I’m curious what plans small business owners have with Google+.  This is a topic that I’m focused on studying and writing about right now, and wanted to see how B2B and B2C companies are planning on using this new social network. 

 I wrote about Google Plus Pages for business this week for Media Tapper. I think it is a platform that every business should strongly consider but they need to have a strategy in place before they jump in. 

Have a read and let me know your thoughts: 

http://mediatapper.com/5-things-you-must-do-to-be-successful-with-google-plus-pages/

Hi @mikedelgadodigitalmarketer no doubt that G+ will become a major player in 2012. At the moment it still is in the early stages, and I think we are still in early adaptation phase there. 

For me G+ is something in between Facebook and LinkedIn. I really enjoy how you can organize your network in Circles. Really cool. Great way to capture leads if you use Google Forms with closed circles. 

Their chat works for me better then Facebook chat. And their Hangouts is really great. 

Hopefully they will open for more applications. And from my perspective I hope they will find some ways to apply Google Hotel Finder plus booking engines for their business pages. 

But I am sure they will add some awesome features in next phase of their development of G+. 

I did see that Cris Brogan already has released a book; Google+ For Business: How Google’s Social Network Changes Everything. Gutsy move from Chris this early in the game. 

Cheers..

Are MorchHotel Blogger

@connectyou Great to see you here also Keri.

Yeah my area is also in the learning process. Most players here is either on eBay or Etsy. Out of all thing it seems like location based services has helped create more awareness about Social Media here. So locally 4SQ is a must for me. 

I am really excited to see all the cool integrations and improvements from Google. Ideally I would like to have it all controlled from one dashboard. Google works very good as a CRM for me. Though they have their own CRM solution for businesses, I am able to go a long way with they provide us.

So far I mostly played around with their chat and hangouts. This is something I will use a lot more next year. On Facebooks chat channel I got flooded with spams, so there I had to turn it off. Not sure yet if their SSL requirements implemented the chat channel. When I see all the spams that still drops in my Messanger there I doubt so.

Have not got very many requests related to G+ yet. But most of the major players in my industry is now starting come on there. It for sure helped when they made G+ Pages available for everyone. 

So will most definitive apply strategies for Google+ in my 2012 plans. 

Cheers…

Are MorchHotel Blogger

If you’re a business you can only add people to your circle who have added you to theirs. (Which is a bit frustrating.)

I would use my personal G+ account and other channels (social media, email, etc.) to promote your G+ business page.

BUT HERE’S THE DEAL: Don’t bother sending people to yet another social media outpost unless you have some reason to send them there!

Always be providing quality content. Hope that helps!

One thing I have noticed about G+ is that it seems more visual. The pictures are bigger and the videos are right there. I think this could be a great platform for small businesses to communicate via images and videos.

@rich-brooks You mention not adding yet another SM option unless it’s worthy of someone’s time. Though I’m part of a medium-sized PBS station, we have a VERY small staff and even smaller department. It mostly boils down to me and one other posting on FB or Twitter. Would you recommend jumping into G+ now while it’s in the early stages so that we’re more stable when individuals flock to us as it grows?

@fierce_living Thank you for the information.  Very helpful.  I am still weighing the options. 

@rich-brooks I am going to watch your video.

Thank you all for your help.

I am really enjoying this new group.

@mikedelgadodigitalmarketer

I’m interested in finding out when the adoption of G+ is to the point where people can actively engage on it. I’m finding many people marketing, but is the business owner plugged in?

Christy

I’m playing with G+ for business.  One question: it seems the biz profile has to be connected to an individual’s profile.  Is there any way to have multiple administrators?

Enjoying everyone’s comments here!

Susan

@swrightboucher

Hi Susan. There is no admin function yet but rumors are it’s coming shortly. In the mean time it’s an excellent idea to get on Google Plus with your own profile and get to know the environs. I highly recommend getting involved in hangouts as it is a great way to meet people with similar interests. 

Once you familiarize yourself with the Google Plus features it will be easy to see all of the business applications that will arise. Google Plus will allow you to engage with customers, suppliers, fans etc in a way that’s unprecedented. 

@alremetch That’s great news!  Thanks for sharing, Al.

@alremetch Thank you for sharing the update! That is great news!

@alexandrabriggs  An expert that I trust also reported that he wasn’t able to find a way to set up additional administrators either.  Maybe Google’s press release was premature.

Apologies to all for multiple post above to answer the same question.  I didn’t see them appearing and thought they weren’t posting.  I just guess the system was slow and I got impatient.

