Earlier today, I called Google+ “my weird friend that I don’t know why I hang out with so much, but for some reason I do.” Then, they do something like come out with Ripples that brings the spark back like a weekend away from the kids, with a bottle of wine and corresponding bottle of Cialis for the middle aged couple. I’ve made no secret of how much I think G+ changes the game, but ripples could be social media marketing and analytics gold for the troubled Marketing Manager still trying to explain the value of social connection and exponential value. ROI anyone?

Well, now you have it – ROI that is. First, Google wows you with a cool visual to show you how many times your post was shared. The arrows show who shared with whom.

Then, you can check out the actual sharer and the content they posted along with the share. This is interesting, because you can see if people felt the same way about the content as you.

Now we’re having some fun! So, I mentioned that this was analytics gold. Well, here it comes compadres. If you see the top of the preceding picture, you’ll notice that there is a sharing timeline that shows when the bulk of the activity happened. For most of the posts I have reviewed, it was right after the post and a few hours after. However, if you have a particularly viral post that string will flow out much longer. Also, there are pie charts of influencers. I didn’t make the “influencer” category on this post, but I’ll keep sharing and posting and one day we’ll crack the code here in the Hand Raiser offices.

How do you take advantage of ripples? Well, you just click the dropdown box beside the post you want to check and click “View Ripples.” You will only see the View Ripples link on public posts and shares, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t see it right away.

The benefit to the typical business is the ability see just how much action and potential views posts are garnering, for free. You can also click in to the names of the sharers to see what your influencers/customers/enjoyers of your content are like, building a profile of your social media connections.  Lastly, if your content isn’t being shared, search for ripples that are exploding so you can learn what content goes viral. It can help you decide when and what to share.

Ripples can be fun, but also very useful to a marketer. How do you use ripples? Do you think this is something that you’ll make use of when you get famous and go viral?