Google_ for Business_ How Google's Social Network Changes Everything - Chris Brogan [3]
Who Am I?
My name is Chris Brogan, and I’ve been involved with various online communities and social media tools since I was a kid growing up in the ’80s. My background before doing this was mostly in the telecommunications industry, starting with an old Bell company and then joining a wireless company.
In 2006, I co-founded an event called PodCamp, which explored how podcasting could impact businesses and organizations. From there, I worked with Vonage co-founder Jeff Pulver on his Video on the Net conference and helped him with a startup called Network2. I started a marketing company called New Marketing Labs in 2009 with Stephen and Nick Saber, and merged it with their new company, The Pulse Network, in 2011.
Along the way, I co-wrote a New York Times bestselling book, Trust Agents, and started another company called Human Business Works, which provides tools and smarts for small businesses. I’m a professional keynote speaker for corporations and conferences and have my fingers in lots of other pies as well.
My blog, chrisbrogan.com, is in the top five of the Advertising Age Power 150, and beyond that, I’ll just say that I’m quite active in understanding how to help humanize business, and how to help others build sustainable, relationship-minded businesses. I’m quite passionate about how community building and being helpful drive business value, as you’ll see throughout this book.
What’s in This Book
In this book, you learn how to use Google+ for your business. Consider it a bunch of serving suggestions. Some of these ideas can immediately be useful to you. Others won’t match your needs. You might need to modify some things to better suit your needs. Don’t fret. You and I are both learning about how this new social network tool can benefit your business. We’ll get there together.
Following is a peek at the upcoming chapters:
• Chapter 1, “How Did I Get Here?”: The idea of joining yet another social network is about as exciting as asking for 200 more emails a day. And yet, Google+ is worth your time and you need to jump into it now, if you want to use it to grow your business.
• Chapter 2, “The Opportunity of Google+”: Millions of people are already using Google+ in what feels to be an organic and referral-based ecosystem: The more people who like what you share, the more they’ll want to engage with you about your business.
• Chapter 3, “A Day in the Life”: What do you do when you get on Google+? You can observe a few versions of a day in the life of a Google+ user, for the small business, the large business, the owner of a company, and an employee on a team.
• Chapter 4, “First Moves with Google+”: Setting up a personal profile is step 1 to becoming involved with Google+. You walk through the basics and then talk through some of the tricks and tips you might not normally consider but that give you value.
• Chapter 5, “Circles”: The most important feature that Google+ has brought to social networks is a much better way to organize contacts and interactions. Setting up your circles can make or break your experience with using the product.
• Chapter 6, “Posting in the Stream”: Creating interesting posts that draw attention and spark conversations is the “coin of the realm” with Google+. Learn how you can add video, photos, and interesting links to build relationships before the sale.
• Chapter 7, “A Simple Content Strategy”: You’re a publishing company, whether you’re willing to believe it. How do you decide what to post on Google+, what to share, and how can it help you build business connections?
• Chapter 8, “The