How to Create a Google+ Event [Quick Tip] (Demo)

Google+ Social Media Marketing

Google+ has a slew of amazing features and hidden gems that may or may not come in handy in your marketing, but Google+ Events are definitely one feature that every business should consider taking advantage of. Whether your company is hosting a webinar, industry conference or event, employee BBQ, happy hour, hackathon, or something else … Google+ Events can help you get the word out and amplify the reach of your event.

One of the biggest benefits of Google+ Events is the fact that anyone using Gmail or Google Calendar will easily be able to add the event right onto their calendars. With just the click of a button, all the information and details about that event will populate in their calendars. What a time saver! Furthermore, the event will automatically be added to the Google Calendars of anyone who is already in the Circles you invite.

What’s more — these events are fully customizable, and you can invite entire Communities at the same time.

So, what do you say? Are you ready to get started? Great! Let’s run through the steps for setting up an event on Google+.

How to Create a Google+ Event

Step 1: Click on the ‘Events’ Tab

No matter which section of Google+ you’re looking at, if you’re logged in to your company account, you will see a sidebar on the left-hand side of the page. This sidebar includes options to select Home, Profile, Pages, Hangouts, Communities, Events, Photos, and More. In this scenario, you’ll want to click on the ‘Events‘ tab, which is listed as the sixth icon from the top.

Once you’ve clicked on the ‘Events‘ tab, you’ll be directed to a page that will guide you through creating your event. The images you see are various options for event cover images, and above these you’ll see a bold, red button that says ‘Create Event.’

Step 2: Click ‘Create Event’

Step 3: Fill in Your Event Information

Once you’ve clicked on the red, ‘Create Event‘ button, an event template will pop up where you can add your event information. Is this event a Google+ Hangout? Is it a webinar? A live talk for employees at your company? Be as specific and explicit as possible, and make sure you fill out every form as best you can.

Tip: It’s best to include both a start and end time for your event so folks using Google Calendar can add the event to their calendar without any question about the event’s end date.

Step 4: Customize Your Event’s Cover Photo

To customize your event, click the transparent grey, ‘Change Theme‘ button in the bottom left corner of the current cover image you see (see image above). Once you’ve clicked this button, you’ll be brought to a page that shows you a variety of options for your Google+ Event’s cover photo — all provided by Google.

Of course, if you’re a DIY design whiz, you’ll probably want to upload your own cover photo. Creating a cover image that’s unique to your company and your specific event is a great way to differentiate it from any other created by the people you’re following. Consistency is key here. Don’t believe me? Check out these 15 businesses we admire for consistent, stellar branding. They’ve got it down to a science, and it really makes an impact.

To upload your own cover photo, choose ‘Upload‘ from the list of theme options:

Some social networks will allow you to choose a photo of any size, and will resize it to fit the dimensions of the cover photo. But because the cover photo for Google+ is so long and narrow, you’re going to have a hard time using a pre-existing image without resizing it. Your best bet is to create a custom image that’s exactly 940 pixels wide by 280 pixels tall.

Once you have sizing down pat, upload your image, and test it out. Keep in mind that you should leave some white space open in the bottom left corner, because on the final event page, this space will be taken up by your event’s title, as you can see in the image below:

Here’s how you event might look in edit mode up until this point:

Step 5: Add More Details Via the ‘Advanced’ Tab

But wait … there’s more! To add even more information to your event, under ‘Event Options,’ click ‘Advanced.’

By clicking ‘Advanced,’ you’ll be able to notify people that this is a Google Hangout, an on-air event, or provide a URL where people can learn more about the event. This is particularly important if your official event registration is located elsewhere, which will most likely be the case.

To add a URL, click ‘Show Additional Fields.’

Here, you can add a URL and other details for your event:

Step 6: Invite Guests

Once you’re satisfied with your event, you can start inviting guests. Depending on who the target audience for your event is, you can add specific Circles, Communities, email addresses, or simply make the event public on your company page. Once you’ve added the names of the people you think would be most appropriate for this event, click the green ‘Invite‘ button. Remember, the beauty of Google+ Events are that they automatically get added to the Google Calendars of the people in the Circles you invite.

Once you’ve published your event, the description will look something like this:

Remember those “advanced” fields I mentioned earlier? See how the URL showed up in the bold, ‘Official Website‘ section of the event description?

Voilà! You’ve successfully created an event for your business on Google+. Once the event is over, you still have the option to communicate with folks who attended through the Event page. This is a great place to upload photos of the event, give any updates about next year’s event, etc.

Have you ever created a Google+ Event? What types of events will you try this with?