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By Root 817 0

might seem like common sense, but many business professionals (especially those in larger companies) using Google+ often get more than two of these recommendations wrong. For instance, several company employees do not fill out their profiles, making it vague about where they work within an organization, and throw off warnings about whether to trust them. In other cases, I saw that two-way conversations weren’t happening much for representatives of companies (including two different owners of smaller businesses), never commenting back on the questions and conversation starters that interested potential community members left on these people’s posts.

Everything your audience is interested in matters.

What Community Means to People

When you ask people on Google+ about what they value in communities, the answers are far more consistent and focused than you would think. It’s useful to think about this because growing an audience is one level of connection, but growing an engaged community is even more ideal. Aim for community if you value a relationship with your buyer that lasts beyond a simple transaction. If you simply have the “one and done” mentality, an audience can suit you. (Although I rarely hear anyone freely admit that they want only transactions and not relationships.)

A community, in the eyes of the people I spend time with on Google+, is a two-way medium. If you want to build a stronger audience, you must spend time commenting on your posts and on other people’s posts. Several people indicated that you should take the time to talk back to people.

In the blogging world, you have to be the #1 commenter on your own blog. It’s also true of Google+. We talk a bit more about commenting in a moment.

Bring a Campfire

Another important part of community is that you need to bring a “campfire.” You need something for people to gather around to talk about. A campfire can be a shared interest, a common goal, or something collaborative.

In advising larger companies, I often point out that it’s hard to build a “Sprite” community (no offense to that delicious lemon/lime beverage) because the people who drink Sprite don’t have a lot of reasons to gather simply based on beverage choice.

Not all beverages are created equal. If you’re Jones Soda, for instance, your campfire might be about the shared photos on the bottles. If you’re Moxie soda, you might have a regional appeal. (I’m from Maine, and if you’ve never had a Moxie, it’s this acquired taste that the majority of people who taste consider to be horrible, but many folks love and cherish.)

The campfire for car enthusiasts is obvious. I used to own a Saturn (five of them over a span of years), and the company did a lot to promote that folksy feeling. I now own a Camaro and their online communities (none of them run by GM) are full of passionate enthusiasts who talk with you endlessly about details that would make anyone’s eyes glaze—even manufacturers. But that’s the campfire.

So, if you want to attempt the community route, come up with a campfire. If you’re a travel company, it’s fairly easy. If you’re a soap company, maybe your campfire is talking about the home spa movement, which doesn’t exist, but you can launch it. If you’re the UPS Store franchisee, maybe your campfire is the local small business community angle for your region.

Connecting People Is Key

Communities where people spend their time are those that help them connect to other people who share their interests. I wrote about this in Trust Agents, saying that a trust agent works to “be the elbow of every deal.” You can do the same thing on Google+.

If you’re the person who points out the interesting people that share great things, you can have a growing following. The more you can share connections and contacts without asking for reciprocity, the more likely you’ll be in positions that can later prove useful.

This is something most people do naturally (and well) offline. If you play golf, for example, you know that it’s the conversation over that course that makes