Kick-ass social media advice for the real entrepreneur

HootSuite Rolls Out Google + Pages, Here Is How To Set It Up

This has been in the oven for a while and I know a lot of folks have been waiting for it, to be precise, since November when Google+ announced it was opening its API to a few selected companies, HootSuite included.

Since then, HootSuite had a cap of 200 users but yesterday, they opened it for the rest of world, that means you an me.

This is available for both Pro and Free users.

But I’m not here to spread the news, I’m here to tell you how to set up your Google+ Page on HootSuite. And we are going to do this on a very quick and easy step-by-step mini-tutorial, SocialMouths style.

Before we do that, there are two things you need to know about this, I think they’re both kind of important:

Pages, not Profiles

The first one is just to make it clear that, this is only for Google+ Pages, HootSuite can’t handle personal profiles yet. So this will not work to connect your profile.

The issue with multiple Google accounts

If you are one of those people (like me) that manages multiple Gmail and/or Apps accounts and are forced to constantly sign in and out in order to get some Plus action going, this is great because once you connect the right account to HootSuite, you can just manage it from there.

Alright, let’s move on then to how to configure this puppy…

How To Configure Your Google+ Page Into HootSuite

1) Log in to your HootSuite Dashboard

2) Log in to the correct Google account. In case you have multiple accounts, you will understand this, make sure are connected to the account where you have your Google+

3) On the left panel, click on your profile pic, which will take you to your HootSuite account profile

4) Once you are on your profile, scroll down until you see the section called “My Social Networks”. As you can see, the first row says “Add a Social Network, click on it.

5) That will open a little popup showing you the different option, you should now see Google+, click on it and then click on the “Connect with Google+” button on the right

6) This will open a new popup from Google to connect your accounts, you need to click on “Allow Access”

7) HootSuite will automatically detect your Google+ Page, or Pages in case you handle more than one. Click on the desired page and then “Finished Importing”

Notice that there is an extra option in this step. The checkbox at the bottom of the popup asking if you want HootSuite to automatically create the new tabs for you, make sure you check this box, it will save you the work of creating the tabs yourself

8) Once the popup closes, check back on your social networks, you should see your Google+ Page already added to the menu

9) Close your HootSuite profile and go back to your dashboard, you will now see two things: The icon on top to select the network where you are posting and the Tab, already created for you

10) Let’s test the connection, craft a message and post it to your Page

11) Head over to Google+ and make sure your message has been posted, it should look a little like this. If you notice, your post says “HootSuite” under the name of your page to indicate the tool you are using

That’s it. Painless isn’t it?

Questions?

Feel free to shoot any questions in the comments below.

And… Happy Friday!

About Francisco Rosales
I'm the author of SocialMouths. I also help entrepreneurs and small businesses turn their vanilla "web presence" into a profit powerhouse using techniques on social media, content and email marketing to generate traffic and convert to leads and sales. Caffeine addict and a hopeless fan of Dr. Sheldon Cooper. Bazinga! Learn more

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http://lazy-american.com/ Lazy American

G+ is 100% useless but I guess now that Google rolled Places/local search into it, it becomes important for small businesses SEO.

Sucks that there is now one more time sink you have to commit to.

Haven’t used HootSuite in over a year but maybe it is worth taking a look at again.
http://twitter.com/toushenne Robert Weller

I’d rather see Tweetdeck developing and integrating Google+ because I like it better than Hootsuite. Go on Twitter, you can do it!
http://www.jessicaobermayer.com/ Jessica Obermayer

Great post, thank you! Been waiting for Hootsuite (and Google) to open up Google+ more…

Also good to hear from another soul who has to deal with the joys of managing through more than one Gmail/Google account – a particularly irksome twist on using many of the Google products.
http://www.omnibeat.com/ Nate Trimmer

So great to see Google+ in the mix with hootsuite. It already feels so natural and keeps me on my GoogleHigh. Great tutorial above. Thank you.
http://twitter.com/FeldmanCreative Barry Feldman

What do you mean by “personal profile?” Does Google+ offer more than one kind of setup?
http://www.socialmouths.com/ Francisco Rosales

