As a video sharing platform, Google+ has many advantages over its competitors. For one thing, Google makes sharing videos on Google+ just about as easy as it could be with YouTube linking directly to your Google+ profile.
Every time you post a video on YouTube, it will show up in the “YouTube” tab of your Google+ profile. You can also share directly to your Google+ circles and to Twitter right from YouTube while you are uploading your video.
Though this part is pretty self-explanatory, there is one trick you need to know: you can only publicly share your YouTube video to Google+ while your video is actually uploading. That means you have a very limited amount of time to click share before you lose the chance. Hopefully this is something Google will fix in the near future, but for now, you’ll just have to be quick.
Once you’ve uploaded to YouTube and shared your video to Google+, there are a few steps you can take to increase your score.
After uploading your video and sharing to Google+, you can go into communities (in the tabs) to share to a bigger audience. For instance, you can choose to post it into “online video marketing” and have it featured there.
Rather than just sharing your video in the communities and leaving it at that, we like to invite interaction from people. We find when we ask for an opinion (“What do you think of the animated style of our new video?”) or add a comment about what we’re trying to accomplish in the video (“We wanted to feature this new product–do you think the video shows it off well?”) it can really encourage people to engage with the post. And in many cases we’ve even gotten some really productive feedback on our videos. It’s always helpful to learn firsthand what people think!
If you produce webinars, you can also upload those directly to your Google+ account. Google lets you broadcast webinars right from Google Hangouts, and then it will automatically save your webinars and give you the option to save them on YouTube and publish them on Google+. Very handy!
We also find it helpful to have a circle exclusively for people and businesses you frequently want to share your videos with–a professional network of sorts. That way, whenever you publish a new video, you can simply select that circle and it will be instantly shared with exactly the right group. Though initially you’ll have to spend a little while putting this circle together, it’ll save you much more time in the long term.
Remember, your Google+ score is based on interaction (+1s give you points toward your overall score): a high score is a way of quantifying your credibility within Google+. You can’t expect to have a successful campaign if you simply post your videos and leave it at that: it’s a combination of sharing quality content, interacting with others, and letting the human side of your company come through in your online presence that will ultimately lead to those +1s.
