In our previous blog Yan described his excitement about a trip to the Google offices in London.  He was motivated enough afterwards to create a Google+ account, and start using it for personal and business reasons.  Even though Google+ is a relative newcomer in the social media game, it is growing (by users) and importantly for marketers – it’s impact on search rankings and SEO is growing significantly.

Are you using Google+ as part of your social media strategy?  Or is it just another way to waste time during the day?  Here we consider some of the unique features and advantages of Google+, and how you can quickly start using it to promote your business.

One of the key advantages is that is it integrated with other Google services.  Gmail, Google Place, Adwords – if you have an account with any of these services you can quickly extend your account to include Google+ simply by clicking on the You+ link on the Google homepage.

Once activated, one of the best ways to use it for B2B marketing is to share content – just like you do with LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest -..this list is growing!  Content marketing is one of the most effective ways you can market your business, and + is the perfect platform to do this.

So, in summary, here are the steps to start using Google+ to promote your business.

1: Build presence – regularly.

This is the key to using all social media platforms for business.  Post useful, relevant and interesting information regularly.  You don’t have to write lots of different posts for each different platform, you can post the same information – you’re going to reach a different market with each, but crucially you’re widening the net of people you are reaching.  Use links and images to keep the information eye-catching and attention-grabbing (remember the rules about how people read text on the screen, read this blog as a reminder).

2: Develop a community – on Google+ you create ‘circles’ of contacts.

Circles are to Google+ what friends are to Facebook and followers are to Twitter. Add users to your Circles (which can be modified according to your preferences) to create a community of sharing. The larger your Circles, the wider your scope of influence.  One of the key differentiators here is that you can separate your work and personal life, using separate circles for each.  Post business-related content to your business contacts only – they do not need to see your holiday pictures.

3: Promote your content

Marketing your content on Google+ does more than reach out to users – it also ‘markets’ to search engines.  Anytime you post content to Google+, Google immediately indexes it, giving you faster exposure.   This is again another key reason to use it – you’ll be doing wonders for your SEO.
If you want to talk Google+ and how it can fit in with the rest of your marketing (and your day!) get in touch.