Google+ sharing buttons for your newsletters

Until today it seems there’s still no perfect solution for sharing newsletters or single email articles on Google+ directly from within emails. Or at least none of which I know. This is because +1 sharing heavily relies on JavaScript code. And JavaScript will not work in most email environments. But “no perfect solution” also implies: it is possible. Here are three ways to incorporate Google Plus sharing buttons within your emails.

Google+ Mobile:

The first solution would be to use Google’s mobile website. You can propose a sharing message containing the target URL to your hosted newsletter:

• http://m.google.com/app/plus/x/?v=compose&content=For+tips+on+email+marketing+visit+http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emailmarketingtipps.de

This has several drawbacks. For instance, the user has to allow location based tracking. And the mobile layout doesn’t look very well on desktop computers. (Plus, as far as I know, it doesn’t work any longer anyway.)

Google+ Share:

A better solution would therefore be, to use the following share links and just specify your target URL:

• https://plus.google.com/share?url=http://www.emailmarketingtipps.de

Google +1:

If this isn’t what you want, use the third solution, which points directly into the heart of the +1 button:

• https://plusone.google.com/_/+1/confirm?&url=http://www.emailmarketingtipps.de