The Ripple Effect
My favorite feature of Google Plus? The RIPPLES!
I first was introduced to this in a meeting with Google, our SMO team, creative agency and a large automotive client. We were being given a run-down of the new Google Plus business pages and all that they mean for our business. There is some very cool info but I want to focus on the “ripple” which is the visualization of how your posts resonate within the Google Plus community.
To see the ripples, go to your G+ Timeline and, if you have circled any Business Pages, click the little arrow in the top right corner of their post…
Click on the “view ripples” button at the bottom of the drop-down and voila! You have access to all the public shares of any article, the sharers public profile and the chronological progression of shares!
Two great aspects of this feature:
1. On the SEM front, if your client has established a brand page on G+ and is actively sharing, it will shed light on your consumer. The psycographic study of who you are trying to market to is, in my opinion, an overlooked part of our jobs as it can give you entirely new ideas on groups of keywords to buy. By applying some research to what you see in the ripple effect, it’s possible to determine what consumers like, who they are and what is being shared among them. Beyond SEM, this can have a broad impact on Organic and SMO strategies by allowing for smarter content creation. It is an interesting twist on a new way of visualizing the data and tapping into the source.
2. For social marketers, PR agencies and brands, ripples are a great way to cut right to the bone of your influencers and what kind of content they are sharing. If you can shape the content accordingly, you will increase the likelihood of it being shared. Ripples also allow a brand to create new experiences for their influencers by leveraging other features of Google Plus. Have a one-on-one hang out with person X in the company for the top sharers, run a contest based on shares and subsequent shares and so on.
Interesting, to say the least!
Are you on Google Plus? If so, circle me here: https://plus.google.com/115792121713327608721/posts
if you aren’t on G+ yet, give it a try!
An Account Manager at Outrider Canada, 
