Since Google’s purchase of YouTube in 2006, it has been busy encouraging us to connect our YouTube channels with our Google+ accounts. If you are using YouTube for business promotion, it’s a good idea. Not using social media for business? Let’s talk.

Integrating Google+ with your YouTube account expands the reach of your marketing efforts. It helps you increase your YouTube audience, plus it enhances your Google+ presence with great video content.

There’s only so much time and energy available for marketing, so take advantage of the “double whammy” you get from the integrated features.

Google+ Page: the Connection Point

If your business doesn’t have a Google+ page, put that on the top of your list. It helps build up your search engine rankings, plus it’s the connection point between your YouTube channel and all the Google+ features.

Once you are connected up, you can take advantage of lots of “cross talk” opportunities. You can now interact with your YouTube fans from within your Google+ account. (It doesn’t have to be “only on YouTube that you interact with them.)

With the back-end features of Google+, you have the option to organize people into different “circles” and engage with them in different ways. A great new integration feature let’s you create a circle of “Top Fans”.

YouTube “Top Fans”

Creating a circle of your top YouTube fans is easy from your Google+ Insight page. Google helps you out by displaying a set of your most active fans, along with an indicator of how influential they are on YouTube.

It’s always good to give your most devoted audience something special. Using a Top Fans circle, you can:

• Upload videos just for them.
• Share some exclusive content with them and open up conversations
• Create a live event and invite them.

Google+ Hangouts on Air

Hangouts on Air are another way to build your business brand using the YouTube/Google+ connection.

Hangout on Air (HOA) is a video recording tool that anyone with a Gmail account can use. It allows you to use your YouTube channel to create video conversations, live talk shows or business webinars.

You can schedule a Hangout on Air as an event and invite up to ten people to participate. For a business, they are a great way to host a live event. As an added bonus, these events become valuable content that can attract search engines and new customers.

HOAs are interactive. They can be private and informal, just chatting face-to-face with video. They can also be more structured – in the form of shows featuring you as the host, while still allowing enough interaction to keep it interesting.

3 Integration Tips

Here are a few tips for getting the most out of the YouTube/Google+ connection:

1. Link your Google+ page to your business website. This helps people discover your YouTube channel when using Google’s search engine.
2. With YouTube’s annotation feature, add a link to your Google+ page within your videos, motivating subscribers to follow you.
3. Promote your upcoming Hangout on Air on your YouTube channel ahead of time. You can create a quick video letting people know what it’s about and when it’s happening.

So what are you waiting for? Integrate your Google+ and YouTube accounts today! Need some help? The team at Seattle SEO Consultant does this all day long. Schedule 30 min of free advice with Chad Morgan.