Authorship and Posts for a Company Google+ Account

As we move into 2014, many b2b companies are coming to recognize the marketing potential that Google+ has to offer and are setting up their own company pages. As a market research firm that services clients all across the globe through online surveys, we believe that Google+ can be an excellent way to connect and communicate with our audience. In fact, one of our first calls to action at the start of 2014 was to better understand how Google+ works.

After reviewing Google's implementation guidelines, we decided to publish our own research article on how best to implement Authorship and related posts in Google+. Admittedly, this subject is different from our typical articles on survey research; however, we felt it would be interesting and informative to others.

First off, Google+ is not just another social network, but behaves more like an interactive blog that offers additional elements like virtual "hangouts", events, enriched posting features, and the ability to group connections into "circles." These technology features can create great opportunities to build relationships with others and market yourself or your company.

What we have discovered is that a company Google+ page functions differently from a page belonging to an individual user, and there are some limitations in authorship and networking control which are discussed below.

One of most widely discussed topics, and seemingly confusing issue, is authorship for a company Google+ account. So what is authorship exactly? Technically, it is a code used to verify links or references used in posts by a Google+ account. Its purpose is to help Google make valid associations between web content, ultimately increasing your search engine rankings (called Author Rank).

For example, a blogger with an individual user Google+ account might post a snippet from his/her latest blog entry, along with a link to that blog entry. By adding the authorship code to the blog entry on the blog itself, the user is able to verify through Google that this is his/her content, increase the search power, and also avoid SEO violations. The blogger would then continue to provide authorship for each individual blog entry that they reference in their Google+ posts, increasing search engine rankings even further.

This sounds cut and dry, however the rules vary a bit for a company Google+ page vs. a page belonging to an individual user. Google's goal is to provide authentic authorship to people vs. companies or organizations, so the authorship rules for company Google+ accounts are more limited. Unlike an individual user, it is not possible to implement authorship on multiple locations on a company website. Instead, authorship on a business site only needs to be implemented once. That's right; the only option is to implement authorship for the entire company website which will act as an umbrella for all future posts linking to pages under the same host site.

Luckily, there are just a few steps involved and it saves a lot of worry over violating SEO rules:

First, add the rel="publisher" tag to the header of your site with the URL of your company Google+ page. You may skip this step if your company website is already verified by Google (check this under Google Webmaster Tools).

Next, you must link your business website back to the Google+ page to verify the authorship tag. Do this by going to Google+ page > Edit > About > Add Your Website (make sure to give the full website address). You will know if this worked if a check mark appears next to your company name on your Google+ page.

Once authorship is enacted, you can begin to post using references back to your company website without worrying about violating any Google rules. On the flip side, you can go ahead and publish new articles on the company site without inserting special code or having to do anything more to be recognized by Google+.

The posts you develop are going to be your best tool for attracting your desired b2b audience of followers and keeping them engaged. If a user is following you, the posts you make will show up on his/her home page feed. If captivated by the post, users might engage through comments, "+1" the post (just like Facebook's "like" feature), and most importantly share the post to his/her followers thus exposing you to a broader audience (see here about the power of asking users to "share": http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/14982/New-Data-Proves-Please-ReTweet-Generates-4x-More-ReTweets-Data.aspx). But as a firm still in the creation phase of their company Google+ page, how do you attract followers in the first place?

You must first prepare your Google+ page before you begin to market it. Make your page ready for the public by building it up with interesting posts and content, so that new followers will get a positive impression of activity and engagement. Research what other users are posting and utilize eye catching photos or GIF's, discuss stimulating topics, and make use of cleverly worded headlines to draw attention. Be inventive in your approach, utilize trending imagery or topics, and stay consistent with your activity level. Above all things, be personable and make sure your communication technique is spirited, friendly and welcoming. You can also utilize Google+ Hashtags in your posts by placing a 'word' after the '#' symbol (i.e., #superbowl2014, #football, #detroitlions, etc.) Hashtags help to categorize your posts, and on top of that Google+ users can actually come across your post if they search Google+ for content that matches your hashtag. Also, by clicking on a hashtag in a post on another user's page, Google+ technology will automatically bring up posts that also contain that hashtag, which could include your post.

Once your page is equipped with content and bustle, turn to your other social media platforms to begin promoting it. If you haven't already, spend time setting up accounts through Facebook, LinkedIn, blogging, etc. with unified branding. Make sure to be active on these platforms too (if you haven't established them yet, you better get rolling on it!) Use these platforms to promote your new Google+ account to consumers or other businesses by posting about the new page or writing an entry in your company blog. Also, Google has developed a G+ Follow Button (also known as a Google+ Badge) which you can install on your company website and/or blog. You can create it here: https://developers.google.com/+/web/badge/.

Through the practice of building our own company Google+ page, we are excited to experience the outcomes and continue to learn more as we go. As Google+ gains popularity, there is no better time than the present to get rolling on building an entity within its network. Expanding your outreach as a company Google+ user is by no means an impossible task if you take into account the steps we discussed above. The process of building momentum is going to take time, but with consistency and an organic approach, a b2b provider can benefit from the growth opportunities.

Allison I. Birnkrant is a Project Manager and Assistant Director of Sales and Marketing at Amplitude Research, Inc., a full-service online survey company headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. Please visit Amplitude's online market research page to learn more about its B2B and consumer market research surveys.