Social Media is a key element in online marketing. Every business needs to have a campaign to engage online and build their community. According to the 2013 Social Media Marketing Industry Report 86% of marketers says that social media is important for their business. When it comes to social media, Google+ has become one of the top social networks on the Internet today. Most online marketers tend to believe that Google+ is a “ghost town” and has no active users in it. Well, they are wrong. Google+ is now the second biggest social network in the world with over 500 million active users worldwide.
If your business still doesn’t have a presence in Google+, it’s not too late to start and widen your audience. But, before you do, consider following these simple tips to get the best out of your engagement.
Google+ Pages for Your Business
Google+ pages is the best way for a business to start building their community in the new social network. First of all, you should remember that Google+ is not like Facebook. So, you will have to follow new and different ways for gathering fans and engaging. However, it’s a lot easier to get followers on Google+ than any other social network.
Create your page. Make it look awesome and complete with an eye-catching bio, tagline, and a cool cover photo that represents your business. Make your page look interesting and outstanding, before you start sharing posts.
Discover and #Hashtags
Unlike in Facebook, Google+ users are always looking for new and interesting things to talk about and follow. Head over to “What’s Hot” section to figure out what type of topics people on G+ like to share and discuss. Share some posts related to those topics on your page to get more attraction.
Another way of get more followers and +1’s for your posts is by using hashtags. You can find the most talked topics in the trending section. Use those keywords and hashtags when posting new content to reach a bigger audience.
Using Google+ Communities
A Google+ Community is a place where users gather to talk about a specific topic. For example, the Star Wars community on Google+ has over 83k fans now. When you post onto this page, you reach that entire audience. It’s the perfect way to interact with a targeted audience. This is a surefire way to start a discussion and bring more people to check out your page.
Several Other Tips
Use “Hangouts” to connect with your followers to talk about your products and get feedback. Even the most important people like Barack Obama, NFL superstars, and a lot of other celebrities have also used hangouts to connect with their fans. Google+ also takes a major part when it comes to search engine optimization. Keep in mind that having a big following on G+ helps to rank your blog posts or business website on top of Google search results.
About the author
Michael Franz is the marketing manager for FolderPrinters.com, an online printing company that specializes in presentation folders.
