Grow your Business by using Google Plus

Google Plus can help grow your local business in more ways than you might think. When it comes to building an online presence, Google Plus can help grow your local business effectively — IF you use it the right way.

Consider this analogy: picture yourself, a small business owner in a brand new shop.

You’ve just opened your doors and await your first customers. Maybe you put an ad in the local newspaper, maybe you contacted your Chamber of Commerce, maybe you put balloons or a banner over your door so people driving by would see you.

Those things may get you attention for a very limited period of time – maybe the few seconds it takes to drive by your building – but without heavily marketing yourself and letting people know you exist, your door will stay shut until someone decides to explore and see what you’re shop is about.

Rather than leaving this all to chance, you have the opportunity to use Google Plus to start interacting with people.

In fact, it’s a great way to start even before you open your doors … Introduce yourself, get people excited about your services or products, then have a big ribbon cutting or unveiling, all being promoted and stirring up buzz on Google Plus.

Create your company page

First, create your company profile and add relevant photos and information so page visitors will understand who you are and what you offer.
Make sure to add relevant keywords and terms so you can show up in search results.
Add photos that help tell your company’s story and add value to the page.

Utilize what you already have

Have your employees and business relationships/partners on Google + add you to their circles.

Ask them to start engaging on your page and generate some conversation and activity.
Your current community is a great asset to help get your company initial exposure and they’re already knowledgeable on your company, they can help recommend you to their circles as well.

If your company is engaging in a guest posting strategy, it’s a good idea for them to engage in Google Authorship. By having a link to your company Google + in their own account, that can help drive traffic to the company page, as well as identify your employers as thought leaders in the industry.

Connect across platforms

Connect your Google + across your various platforms; website, Twitter, Facebook, ect. are all connected to your Google +. If traffic is already being driven to one, by having a link to your Google + page, you have an opportunity to drive traffic there as well.
If your company is engaging in social activity; forum posts, blog commenting, guest posting, be sure to include a link to your Google + page when possible..

Find relevant and interactive communities

Search for communities that are both relevant to your company’s demographics and that are interactive.

Interactive communities will be a good place to get ideas for content to share on your page as well as a good opportunity to listen. Listen to what is driving the conversation; see who is driving the conversation, and what your audience really values and wants to be social about.

Listening helps you understand the type of content to share and how to drive the conversation. Active and relevant communities are also great places to find content to re-share and individuals to build relationships with.

Content Sharing

The type of content you share and the schedule in which you share your content is critical to a community’s growth. By listening to and understanding the type of content your community values; as mentioned above, you’ll know the kind of content to share.
Create a schedule of sharing content daily to help gain a community of return visitors.
Share content that isn’t sales driven but helpful, engaging, and educational. No one wants to hear sales pitch after sales pitch. Share content related to your communities interest, not just your own.

Create opportunities for interaction on your posts by asking for questions or feedback.

Take advantage of Google Hangouts

Use Google + hangouts to create hot spots for discussion and peer to peer interaction.
Much like webinars and tweetchats, Google + Hangouts are a great way to offer value to your audience as well as stand out in your community as a place to helpful content and information.

You can record the conversations to add to your YouTube channel to help boost your company’s video content. Visit the Google + hangouts page to see which live hangouts are happening and see if there’s any going live that you can jump into to get to know your audience better.

Create a community

Much like sponsoring an event within your niche, creating a community is a great way to identify your company as a thought leader in the industry. Creating a community is a great way to keep a close eye on what’s happening in the market.

Positions your company as a brand that wants to give value back to your community.
Make your group public but on an approval to join basis so you can cut back on spammers.