Why Musicians Should Integrate Google+ With YouTube
From The Orchard's Mike Baldo from The Daily Rind.
On the heels of some major site-wide overhauls, YouTube is now introducing Google+ and YouTube integration. The feature is currently in beta, but open to all YouTube partners. As Google strives to make its multi-product experience more cohesive, YouTube can now be linked directly to Google+ brand pages. This association allows brands and businesses to take advantage of some key feature enhancements across both platforms.
Visibility
The most immediate advantage to integrating with Google+ is the potential boost in SEO. It’s important to remember that YouTube is a Google product (and the second largest search engine). Connecting a YouTube channel to a Google+ page gives Google’s search algorithm some key information about your brand. They’ll know that the channel and its associated Google+ page are the official representations of that brand and can populate search results accordingly. This also lets YouTubers know that your channel is the official destination for your content. Google+ page verification will transfer over to YouTube, making your channel verified as well.
Management
For companies that manage a number of YouTube channels, the necessity to store separate login information for each can become burdensome. Google+ integration quickly solves this, making channel management easier. Once a YouTube channel is connected with a Google+ page, other team members within your organization can be invited to manage the channel. Invite a new manager to your Google+ page, and they’ll automatically be able to manage the YouTube channel. This also means that other users can manage the channel without having to give up sensitive login credentials. For clients opted into The Orchard’s Multi-Channel Network, this means you are now able to grant access to our team to enhance channel performance and make programming optimizations directly within the channel.
Sharing
Google+ makes it easier to spread your YouTube presence to a larger group of potential subscribers. Once a channel is connected to a Google+ page, videos and playlists can be shared directly through Google+. This helps spread the word about video uploads to fans that might not be engaged with your brand on YouTube. You can also take advantage of Hangouts On Air. Have live video broadcasts with your fans and stream it straight to your channel. Hangouts can then be saved and managed directly like any other video. Your channel will also be able to gauge the impact of videos through Google+ tools like Ripples.
Google+ is still a relatively new social media platform. Many businesses are still trying to gage the value of dedicating time to building a strategy. Although it may take some getting used to, the potential benefits could be well worth it. You should first decide if YouTube is a place your business depends on. Adding another platform to your social media strategy could create more work, so you should be sure you have an effective strategy in place. For brands that rely heavily on YouTube and video promotion, integrating with Google+ is a must. To get started, refer to our Quick Start Guide for instructions on how to set this up.
