use it to identify influencers and have them spread the word about your new offering. Send influencers a preview of your product so they can talk it up and spread the word before it launches. 7. Create exclusivity. Offer early access to all of your followers on Google+ or use Circles to target specific groups of people. 8. Launch in style. Use Hangouts to officially launch your offering. It s a unique way to show off your new offering in depth and answer questions. 9. Encourage +1s. After you launch your offering make sure to actively encourage your following to +1 all your posts about the new product or service.

19 10. Host a launch party. Google+ Events lets you create and send custom invites to your followers right from Google+. Choose from a collection of beautiful animated themes or easily create an invite from one of your own photos. Events automatically syncs with your Google Calendar and everybody going to the event can share photos to a single photo collection. Develop Your Reputation 1. Follow specialists in your field. Add them to a circle, learn from them and re-share any interesting content they post. Commenting on their posts will give your business visibility in the streams of their followers and grow your reputation among peers. 2. Share your opinion. Re-share interesting articles, post links, pictures and videos related to your field and include your opinion on the topic. By adding commentary to good content you ll begin to build a respectful reputation and be regarded as savvy in your area of expertise. 3. Monitor your reputation. Use Saved searches to see what others are saying about your business. Search for your business on Google+ then click Save this search in the upper right corner of your screen. Now you can easily review what s buzzing about your business every time you log into Google+. Just click the Explore Icon on the navigation ribbon and click your business name under your saved searches on the right side of your screen. 4. Offer help. Try hosting weekly office hours or customer service sessions using Hangouts. Hangout at a specific time each week so your customers can pop in to ask questions and get support. Letting your customers know you re consistently there to help them is a great way to demonstrate dedication to your customers and build your brand. 5. Teach what you know. Whether you re a baker, plumber, shop owner, or accountant you have skills to share and people waiting to learn. Post weekly tips on your expertise or show them first hand in a Hangout. Creating episodic content is a great way to generate sustained interest and keep customers learning and coming back for more.

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21 Connect with Colleagues 1. Get your team on Google+. Make sure all of your employees or colleagues have set up a personal Google+ profile so that you can connect, share and get closer to your team. 2. Share responsibility. Add colleagues as managers of your new page so they can post and share on behalf of your business too. To add managers click on the page name in the very top right corner of the screen. Then click Managers and enter the addresses of the people you would like to contribute to the page. In order to be a manager they must have a personal profile on Google+. 3. Share only what matters. Circles make it easy to share the right things with the right people, just like in real life. With circles, you can share some things with colleagues, others with partners, and whatever you like with close friends and family. Create a circle dedicated to your internal team so that you can easily share work-related content with them. 4. Pop into meetings. Whether you re at home, the office or even the beach, Hangouts let you meet with your team anytime from anywhere. You can share screens or open a new or existing Google doc and work on it together-all in real time. 5. Train your team. Use Hangouts to hold training sessions for team members in different locations. Think of it as a remote classroom. You can also record these Hangouts and re-share the videos so colleagues that weren t able to make it can learn from the session at their own convenience. Measure Your Success 1. Find influencers. Google+ Ripples lets you see how your posts spread across Google+, who s sharing and re-sharing your content and whose opinions are most influential. Ripples creates an interactive graphic of the public shares of any public post on Google+ to show you how it has spread through the network and help you discover your most important

22 advocates. To view Ripples for a public post in your stream, just click the dropdown arrow at the top of the post you re curious about and click View Ripples. To view Ripples for a specific URL, open the Ripples dialog box, and in the top corner, enter the URL you want to see Ripples for. You ll see a visualization for all the public shares of that URL on Google+. 2. Gain insight. Social is notoriously hard to measure. What does a new visitor to your website from Google+ or a shared piece of content mean for the number you care about most your bottom line? Now you can credit your activities, including those in Google+, with the real dollar amounts that they are generating on your website, just like you do with the rest of your campaigns.

23 Google Calendar You can change the different views of your calendar. To create a new event, just click the button CREATE. You can also view other calendars, which have been shared with your account. The events in your calendar are listed here.

24 Creating a new event in Google Calendar You have several options to edit the way the event is displayed on your calendar. You can also share an event or an entire calendar with your other Gmail contacts. Click SAVE when you finish creating the event! If you own a smartphone, it might be a good idea to synchronise your Google Calendar with it. Google Drive Google Drive enables you to upload files from your device to a cloud server and access these files from another device (PC or smartphone) Google Drive lets you do more than just store your files. Share files with exactly who you want and edit them together, from any device Basic use of Google Drive is free you can use up to 5 GB of storage, additional space can be purchased

25 You can create a new document and edit it online or you can upload documents from your PC or mobile device. You can download the Drive client to your PC or mobile device and access the files and folders directly from the desktop. In Google Drive you can arrange the files, you ve created or uploaded in folders.

26 Task 3: In Google Drive you can create documents, share them with other people which can also edit them. Pick a leader in the group that you formed in Task 1. She should create a document and share it with other members of the group. Each group member should write a short presentation of his/her company.

27 Google Drive creating the files The types of files you can create in Google Drive are: Documents (text), Presentations, Spreadsheets (Charts, Tables), Forms and Drawings. Forms can be very useful tool for free online surveys. The tool also offers basic analysis of the responses.

28 You Tube YouTube can be a great promotional tool for your business. It is a free service, where you can upload your videos. You can post links to your uploaded videos on your web page, social media sites etc. Your page on Youtube You can upload a video from your own computer. Be aware of possible copyright issues. You can change settings of your profile and view videos that you have uploaded. In the middle of the screen, you can watch videos from other users you ve subscribed to.

29 Your videos on Youtube Click the option Video Manager to see videos, you have uploaded. Click the title of the video to play it or Edit to change the settings.

30 Blogger Blogs are an excellent way to keep other people updated with news about your company. Blogger is one of the many available free services for writing your blogs. Creating your blog with Blogger takes just a few easy steps. In a matter of minutes you can start posting text, photos, videos and more to your blog. The Blogger offers many templates, making it simple for you to create a professional-looking blog. In addition, the Template Designer lets you customise your template. Setting up your Blogger account You can create new blog with few clicks. You can change the language and other settings. You can also subscribe to other blogs.

31 Creating a new blog Select the title for your blog. When you create your blog, you can host it for free on BlogSpot, which can be very useful if you decide to use blog as the main web page of your company. You can choose between several templates. When you are satisfied with your choices, click the Create blog! button and start blogging.

32 Your new blog is now listed at your Blogger start page. You can always add more blogs by clicking the New Blog button. When your new blog is set up properly, you can start writing posts. You can change several settings, templates etc. Even after you have created the blog.

33 Creating a new post When you are done with writing, click Publish (or Update if you want to change an existing post). The centre of the screen is where you write your post. You can edit text, add pictures etc. Blogger - Tips: 1. Don t forget to share the link to your blogs and posts on your website or social media site. 2. You can post links to your blog (you choose your BlogSpot address at the setup) or directly to your posts. 3. You can also use Blogger on your mobile devices.