Our insurance agency is here to help, and in more ways than just providing insurance! We understand the importance of shopping out a Connecticut insurance policy that is specifically tailored to meet the needs of your business for the most affordable price, but we want to be your trusted advisors and friends in whatever other ways we can, too. Today, we wanted to take a moment to discuss the power of Google+ for small businesses, for those of us who are looking to ramp up our digital marketing efforts and build a stronger following online. Although Google+ is often overlooked, there are many benefits with using this social network that small businesses can embrace, and we wanted to share some of our strategy with you. Let’s get started!
An Introduction to Google+
Google+ is similar to Facebook or LinkedIn in the nature of its posts, but there are a few unique features. Let’s talk about how to post on Google+, and the options it has available.
The first type of update you can post to Google+ is a text update. When it comes to marketing your business online, text alone may not be enough to make the cut though. Text updates are a quick way to blast out a message of any size, but they may not get the best traction, visibility, or engagement from your audience online. If you’re looking for more traction, you may want to take a step toward visual content, and post a picture or photo! Visual content generally gets about 98% more engagement online than if you were to post a simple text update, and that’s huge for your business. You can post organic photos of your business or staff, or professionally edited photos that speak to your business’ brand, and that will help you push the envelope. It’s important to have a balance when it comes to visual content though, because if you don’t have enough organic photos, then the people who gather on social media may not take you as the most personable or customer-focused business. By having a healthy balance with your content, you’ll be able to captivate your audience, and keep them engaged with a long-lasting relationship via social media.
You can also post links, and if you’re posting a blog or article that already has a cover photo or visual attached to it, then Google+ will automatically insert that visual content for you. Posting links is a great way to highlight your business’ products, services, or showcase your blog! If you don’t have a blog, we would highly suggest starting one, but we’ll go over the advantages of having a blog in place in a future article.
There are a few other forms of content you can post to Google+ as well. If your business puts together videos or has an active YouTube channel, Google+ is a great place to spread your videos! When you upload a video to Google+, your audience can play the video right on the page, instead of having to navigate away, and they’ll appreciate that there is less clicks involved. Your last two choices of types of content you can post on Google+ is events and polls, and these are great ways to get your audience engaged. If your business has an event coming up, Google+ is a great place to list it in case anyone is searching for your company’s events on Google. Polls are a great way to get your audience involved as well, because you can ask for your viewers’ opinions on industry related subjects, and respond to them, or keep them engaged!
So why is Google+ so Important to my Business?
We’re glad you asked! As we mentioned earlier, Google+ is sometimes overlooked, but we feel this social media network is highly underrated, and for a few key reasons. The first is that when it comes to SEO, or search engine optimization, a lot of your marketing via Google+ will play a role in how your company stacks up with search results online. If a customer is searching for your business’ products and/or services on Google, and you’ve been active regularly on Google+, it will help you outrank your competition in the search results overall.
Another great strength of Google+ is that a large amount of the content on this social network is organized, and that organization will help you to easily connect with prospects, customers, and clients. Google+ has friends and family circles, where you can directly build a network just like you would on Facebook, but Google+ also has a feature called communities, where people of like-minded interests can gather and spread ideas. If you’re a restaurant business that specializes in fine steaks, you could leverage your content by posting it to the “We Love BBQ” community. If you’re a car dealership you may want to post to the “Auto Enthusiasts” community, and so on.
By leveraging your content to specific interests, you’ll be able to extend your reach, and appeal to the people who matter most to your business.
Last, but not least, we have one more tip when it comes to Google and your small business, and that’s that you should absolutely claim your business on Google. What do we mean by this exactly? Well, if you “claim your business” on Google, then Google’s search engine will see you as even more credible, and will direct their users to your business when they search for you online. Once you claim your business, you can start filling in the details for your business, such as your hours, your phone number, your physical address, and more!
There’s great power to both Google search engine optimization and Google+ and we hope our tips help motivate you to make the most out of leveraging these powerful tools! Remember, we want to help your business in whatever way we can, but no business is free from worry unless they have the right Connecticut business insurance policy in place. To learn more about our insurance products and services, feel free to contact any of our professional agents today at 860-684-5270!