With the recent launch of Google Plus (Google+), Google Adwords now allows for paid ads to be linked up with their Google+ page.
This feature presents a wonderful opportunity for businesses to “Social-Proof” their website and also their advertisement campaigns. When your ad is linked up with social ad extension, searches will be able to see the endorsements for your business made by your fans and friends.
Benefits of Social Extension
Imagine you are looking for a shampoo online, hoping to garner useful information, you see a shampoo advertisement with a social ad extension. On the social extension, you saw some of your friends who have endorsed the shampoo. This would likely make you more curious about the business and to find out about this product as your friends seem to have positive opinion about it.
Social extensions are a great way to increase the credibility of your product or service as people are able to see the ad and the number of people that have “+1” your ad and endorse the business.
One of the great benefits of Google+ is that it makes it convenient for people to share web information. When searchers find your ad and would like to follow your business on your business’s Google+ page, they would likely click on the +1 sign. By clicking the +1 sign, this also allows the searchers to also share the business Google+ page with their own Google+ social circle of friends.
Another benefit that users get to enjoy is that when people click on the +1 of the social extension, the Adwords system would not charge the advertiser for the +1. Adwords system only charge when the ad itself is clicked and leads to the destination URL.
How to include Social Extension on your ad
For starters, you would first need to create a Google+ page for your business.
Thereafter under your campaign settings, select “Social Extension” under “Ad extensions” tab.
Click on “+ New extension” and select the campaign to include the social extension and enter the URL of your Google+ page.
Click “Save” and there you have the social extension for your Google ads!
Building social equity for your Google+ page may be a long term process, but this will lead to a captive audience who is following you, which in turn may become your business evangelists. This also allows you the option to craft an attractive ad with ad extensions that may eventually shows a huge following, building more trust among searchers and increasing your fan base.
Since this strategy of using social extension to create a fan base and social proofing is free, why not give it a shot!
