How Google+ and Pinterest Go Together Like Peanut Butter and Jelly
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How Google+ and Pinterest Go Together Like Peanut Butter and Jelly

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Google+ and Pinterest are the new kids on the block, relatively speaking, in the social media world and they are two of the most ignored platforms by social media professionals. I'm not sure why because they are great together just like peanut butter and jelly. With a little thought behind your actions, you can push your activities on Google+ and Pinterest to make them both work better for you. It won't take long until you see why Google+ and Pinterest go together like peanut butter and jelly!

Sadly, Google+ is gone. But you might get some ideas for using social media in this article.

“Google+ is the second-largest social media platform in the world. It is second only to Facebook with more than 500M registered users of which 135M post active updates, according to Carter Hostelley, the founder and CEO of LeadTail.com, a company that focuses on online marketing research, consulting, and tools.” Google+ has better SEO, because duh it's Google. From Rand Fishkin, “G+ is primarily/most heavily used by technologists & marketers. I agree. So was Twitter in its early days. The outsized benefits of being an early adopter of that network are pretty clear, so I’m challenged to understand how one could reasonably use that logic to argue against making Google+ part of your marketing mix.”

And yet according to Lead Tail, “Google+ is not in the top ten social networks being cross-posted to Twitter while LinkedIn, Instagram, Vine, Facebook, and Pinterest were all on the list.” It's very easy to cross-post your content from Google+ to Pinterest and Twitter. Here's one way:

Marketing superpowers of Google+

From i Media connection, “using Google+ page, your content posts, company information, and multimedia assets will appear in the Google sidebar, helping you boost engagement and increase organic reach and search rankings.”

1. Free Google real estate

2. Deeper engagement

3. Drive brand discovery

4. Measure your social marketing

Custom images work for Pinterest and Google+ together

Beautiful images propel content on Pinterest and Google. Use all the real estate that you can on each image by creating a big, vertical image.  Add some text and watermark it to boost your branding.

images

This pin eye-catching vertical pin from Rage Against the MiniVan has received 108 repins and 17 likes. This is 469 px by 828 px. I would push that to 800 px by 1200 px and this will work well for Pinterest and Google+.

pin example

The lifespan of a pin is the longest of any social media platform. This one reason alone is worth the time you spend on Pinterest.

Best times to post on Google+ and Pinterest

best times

For your own personal best times to post on Google+, check out Timing+. My ideal time for Google+ posting is Friday between 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm. I wouldn't have guessed that so I recommend that you check that out.

timing

Looking at dollars and cents

average orders

Google+ shares are more valuable to merchants than referrals from Twitter or Facebook, according to an analysis of $5 million worth of online purchases that came through the social commerce platform Addshoppers.com.”  The average share on Google+ is worth $10.78 and on Facebook it's only $2.35. While Tumblr takes the number one spot overall for average order sizes, Google+ averages $192.77 and Pinterest is at $177.72 with Twitter at $181.37.

A few tips for pinning and plussing together:

  • Use #pinoftheday and pin your favorite pin. The hashtag is already moving on Google+.
  • Add a great call to action (CTA) on your Google+. Megan created a fantastic pin from a blog article (37 repins and 3 likes) and then a great post for Google+ (22 +1 and 3 shares.)

megan

The benefits of Google+ and Pinterest together:

1. Extends the life of your content.

2. Keeps you organized.

3. Helps you find better content.

4. Smarter marketing.

5. Rock the hashtag for better visibility across platforms.

6. The images work well on both platforms.

7. Google+ gives you a better opportunity to connect with Pinners and build a more solid relationship.

8. Gain access to a whole new network of followers on both platforms.

9. Great tip from Holly Homer: Holly tests content on Pinterest and if it does well, she shares it on Google+.

10. From Rebekah Radice: collaborate with fellow G Plussers and Pinners.

11. From Kelly Liebermann “find people with the same interests as you and connect with your niche community on Google+. Or create one.”

How are you using Google+ and Pinterest together in your social media? I'd love to hear your tips!

Resources:

Using Cross Promotion to Grow Your Pinterest Following

All Things Pinterest 

 

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35 Comments

  1. Great tips especially about creating an image to work for both platforms. Question about #pinoftheday … if it’s not over of those own that you pickles for the day, are you reading out tho get permission too upload the image on G+ or mostly sharing someone you know who is okay with it? I’m very gunshy about using Pinterest images outside of Pinterest three days.

      1. darcyz I like the pickles for the day. It’s fun. That’s a good question about the Pinterest pins, I’ll have to look into that too. Maybe we do need to get permission?

  2. I love the article!! One technique that I use it to pin first with the link to the photo and then share on Google Plus with the Pinterest link in the header section. Pinterest and Google Plus do go great together.

  3. Well researched. I use both Pinterest and Google+ but the synergistic possibilities hadn’t been noticed until you brought them to my attention.

