How 3 Small Businesses Succeeded on Google+

Whether Google+ is right for most businesses has yet to be seen. A former Googler has even questioned Google's focus on making Google+ a success. Nevertheless, some businesses have made outstanding progress using Google+, and here we present three small businesses who've done themselves well on the network. Learn what they're are doing right and apply it to fit the social plan of your small business. The Pablove Foundation The Pablove Foundation's mission is to fund pediatric cancer research and treatment, as well as educate and empower cancer families by improving the quality of life for children living with cancer. The foundation has seen extensive success on Google+ far greater than many big name companies you would come to expect being influential on any social platform. What are they doing on Google+ to succeed? Sharing photos from community events - Highlighting workshops, marathons and other Pablove events in photos on their Google+ page has proven to be one of the most successful ways of engaging their audience. The photos they share give their community an insiders look into how the foundation is helping children deal with living with cancer and how they too can join in with a donation of time, companionship or money. Mentioning newsworthy content - Pablove is luckily connected with many partnerships that help them spread the news of their mission. Making sure to mention these newsworthy events and activities is important for helping grow their community past its existing reach, one example of this is Pablove's post mentioning one of the members of the band Maroon 5 taking part in their team for an upcoming marathon. By tagging the corresponding Google+ pages for both the magazine covering this news and Maroon 5, they're helping to extend their reach across the audiences of all three pages by giving the other two pages a notification of this posting, which makes it much likely for these pages to share the news as well. King Arthur Flour King Arthur Flour is America's oldest flour company. Their passion is to share the joy of baking and inspires bakers worldwide. For being a small business, they've seen unprecedented success across Facebook, Twitter and now on Google+ as well. What are they doing on Google+ to succeed? Posting photos of what they do best, food - King Arthur Flour is tapping into what everyone loves, which is eating. Luckily their product offerings cater to most people, therefore it's ideal for them to share photos of their food treats as opposed to a regular text update. What's more likely to get an audience member to engage with your page? A posting of a chocolate cake photo or a text post about chocolate cake? The photo will always, always garner more engagement, stick with visuals whenever possible. Keeping everything personalized at all times - PJ Hamel, King Arthur Flour's resident writer, maintains their Google+ page and makes sure to give it a personal touch with every single post, comment or interaction. Besides, completing hangouts with their audience on how to cook certain dishes with PJH, they strive to keep the vibe friendly and personal no matter what. Every post is signed in italics with PJH, helping to continue the light mood and the understanding that you're interacting with people on this page and not a faceless company. Best Made Company This company is a group of outdoor enthusiasts that specialize in designing and handcrafting wilderness supplies. Best Made Company has a passion for inspiring people to get outside and use their hands, which is clearly seen on their Google+ page. What are they doing on Google+ to succeed? Sharing inspiring videos about the outdoors from others - Best Made Company hasn't shared much of their own video content, but it's no matter. Throughout their feed they've shared beautiful videos found on YouTube and Vimeo covering everything from Yosemite National Park to Smoke Jumper training for airborne fire fighting. They're trying to highlight the magnificence they see in the outdoors and share in an entertaining way with their audience. Using high quality images to share what you do - Having images of your products and services is a wonderful tool for sharing who your company is, but having high quality images of your most important product offerings is ideal. Google+ and many other prominent social networks today are centered around images and are specifically suited to share quality imagery. Best Made Company has been utilizing clear, clean, simple and stunning photos of their unique products on their Google+ page from the beginning. Google+ is a very visual platform, make use of it as Best Made Company has successfully. Key Takeaways for Small Business Success on Google+ Sharing photos from your community events Mentioning newsworthy content of relevance to Google+ audience Posting photos of what you do best with a universal appeal Keep everything personalized at all times Share inspiring video and content from others on Google+ Using high quality images to share what you do when possible What strategies has your small business found successful on Google+? Have you used any of the above techniques above for your page? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Brian Honigman is the Social Media Account Manager at LunaMetrics, a Google Analytics certified partner that also specializes in social media, search engine optimization and PPC. You can follow him on Twitter @Brian_Honigman or @LunaMetrics.

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How 3 Small Businesses Succeeded on Google+

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