How do I succeed on Google+?
You will only succeed by creating trust.
You will not succeed on Google+ by spamming potential clients with your business information or by shouting at them continuously about your 20% off sale.
Creating trust is at the heart of all good marketing, that is what good marketing should always generate in your potential customer, you should give them opportunity and reason to trust you.
Why is trust so important?
Customers buying decisions will be heavily influenced by the level of trust you generate. It really is as simple as that.
Think about it, when you buy something online, whether product or services, you will subconsciously find a way to establish some trust in the business or individual selling to you before you press the "buy it now" button.
This was the secret of Ebay's and Amazon's success, they developed ways to communicate trust when everyone was saying that selling on the internet would never work.
So how do people come to a place where they trust your offering?
There are two types of trust that people can develop:
- Trust through third party referrals
- Trust in an individual
If you are a business without a personal face, without an individual representing you, then potential customers will have a good look at what other people are saying about you before they make any buying decisions, whether through feedback, recommendations, referrals or reviews etc.
If you want to create trust as an individual, which is the preferred method (giving a business a human face and telling its story), then read on.
How do I get people to trust me?
First of all, you have to have a business that is ethical and customer centric, if your business is just focused on creating a quick profit with no concern for the customer then you will never succeed on Google+, a lack of trust kills a business on Google+ and there is no point in you reading further.
If you have an ethical business, it is now time to step out into the world of Google+ and make a name for yourself, the opportunities have never been as good as they are right now.
How do I make a name for myself?
It is very simple to create a name for yourself and we are going to use Google+ as the basis for using this strategy, why?
Because Google+ is built on the principles of social trust and everything you do there feeds into real world Google Search result benefits.
The 12 steps:
I will go through 12 simple steps for you to follow, a strategy that has worked for many of the leading experts on Google+.
12 simple steps that will create circles of trust. Follow these steps, study them, make them the backbone of your social media marketing and let the steps do their work.
- You need a Google+ personal profile so you can present yourself in a professional capacity.
- Create a Google+ Business page, for your potential customers to use, create a useful resource for them that they will come back to time and time again.
- Join Google+ communities that have members that have interests that are reflected in the offerings of your own business.
- Spend regular time in those communities.
- Listen, talk, connect to those people in those communities, create followers by being friendly.
- Secret Sauce for B2B marketing: supplied in our training.
- Secret Sauce for B2C Marketing: supplied in our training.
- Make a note of those things that get presented as problems or queries in those communities.
- Create content that solves those problems and answers those queries
- Learn by watching any Google+ hangouts from experts in your area.
- When you have enough followers, create your own community and invite them there.
- Rinse and repeat steps 4 to 11.
How do the 12 Steps create trust?
The 12 Steps creates trust in a natural way. When someone gets to know you and respect you as the helpful expert, they will start sharing your material with others.
Over time, you will build up "circles" of trusting followers that will tell others to trust you.
Once you have that you have arrived. Then it is just a matter of maintaining that trust and increasing the size of the "circles of trust".
Will this trust help me in Google Search?
Yes.
Those levels of trust will be measured by Google using their semantic search techniques and they will then present your content to potential customers when they are looking for your type of service.
So this is not a trick then?
No.
This is just good simple management of healthy human relationships. Nothing mystical, no tricks, just straight forward common sense.
That is the "secret" of good social media marketing success on the Google+ platform.
Be nice to people, help them whenever possible and create good old fashioned trust. Then watch Google point potential clients in your direction...