  4. Hey Peg, great post! Would love to see some of the sources of these infographics you cropped. 
    Kim

  5. I beg to disagree that Google plus and pinterest are the most ignored. However, this is a very informative post Peg. I was really amazed to see the lifespan of the pin. Never thought it would go that far. I’m very grateful to drop by here. Mind if I share the infographics? 🙂

  6. Fantastic, informative and in-depth!! Great job Peg. I seriously need – re-re-read this and then read it again. I think I can learn a thing or two. My Pinterest has so far bee abominable!!

  7. Good share Peg, good resources and very well put together. 
    The reason why brands ignore G+ is that not too many brands are using this as actively as they should be, especially knowing the wealth of “Search benefits” that the platform brings. 
    Best,
    Sardar

    1. smohkim Thanks! I appreciate that. 🙂 There are some brands that are doing a fantastic job on Pinterest, I think it will continue to grow for brand usage.

  8. Question for you… do you know a good website/resource for “how to” on blogspot?
    I just started a blog and I’m trying to link to pinterest.

    Thanks!

    1. jennipickle79 Hi Jenni, I’m sorry, I don’t. I’ve always used WordPress and don’t have any knowledge about Blogspot.
      Did you try the Pinterest help section? Maybe they can help you https://en.help.pinterest.com/home

  9. Informative, particularly the infographic on timing.
    A couple points: Everypost is a smartphone app. What about us laptop or PC users?
    Timing+ only works with personal profiles. It won’t pull the data for business pages.
    If Pinterest and G+ really go together like PB&J, where’s the Chrome extension to directly share pins to Google+  I see +Randy Hilarski’s method in the comments, but there’s gotta be an easier method.

  10. JennyAllen Hi Jenny – you can also use Friends+ Me to cross post from Google+ but it doesn’t go to Pinterest. It will share content to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter at this time.
    You can use the Do Share Chrome Extension to share a pin to Google+ Example: https://plus.google.com/u/0/104858643838035519891/posts/HpqMYJkA4dr
    You can add a larger photo and then add a link to the Google+ post as well. There are several ways to add pins to Google+.

  11. JennyAllen You can add a full image in Do Share, the small one is the default image and I think that Google dictates that. I’d love a big image to go in from a +1 also.

  12. jennipickle79 I use blogspot – I am not sure yet how to ‘link’ the two, but if you go to add a pin, and add from website, navigate to the blog, it will automatically keep the link of your pin. I will look more into it, and reply here.
    You can find my on G+ – phaedra culley
    ~Phaedra

  13. jennipickle79 I found an article that might help you out: http://www.theblogmaven.com/verify-blog-on-pinterest/
    ~Phaedra

  14. jennipickle79 Pinterest has a button you can download onto your toolbar and It will pin whatever page you are on to whatever board you want it on.

  15. One thing you may want to be careful about on the Timing +, You have to put your own time zone in or you may post at the wrong time. The timezone is at the top of the page.
     
    Thursday between 6:00 and 7:00   Western Europe time
    Thursday between 0:00 and 1:00     Central America time

    Also, for those f you who are not familiar with military time, the afternoons are the ones with the 1300 or higher numbers. Just subtract 12 from the first two numbers and you get the 12 hour clock time.

    I a bookmarking and sharing this wonderfully written and deeply informative post! Thank you for writing it JUST for me!!! 😀

  16. Peg writes AWESOME post on G+/Pinterest while Jacquie is on vacation — post gets pinned and +1 1000’s of times and finally reaches Jacquie via a pin from Jenni Fisher on 12/19 — ahh, gotta love Pinterest!  🙂  
    And yes, I love both networks.  In fact, I think one of the reasons I really enjoy G+ is because it’s not crowded like FB so you are able to spend time and get to know others there.  As a small biz owner, I think there are two reasons that businesses shy away — first, it’s another thing to add to your mix which takes time and time is hard to come by.  Second, I’ve heard many businesses say that they don’t think their customers are on G+ so they go with what’s worked in the past.  +1 for all us early adopters 🙂

  17. LOVE this.  Sharing.  One question though–I was told that having 2 links in your G+ post make Google ignore both of them. So I would think that is the only issue in the G+ post you cited as the example.  
    Thanks in advance.  I need to go work more on networking w/ Pinterest now :).

  18. Fantastic article with a lot of practical tips, as with everything you write.

    If I may be picky about a tiny thing: “second largest social network in the world” –> that’s excluding China from the world then 🙂 QQ has a larger registered user-base than Google+ and is second to Facebook. Google+ comes third is you don’t consider chat apps as social networks, otherwise Whatsapp and WeChat beat them too. Also, is Instagram not a social network? There too, audience is larger than on Google+. Again, this is just me playing smart ass and talking “horse race” — besides this, outstanding piece! 😉

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