Google+ is a network of people based on common interests, while Facebook is more about connecting with people you already know. Many people coming from Facebook say that Google+ is a ghost town. What actually happens is that they come, they post, they leave and they see no engagement from anyone.
The golden rule of Google+ is give and receive.
If you don’t care about spending some time to add relevant people for you or your business and interact with them, then you will receive what you give. Your Google+ business page is not a place to put your link and leave if you want engagement – followers, comments and +1s. Google+ is all about real conversations and sharing interesting content.
The number of followers is not as relevant as being followed by the right people. The good thing on Google+ is that once you added the people that you wanted, even if they don’t choose to follow you, you can engage with the content that they post publicly and, as a result, they might reconsider their decision and add you back.
People prefer businesses with a human-like behaviour and morals, so interact with their posts, add new people, show them that you care about their needs and don’t be too stressed about people finding your content – Google+ has a very efficient search and tagging system which can make your page and posts visible for people who look for the services you provide.
Google+ posts get indexed an show up in personalized search – people will see results from your G+ posts or articles from your website if you have the authorship feature implemented and the person doing the search has you in his/her circles. Trust is another important factor and the number of followers weights a lot when considering on which result people will click in personalized search.
16 tips for promoting your Google+ business page
1. Try +Post Ads
To convert your post into display ads. If you wonder how will your budget be spend, the answer is simple – not on clicks, not on impressions but on ENGAGEMENT. Your post will not be promoted on Google+ stream and to Google+ users only, they will show up on the Display network, which includes over 2 million sites that reach over 90% of Internet users worldwide such as Youtube, Gmail, New York Times etc.
2. Keep in mind what type of engagement you want
Here are some tips on what you need to post to get each type of engagement:
+1s: animated gifs, videos, quotes, photos
comments: questions
3. Don’t be annoying
If you occupy too much space on your followers stream, they will uncircle you no matter how interesting your posts might be. Posting 10 times a day might be ok for a news agency, but it’s definetely not alright to look spammy or desperate as a brand. Posting around 2 times/day is perfectly fine. It’s all about your target – if you want more engagement per post you share 1-2 very interesting and high value posts/day while if you want a higher number per total daily engagement you can post more times in a day.
4. Move your comments to g+
If you have a blog using plugins
5. Embed your Google+ post
On your blog or website – you can find the option to embed your post on the right corner dropdown of every Google+ post that is publicly shared.
6. Add a bold headline for your posts
Google will display your post in search and incorporate it in the title tag of the G+ post.
7. Enjoy Auto Awesome for Photos
Don’t spend your time fixing photos and trying to make them look good. The automatic enhancement feature can make your photos look great in seconds.
8. Check impressions
If you want to know how many people saw your post, share your post in an image mode. When you click on the photo, you will be able to see all the details, including the number of views.
9. Use hashtags
Even though Google automatically ads hashtags to your posts, you can manually add some more relevant hashtags to make your post findable. Avoid adding too many though, because they are visually annoying once they surpass a certain number.
10. Implement Google Authorship
Helps you with SEO, stands out in search results and can increase your authority as Google will display your profile picture and the number of people who have you in Circles in the search page.
11. Connect your Youtube to your Google+ account
This will allow your followers to easily switch between them and make the interaction smoother. Furthermore, having the youtube account linked with the g+ one allows for the youtube videos others comment on to show up on their stream. This will help a lot to get your video viral as more people comment on it.
12. Post directly from Drive
Use a link or the blue share button that you see on each document in Drive.
13. Join communities
Make your voice heard by posting relevant content and engaging with the posts of other members of the community. Don’t post your links and excessively promote your business on the community page because the admins will kick you out and block you for spammy content.
14. Participate in Hangouts with your followers
Google allows up to 10 people/devices in a Hangout at a time (15 for a paid/apps account).
15. Start Live Hangouts on Air
You can invite your potential customers, promote it with a +Post ad, make live video presentations that can be watched by millions of people, organize live Q&A sessions etc. Your hangout is automatically saved in your youtube account and people who missed it can see it at a later date.
16. Run viral campaigns
If you want to turn a topic or make a point on Google+, you can do this using hashtags. All you need is credibility, a group of active followers and a convincing post, motivating your call to action. Here is a case study to show you exactly how they work.
I hope these tips for promoting your Google+ business page will help you in creating and developping a brand that will stand out from the rest and get you more loyal customers. You can choose to promote yourself, pay someone from your company to do it or get in touch with some 3rd party specialists in social media like us. If you need any help or if you have any questions, please feel free to comment and you will get an answer as quickly as we can.
Google+ is your friend. Let’s start building a huge brand right now!