If you previously had a Google Friend Connect widget on your non-blogger blog, you may have noticed that it stopped working on March 1st. Google Friend Connect has now been replaced by Google+ Pages. In this tutorial I’ll be sharing how you can create your own Google+ page for your avatar, brand or blog.

With all the commotion of Google disabling accounts of SLers and with lots of uncertainty still in the air regarding this topic, I believe the best way to have a presence on Google+ is to create a Google+ page for your brand or avatar.

1. Registering: Go to https://plus.google.com/u/0/pages/create to create a Google+ Page. You will need to create a Google account in order to do so, if you don’t already have one.
2. Choosing a category: Choose the appropriate category for your brand, blog or avatar. I created my Google+ Page for my blog therefore I chose “Product/Brand” and then “Website”. You can choose the category that best suits you.
3. Customizing: Once you’ve registered and chosen a category, you will be asked to customize your page’s profile. This is your chance to add a tagline that describes what your page is about and add your logo or profile pic.
4. Editing your page: To further customize your page, you will find a blue “Edit Profile” button on the top right hand corner. Once clicked you will go into an edit mode where you can add further information about your page. You can click each section, fill in the info and then choose how you want that info shared.
5. Posting: Now that you have your page all setup, you can start posting content on it. You can share your images and blog posts just by simply uploading or linking. The only drawback about this is, unlike Facebook, you can not feed an rss feed to your Google+ Page (as of yet). So for now, for every new release or blog post, you will need to go and manually add it to your page.
6. Promotion: Now that you no longer have a Google Friend Connect widget on your sidebar, you can replace that by creating a widget for your Google+ Page. You can create a similar badge, as the one you see below, in just a few simple steps from the Google Developers website here.

Linden Lab® also has a great presence on Google via their Google+ Page. I did a post recently that contained a list of all the social networks Linden Lab is participating in, check out: SL™ Gets Even More Social.

Finally, don’t forget to Follow and +1 my Google+ Page to interact with me there. I visit it everyday and keep an eye on it. I also have a Google+ Profile which I also use from time to time.

I hope you found this tutorial useful. I have also done a Facebook Page tutorial that can be found at this link.

» For more of my tutorials, check out my tutorials page.

Are you looking for a way to get your SL™ brand more exposure? Social Media is an inexpensive and easy way to get the word out. I will be sharing two tutorials about creating and maintaining Facebook and Google+ pages with very little effort.

Creating a Facebook page for your brand or avatar is the perfect way for you to have a presence on facebook without breaking the Facebook TOS. With so many facebook users, it’s the perfect social network to ease into using and see immediate results from. Just follow these six steps!

1. Registering: Go to http://facebook.com/pages/create.php and login to your facebook account. If you don’t have one, you will be asked to create one. If you like, you can use your RL account to create it (that’s what I have done) and no one will know that you are the owner of that page. You can keep the administrators of your page private.
2. Choosing a category: Choose the appropriate topic and category for your brand and/or avatar. For avatars I’ve seen people usually choosing one of these categories “artist” “public figure” and “fictional character” like I have on my page. For Brands I’ve seen people choose “Photo” “Clothing” “Games” however “Product/Service” is usually the most popular. If you’re setting up a page for your blog, there is also a “Personal Website” option as well. Once you choose a category, enter in the name of your avatar, blog or brand.
3. Editing your page: Once you create your page, you’ll notice an “Admin Panel button” on the top right hand corner of your page. Once clicked, it opens up a top menu right above your page where you can then go into the “Manage” menu and edit your page. In the new window, go through each tab on the left and make sure every section is filled out to your liking. Remember to pay close attention to the “Your Settings tab” and make sure to check your posting preferences so you are posting as your avatar and not with your RL name, if that’s how you created the page. This is important if you wish to keep your RL name private.
4. Automatic Posting: Now that you have your page all setup, you need to start posting and sharing information about your avatar or brand. The easiest way to do that is, if you already have a blog, flickr or some other sort of rss feed that you can plug into your page using an app like rss graffiti, you can setup the app to automatically share your posts as soon as you publish them on other networks.
5. Interacting with your followers: As you build up more of a following, this is a great place to interact and/or get feedback from people that appreciate your brand. You can ask them questions or share information.
6. Promotion: Finally, it’s time for you to start promoting your facebook page. The best way to do that is to tell people about it. If you have an inworld group for your brand, send a notice. If you have a blog or website, post about it and visit the Social Plugins page to create a Like Box (like the one you see below) enabling your visitors to like and start following your page.

Once you’re on facebook, you may be interested in seeing what other SLers are doing on there as well. Here’s another post I did about SL Brands that already have a presence on Facebook via their own Facebook pages.

Linden Lab® also has a great presence on facebook via their Second Life facebook page with over 200,000 followers. They post daily content, ask questions and share images from other SLers. It’s a great community to be a part of.

Finally, don’t forget to like my facebook page and interact with me there. I visit it everyday and keep an eye on it. Thank you to all those that are already following my posts there! <3

I hope you found this tutorial useful. I have also done a Google+ Page tutorial that can be found at this link.

» For more of my tutorials, check out my tutorials page.