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Business Pages

Following are some guidelines for creating your business pages:

• “Live” in your page and post there before you start promoting it. People who come to a business page with one or two posts and barely any information on the about page won’t likely be sticking around. Treat the page with some care and feeding before you try to grow a community around it.

• Seek community members by commenting intelligently with your individual account on various posts, and by creating interesting information on your personal posts, with a link to your new business page.

• Realize that a Google+ business page is a great “outpost” to connect with people where they’re already using social networks, and that it is best used as an adjunct to your primary web presence, your “home base.” This strategy hasn’t changed much in a few years and doesn’t change with Google+.

• Think of your business page as a TV station, a magazine, and a fancy business card. The goal isn’t to get people to fall in love with your business page. The goal is to do business.

• In creating interesting posts via your business page, realize that most people want to get a sense of belonging. Talking about yourself (your company) on your business page all the time is like going to a cocktail party and when you meet people, talking all about your stuff without asking them about themselves.

Some Final Thoughts

It’s the end of the Google+ for Business book, at least the first edition of it. If you’ve made it this far, you clearly have an interest in using this great new social medium. I’ve been fortunate enough to talk with many of the early adopters of this platform who work in various levels of business, and I have also spoken with some of the people who cover the emerging technology industry, such as Guy Kawasaki, former Apple evangelist for the Macintosh and serial entrepreneur and bestselling author. We concur that Google+ has a big shot at being a long-lasting and successful platform for doing business.

If I can leave you with one lasting piece of advice that transcends the actual technology of Google+, it’s this: People do business with people they like. This is one of those simple sentences that people nod about, and then they go back to interacting in ways that don’t encourage a lot of “like-ability.” When faced with marketers and business owners asking me about these technologies and how they drive business growth, I’m always asked for the “fastest,” the “cheapest,” and the “easiest” way to “use” social media to grow business.

Fast. Cheap. Easy. This works great with hamburgers. It doesn’t usually work well with relationships that you hope to have lasting value. The truth is, social media business tools don’t scale well. Nothing I’ve explained in this book is as “easy” as putting out a huge advertising campaign that blankets billboards, buses, radios, and televisions. Nothing here is as “fast” as giving your customers a phone tree to navigate instead of a warm human voice. Nothing I espouse in these practices is as “easy” as beating your email list until your buyer buys something (once).

Loyalty isn’t fast, cheap, or easy. Valuable customers/clients aren’t fast, cheap, or easy. Success doesn’t come fast, cheap, or easy. Starting from the position of, “How can I do this in the least amount of time, with the least effort, and get the most return on my effort?” is the worst way to think about your use of social networks and social media. First, it doesn’t sound like you’re putting any effort into that. Do you know what they call a fat person who has a gym membership? A fat person who has a gym membership. Know what they call that same person should they choose to use the gym membership over months and years? Successful and fit.

Also think about this: Never invest solely in the platform. Invest in your buyer. Go where they are. If Google+ comes and goes, as all things do, you’ll want to have used your time