It can be tough to stand out online in a saturated market, but engaging with your customers on Google+ and optimizing can give you an edge.
1. Claim Your Google+ Local Listing
Last year, Google Places merged with Google+, increasing functionality and decreasing the amount of time you have to spend fiddling with a number of different Google properties to promote your business. However, if your Google+ is brand new or you never merged, make sure that you’ve claimed your local listing and merged it with your Google+ page so that you can take advantage of all the features your competitors are already taking advantage of.
2. Get a Strong Profile Picture
Your Google+ profile picture is just getting more and more important. As an individual, your profile picture can appear beside posts in the SERPs that you have authored, but as a business, sometimes you get your own branded sidebar! Because your profile image will be used all over the place – from your local listing, to branded searches, to your profile itself – you better have a professional, attractive image that people will want to click on!
The new, circular format of Google profile images further complicates things; no longer will your lovely square logo look good on Google+, but shrink it to fit within the circle and you may be looking at a tiny logo indeed. It is worth experimenting with a variety of different images before you settle on just one to see which drives the most traffic and engagement.
3. Set Up Your Profile
New at this? Time to fill in all the details for your customers. Even if you already have a Google+ page, it’s worth making sure you set it up right.
Cover Photo. In the newest rendition of Google+, the cover photo has become massive. Make sure you have a beautiful, high-quality photo of your store, office, storefront, employees, or product to top off your page.
Tagline and Introduction. Google+ gives you room for both a tagline and an introduction to your business. But what to write? Your tagline is a great place for your mission statement – that is, if it’s succinct and powerful. The introduction gives you room to expand on what sets you apart from all the other businesses out there like yours.
Contact Information. Provide all the contact information your customers may need to get in touch with you. This includes your website and other social profiles – add the other profiles under the Links section.
4. Circle Influencers & Innovators
If you’re just getting started, a great way to begin is to find the big names in your field – the innovators, publishers and bloggers, and social influencers who make things happen – and add them to your circles. They won’t necessarily add you back, but either way you will have new insight into your industry, and new things to share when they’re hot off the press.
5. Post Regularly
Just like any other social network, you’ll want to keep on top of posting updates. Get into a habit of checking on your Google+ once or twice throughout the day, and do some trials to determine the best time to share to your audience. It can help to create an editorial calendar with some of your posts in advance – that way you won’t run out of things to say!
6. Engage – It’s a Social Network, After All
Remember all those influencers you just added? If you don’t have much of a following yet, their posts are a great place to engage. Jump in on a discussion of some new developments in the industry, or thank someone for their insights into an issue from their latest blog post. Over time, some of these influencers may take notice of what you are doing – as will their followers.
The same is, of course, true of any comments on your own posts – if someone is sharing their opinions, don’t ignore them! Thank people for sharing or responding to your updates, and offer your own viewpoints when asked.
7. Encourage Customer Reviews
Every time you make someone’s day with good service or a great product, don’t be afraid to ask them for a review so they can make yours! Reviews, as an eye into the human side of rating a company, are invaluable, and Google will only put more ranking power into them in the future. Build up your customer reviews now so that you don’t suffer later!
Photo Credit: Flickr user cordiaz2000