@rich-brooks It will be hard for businesses to ignore G+ with all their products, and weaving in search, which is the main reason. It will be a challenge for small business to carve out the time as they expand to G+ and other Social Sites. At some point the time invested has to show a return.
Big brands that have jumped into G+ Pages, now in it’s sixth week, Top 10 Brands on Google+.

@blairevanball This is great news for all of us!  Thanks

I actually used circles on G+ to create a customer focus group and the amount of feedback I got from the people in that circle was amazing. I learned so much about the people who listened to my podcast. Using circles is a great way to learn about your customers and I’d recommend creating a circle specifically for your biggest fans. If you do want to run a focus group I’d recommend the following

1. Decide on your objective
2. Figure out what questions will help you achieve that objective
3. Offer participants an incentive
4. Take action on your insights

@mikedelgadodigitalmarketer, thanks so much for including the steps.  Very helpful.

@mikedelgadodigitalmarketer, Your article is really impressive.  I haven’t seen most of those tips before.  I’ve bookmarked it as a must read for the team.

Thanks for the time investment you made.

Susan

Google+ business pages are definitely a good thing and I think a better platform for presenting a blog post than FB. However I still think the crowd is so much smaller on G+ than FB that you really have to tailor the content. G+ is a different crowd entirely, I don’t think that the FB style will work there so you have to watch what you post.

Some businesses just don’t get it and create a G+ page with an intro that tells them to go to their FB page. How horrible is that?

https://plus.google.com/u/0/101931518264805290221/posts

Sad sad. That link goes to Seattle’s Best coffee. Seattle’s Best is owned by SBucks, you’d think they have better social media brains than that but this shows how hard it can be for some companies to adopt.

@swrightboucher glad you found it helpful. I’m continuing to expand content on the blog to help others with managing their Google+ page.

Hi @connectyou 

A lot of craftsmanship in my area here in MS. I once did get myself certified as an eBay trainer. But did not really speak to my DNA. So was added to the file of learning experience.

And like your niche there is very little demand for this type of service in my niche.

Since Mobile/Tablets is one of the trends that we anticipate will make a major impact on my niche this year location based services will play a bigger role for me. 

We will see more industry specific apps that will add value to the guest experience evolve this year. Have some apps that shown some interest in partnership, and when I go behind the scenes some has looked really awesome. 

For us in the Hotel Family Reputation Management is very important, and I look into apps that cover the hole specter of valuable touch points both for the guest and the Hotel Owners.

And 2012 will be a year where I will focus a lot on touch point services. Room-77 was one of the really creative services we saw pop up last year that captured this idea. 

Like you I have used Skype more then hangouts. Yes, lets do a hangout this year. Even if we are in different niches, no doubt we can learn from each other.

My wife had been off here the last week and today, so my brain is in not switched into work mode yet..lol.. But I will be there on #LinkedInChat. 

Cheers..

Are MorchHotel Blogger

@mikedelgadodigitalmarketer @mike-stelzner I was thinking about using Google + for customer support. Like using their meeting place as customer support. What do you think? Good or bad idea?

Yes. Having Hootsuite to manage your G+ account is a $1500 proposition. I’m not so sure if using such a tool will be so useful on the site. Pumping out content that attracts clients without the interaction Google Plus affords may just bring frustration. There is a lot of competition on a consistent basis as far as content goes. It may require more moderation to be effective. I’m sure that depends on what your message is, of course.

I thought I’d share a link to a thread that is very interesting along the lines of this discussion. It’s my opinion that you should jump on Google as fast as you can, but I’m not a Social Media expert. Anyway, Denis Labelle is a good person to follow, as he advocates for business on G+ regularly. >>>https://plus.google.com/u/0/108384201920217141722/posts/MuD7QN9kY2F

@alexandrabriggs @cmichaelcroston Thanks so much for confirming what I suspected re: HootSuite and G+.

Also, the link to Denis Labelle is much appreciated as I continue to learn effective Google+ usage for business. We are set up, and linked to our site but haven’t done much in the way of content just yet.

@srinivasrao Great idea with the focus groups! Everyone has contributed nicely to this thread. Don’t forget SME’s latest post: 5 Ways to Use Google+ to Improve Your Search Engine Optimization

Thanks Ray,

      I wasn’t aware that Google+ had those collaboration features. I will have to give it a closer look. This will help me with infusing other artists into my projects.