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Silverback Social

6 Steps to an Award Winning Google+ Page

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A Google+ Case Study: Silverback Social & The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

We’re thrilled to announce that our work on behalf of one of our premier client partners, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, was featured in Google’s “Google+ Best Practices for Nonprofits” guide, found here.

Google+ is a unique social network that is owned by the largest and most used search engine in the world Google (searchengineland).  Because of this, it’s an absolute must to have a strong presence if you want SEO benefits. Luckily, it’s rather simple to gain a presence.

Here’s The Leukemia and Lymphoma Societies’ Google+ page before we started working on it:

Here’s  The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society page now:

 

 

Here are five steps to make your Google+ page better:

1. Custom Header Image: The first step for us was to brand The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society page by creating a custom header photo rather than using the default image.  The importance of a custom header is to give the user a snapshot of what the page is about without even having to read any of our posts or content. It also helps highlight the page’s legitimacy as The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

2. Post Constantly: In order to gain a following on Google+, it’s important to consistently post the right content. For The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, we post everyday, even on weekends, and sometimes twice a day. Frequent and consistent posts help spread our reach because our content will always be right in front of our audience, encouraging shares.

3. Post Relevant Content: The right content should be relevant to your brand or business. For LLS, we post content that is relevant to blood cancer. Here’s an example of a post we created for BCAM (blood cancer awareness month):

4.Diversify Your Posts: For the month of September, this was one of our most shared and +1’d posts.  The image makes it easy to process, and the content is relevant to the time and audience. Another thing to mention is that we like to diversify our content to keep our page fresh and unique.  So instead of posting captioned images all the time, we’ll throw in links to videos, articles, donation pages, etc.:

5.Tag Appropriate Content: Any posts on Google+ should be appropriately tagged and hashtagged:

 

Users, brands, and companies will get a notification anytime they are tagged in a post. When tagging +Loren Brill in the post above, we were looking to get her to see that she was tagged and then sharing it with her circles. The above post is hashtagged #LLS so that whenever a user happens to come across the hashtag, they’ll be able to see all of our posts. Proper hashtagging is especially important on Google+ now that you can search for #keywords on Google search (searchenginewatch).

6. Be Responsive: Just like other social platforms, it’s important to communicate and respond to followers’ comments and questions:

Consistent and timely engagement shows users that we’re listening and that our Google+ profile isn’t just for pushing our own content. This ensures that users remain followers rather than unfollowing due to lack to activity.

We execute a similar strategy for all of our clients on Google+ and we are able to increase our “following” number at a steady rate.

To view the “Best Practices for Nonprofits” guide, follow the link here: http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/finalgoogleplus-fornonprofits.pdf

Have we missed anything? What tips and tricks can you offer that you’ve seen work on Google+? Comment below.

 

 

 

 

Capturing the Voice of Your Social Community

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Capturing the voice of your brand is a crucial aspect of managing your social community. It’s extremely important to be aware of what you’re communicating, how you’re communicating it, and how it’s going to be received by your followers.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), a non-profit organization fighting to find a cure for blood cancers, is one of our clients here at Silverback Social. Included in LLS’s organization are two sub-organizations: Team In Training (TNT) and Light The Night (LTN). TNT is a program that enables members all over the United States to participate in walking, running, hiking, swimming, and biking events to raise money for blood cancer research. LTN organizes evening walks that take place around the world to honor and raise funds for blood cancer patients.

LLS, TNT, and LTN all have the same goal: to find a cure for blood cancers. However, each entity goes about reaching this goal in a different way. Therefore, the voice of each of these organizations is different. For example, the Light The Night community brings help, hope, and healing to those battling blood cancer, honoring friends and family and remembering loved ones who have passed on. Members make shirts and signs, hold balloons, and carry candles as they come together to walk for a great cause. The Team In Training community, on the other hand, has a more competitive, upbeat mentality. Hundreds of participants from all different cities and states train with coaches and mentors to prepare for marathons, half-marathons, triathlons, and other athletic events.

The way we, at Silverback Social, interact and share with the LTN community is different from the way we interact and share with the TNT community because each community has its own unique identity. A Facebook post, therefore, should be written much differently coming from TNT than from LTN.

Here’s an example of a Light The Night Facebook post:

And here’s an example of a Team In Training Facebook post:

As you can see, there is a clear-cut difference in the voice of each post. While LTN conveys a heartfelt effort to “bring light into the dark world of cancer,” TNT provides a supportive, motivating post to encourage people to make a difference, join TNT, and help fight blood cancers. LTN includes a sentimental picture of men, women, and children coming together and holding balloons, while TNT shows a photo of an enthusiastic athlete posing victoriously while competing in a marathon event.

At Silverback Social, we work very closely with Natalie Barreto, the LLS Social Media Manager and Jack Nazarian, the LLS Digital Marketing Director to curate content, optimize it for each social platform, and determine how to communicate it best to the LLS online audience. Knowing your audience is a HUGE part of managing your social media community. In order to capture the right voice and convey your brand’s image appropriately, you need to get to know your audience. Figure out how your followers are going to receive the information you share, and put it in a language they can easily digest.

 

Have you noticed a company that truly understands its audience? Do you know a brand that really listens to its followers? Share your thoughts in the comments below.