Yes Barry, Google+ has personal profiles and brand pages just like Facebook.
http://www.socialmouths.com/ Francisco Rosales

Glad you liked it Nate! Thanks for stopping by.
http://usman.co/ Usman Latif

This is great. Does it allow tagging from within Hootsuite? Adding that to the article will be good. I’ll test this in my Hootsuite though.
Amber Ellison Walker

Thanks so much for the post – just set it up!!
http://www.savannahbrentnall.com/ Savannah Brentnall

It’s a shame that they didn’t include the ability to share posts from within Hootsuite, like you can with other social platforms. That means I pretty much still have to go to Google+ to do anything except reading & scheduling posts.
http://www.socialmouths.com/ Francisco Rosales

Happy to hear that Amber!
http://www.socialmouths.com/ Francisco Rosales

They just rolled this out for the first time, I’m sure there is still improvements to come in the future.
http://www.socialmouths.com/ Francisco Rosales

It is a nightmare Jessica. Because I’m in 2 different businesses I’m forced to use 2 different G Apps accounts, then since you needed a plain Gmail account when Google+ barely came out, I had to use a personal one I don’t even use.

That’s 3 Google accounts right there, I usually have two different browsers open…

It is a mess, I’m writing a post about this next week.
http://www.savannahbrentnall.com/ Savannah Brentnall

You’re right, of course. It’s just that sharing is such a basic essential of social platforms and I’m surprised it wasn’t in the first release.
http://www.socialmouths.com/ Francisco Rosales

I don’t think Twitter would be interested in integrating Google+ but, you never know.

Thanks for your comment!
http://www.tomorrow-people.com/blog Sookie Shuen

Thanks for this post, Francisco! It’s great that it is now rolled out for Pro users and not just enterprise users. Do you know of any tools that can post to a LinkedIn company page?

Sookie
http://www.omnibeat.com/ Nate Trimmer

Hi @sookieshuen:disqus , Hootsuite Pro works with the LinkedIn company pages as well. We are finding the Pro version a one-stop-shop.
http://www.tomorrow-people.com/blog Sookie Shuen

Hi Nate, I just found out after you’ve mentioned it. Thanks a lot!

Do you know if it will display a thumbnail image with my status update when posting into LinkedIn groups and company page (before I try this out tomorrow morning)?

Thanks again, just made my day!

Sookie
http://www.omnibeat.com/ Nate Trimmer

Sure thing. It worked for me when posting so I assume it will work for you as well. Crossing Fingers.
Rob Wilcox

So if you do this in the web app, does it show up in the iPad app? I mean I just tried in the iPad app, and adding google+ isnt an option.
http://www.redheadwriting.com The Redhead

I’ve tried this and it’s only pulling my brand page, not my personal Google+ page where I keep most of my activity. The logins are the same. Any thoughts?
http://www.socialmouths.com/ Francisco Rosales

Hey Erika, absolutely. HootSuite can’t handle personal profiles, only brand pages even if they belong to the same account.

I’m pretty sure it will happen soon but there is no word at the moment, as far as I know…
http://www.socialmouths.com/ Francisco Rosales

Hey Rob, Maybe it hasn’t been deployed to mobile yet, I didn’t check on my iPad but I know I don’t have the option on my iPhone.

It most be a matter of time.
http://www.socialmouths.com/ Francisco Rosales

Hey Sookie,

Just want to pint out that Google+ Pages are available also for users with the FREE plan, not just for Pro and Enterprise.

For the LinkedIn Page, I understand HootSuite can also handle but I’m not 100%, I’ll double check.
http://www.tomorrow-people.com/blog Sookie Shuen

Hey there Francisco, that’s great. Do keep me updated!
Connor from HootSuite

Awesome guide Francisco! Thanks for sharing and the kind words. G+ Pages was a huge one for us.

