Recently, Google have announced a big overhaul of their Google+ website. There are important changes to the system that may just affect the way you implement your Google plus marketing campaign. So what’s new?
Here’s a really quick 57 second video highlighting the new look Google plus so feel free to take a look at this, and then we’ll talk about specifics:
Cohesive viewing across all devices
After carrying out much research, it’s shown that in a 2012 Google study, around 90% of users may move between devices when hooking up to the internet. For example they may start checking their emails on the way home from work on their mobile phone, but finish checking them on their tablet at home. Alternatively they might see a product or service advertised on TV and then turn to their laptop to carry out further research. Whilst the Google + app for the mobile phone and tablet have already achieved that consistent feel, the web platform itself hadn’t. This redesign makes a much more cohesive brand and viewing across all platforms. All of which can help to centralise your Google Plus marketing efforts
Viewing on multiple columns
Google plus are now introducing multiple columns depending upon the size and orientation of your viewing screen. As of next week you may be able to see two or even three columns on your Google + stream page, your business page and your personal profile. This is very much in the style of Pinterest.
Expandable media content
Google is also rolling out larger style media content. As of next week users will notice that certain media content such as videos and photos will now be expandable to the width of the full google + stream screen. However what isn’t clear is how they decide what is expandable and what isn’t. Frustratingly, this won’t be something that publishers or page administrators will have any control over either.
Promoting more animations
Google plus is becoming a more interactive site as the use of on screen animations help to boost interaction. For example the navigation menu side bar slides out when you hover over the ‘home’ icon at the top, the cards now flip and fade and the bouncing share-box moves towards the screen centre.
Introduction of Hashtag relations
One negative point that came from users of Google plus is that it lacked depth. By this we mean that previously, users could find and scan posts, but it was impossible to go deeper and explore the subject matter further. By automatically adding Hashtags to any Youshare content, Google plus will then look at the content and determine what the subject matter is. After Hashtagging it then ranks relevant conversations across the whole network. Now any users that click on a Hashtag will have access to related content by means of the flip and fade cards. You can also add your own Hashtags or remove ones that have been automatically generated. This whole process is very important when it comes to Google Plus Marketing.
Google Hand-outs Now free standalone App
Now Google have transformed Hangouts into a free standalone app, including text, live video features and photo sharing facilities. This makes the feature a much richer experience. You will also be able to download and access the hangouts app from pretty much anywhere.
Cool photo features
Google Plus has also enhanced the photo experience. For example users can now have their pictures automatically backed up as they take them. It will also highlight the best quality photo’s whilst weeding out duplicates, bad exposures and blurred imagery. Automated enhancement is also included to improve the brightness, tone and contrast of any photos taken and finally it will automatically sequence your photos into collective groups for easy access.
From a Google plus marketing perspective it does seem that the emphasis is going to be on visual content, context and content discovery and these are the main marketing themes that any marketer should be looking at.
