This is the last of our ‘top tips’ posts and is on how to use Google+ for your business. Whether or not you have already set up a Google+ page, there might be some points here that you have not yet used. If you are using other social media pages for your business, you may find our other ‘top tips’ for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and YouTube posts useful to read.
Complete your profile
Ensure that your profile is set up properly which means making sure that all the information people would want to know about your business is there. Make sure you have your business address, contact details, opening hours, links to your website, blog, other social media pages, as well as an introduction about your business. In the introduction and your tagline, make sure you have keywords that you would like to rank for in Google as this helps with your SEO. With your cover photo, make use of the large space you have. You can really stand out with a good cover photo and can change it depending on different times of the year or different offers that you have going on in the business.
Add links throughout your page
In the introduction to your page, add links as it helps you get found in searches. When
you are adding links, it is better to link words which are relevant to the content in the link, rather than saying ‘see here’ and tagging the word ‘here’. There is also a links section on your Google+ page which allows you to add your website, your blog, any other blogs you contribute to and your other social media pages. You should make sure all this information is here so that people can easily find out more about you.
Encourage people to +1 your page
The +1 is similar to someone liking your business Facebook page and you should get as many people as you can to +1 your page, including friends, family, employees and customers. The reason for trying to get lots of +1’s for your page is not for vanity purposes, but Google uses the number of +1’s a page has in order to rank it in searches.
Use pictures
When you are posting updates from your company Google+ page, pictures are something that go down very well on this social media site. If you are posting blog posts or links to websites which have pictures in them, Google+ will pick this up and give you a selection of pictures to choose from the page you have posted. If there is not a picture on your update, you can always add your own or even a video.
Use hashtags
When you use a hashtag in an update on Google+ this turns in to a link. When the link
is clicked on, it brings up all updates containing the hashtag. You can put a hashtag in front of any words you think people will look for and when those words are searched, your update will appear in the results. Using hashtags gives you exposure to users beyond your followers so you have a larger reach.
If you liked this post, head over to our Google+ page and +1 us to get lots of great social media updates everyday.