I definitely echo your thoughts on the multiple google accounts – always a game of multiple browsers / logging in and out.Stay tuned, as we have some excited things coming up!-HootSuite Community
http://www.omnibeat.com/ Nate Trimmer

Can’t wait to see what is next for HootSuite and the accounts we manage.
Nathan Weaver

Thank you so much for the guide. This is great news.
http://optimizehere.co/ Matt Morgan

#Francisco – I was a little disappointed when HootSuite promoted G+ on their homepage prior to this release, but it’s here now

Do you know if you are able to +Mention other G+ users/pages? Also, can you select which Circles to share with?
http://www.omnibeat.com/ Nate Trimmer

You sure can Matt. Learn it all on Hootsuite’s blog at http://blog.hootsuite.com/google-plus-pages-open/
http://optimizehere.co/ Matt Morgan

Thanks Nate – my developer just texted me a big cause it doesn’t post the thumbnail.
http://onlinemarketing.gwsmedia.com/ Lucyd

Finally! Thanks for sharing this
http://www.jessicaobermayer.com/ Jessica Obermayer

Francisco:

Really? You’re going to write about the challenges of x-Google accounts / dealing with x-Google services?

OMG…. I have GOT to see that one.

I cannot express how much grief it’s caused me having x-Google gmail accounts and the whole “log into Chrome [browser]” problem. Endless. I finally have a quasi-workable scenario, but I haven’t launched G Apps/Docs yet {cringe}.

Will be anxiously waiting to see what you’ve done and learned. I’m shameless in learning from others – it’s so much easier now than pre- web.

Thank you, also, for responding to all of your readers’ comments! No small undertaking here!

Regards,
Jessica
RealEstateDealStreet

Thanks a lot. Let us try for http://www.RealEstateDealStreet.com
http://twitter.com/BloggingPainter Blogging Painter

Very nice! Thanks!
Tammy

I have a question. Does your posts from your Google Page go over your regular feed for everyone in your circles to see?

Thanks!
http://twitter.com/penguinblogging Fiza Malik

Hi, Francisco!

One thing I must say you always come with the new flairs, Well detailed and informaitve post. Thank you for bring out the great thing.
http://oziomedia.com/productreviews seo copywriting

Google has been incrementally making Google+ the center of the cyber universe. This feature for Google+ pages, along with the Google+ Local integration will make it logical for many businesses to base their social media marketing from their Google+ page. It remains doubtful whether this challenges Facebook’s dominance of social media or if it will raise the very low time that the average user spends on Google+ every month.
http://perfect10introductions.com/ los angeles matchmaker

It was opening its API to a few selected companies, HootSuite inclu
http://lifestylesecretreview.com/ Enola

Since then, HootSuite had a cap of 200 users but yesterday, they opened it for the rest of world, that means you an me.
http://www.rubanled.com/ Markita Oden

Since then, HootSuite had a cap of 200 users but yesterday, they opened it for the rest of world, that means you an me.
Valerie

I’ve tried this nine times and it doesn’t work at all for me – Mac user 10.7.4 – doesn’t work with Firefox or Safari. I get to your step 7, but when I click Subit to add I get a message that reads”You have not made any changes yet, are you sure you want to close this?” See screenshot below. If I cancel, I get the same screen and when I press Submit, i get the same error message. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!
Christoph Suwelack

Exacly what happens to mee too!!! enoying…trying it for a week now
http://twitter.com/mariacaddle Maria Caddle

I’m trying to change my profile picture in hootsuite on my iphone 3g The picture I want to change is on my profile page and on my laptop Please help My email address is maria_caddle@yahoo.com
Bo Hart

Fancisco – I have tried this, but it is still not working. I logged into Hootsuite with the correct email, but my Google + page is not being detected. In my Google + profile it shows that Hootsuite is allowed access so I know that is not the issue. For some reason the message says that I have not created a page. HELP!
http://twitter.com/elizonthego elizabeth traub

For some reason I could not grab my page. So, I thought okay…maybe I set up the page incorrectly, so was prompted to “set up my page” even though I already have one. As I was setting up the new page, it had the looks of my original one, So I stopped and thought perhaps I have done something wrong. I have a page on google, people post, I see those posts, they come to my email etc etc etc….however hootesuite is not recognizing or grabbing that page. Any suggestions?