Google Plus - A quick summary please

[Scottish Business Owner]

So i've just created a Google Plus page for the forums. Creating the page was easy but what exactly do you do next? Could some of the nice people on the forums give me a very condensed version of how it all actually works?

Any links to articles etc would also be appreciated.

Go easy on me as I've just figured out that Google +1 and Google Plus are actually two different things

 

[stugster]

And that's your summary

Nobody uses it. (Google Plus)

 

[aviemorebusiness]

Hi , unfortunately Stuart is right, nobody uses it... however, unfortunately again Google will rank a website and associated Google services more highly if your Google+ page is utilised. It is all down to this new idea they have about 'social search'... its not really Google+ that they want you to use, what they really want you to use is the plus1 function that you see on all search pages in Google. This social search is all about us recommending who should or should not appear highest in search engines. Whilst this almost flies in the face of SEO actually they do work very much hand in hand.

So, back on topic, ideally you will now use your Google+ profile to bring into your circle all members of SBF - you will also try and add Scottish businesses that you would like to connect to - a bit like Facebook which I know you are not a big fan of but I fear you may have to get with the programme

The best 'how to' I have found and refer to pretty regularly is the Mashable Guide http://mashable.com/2011/07/16/google-plus-guide/ which is a great resource. Just remember that the same rules apply with Google+ as they do with Facebook though, in that you have to have a personal account in order to admin a business page.

I hope this helps and I re-iterate what Stuart says - nobody uses it !

Katie