<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/45701280_s-300x194.jpg" alt="Google+ Marketing" width="300" height="194" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-9791" />With it being a new year and a time for change, it’s a great time to look at your marketing efforts for 2016. Google+ is a great method for focusing on this year as long as you know a few basic rules to follow while you do so. 

While some may use the social network for sharing funny pictures and videos, the site is primarily a place for marketers, business owners, and experts in various industries to connect and promote. It’s similar to LinkedIn in its professionalism but it’s underutilized by some even though it’s the perfect place to generate traffic and engage. Take a look at a few rules to follow while you market on Google+ in 2016. 

<h2>Profile</h2>

Start off with a great profile, specifically on having a friendly profile picture. A friendly profile picture is a great way to show that you are trustworthy and someone that others will want to contact. Would someone rather talk to a person that has a cartoon character as their profile photo or the professional headshot of a guy wearing a suit? 

<h2>Hangouts and Circles</h2>

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/11481797_s-300x200.jpg" alt="Google Plus" width="300" height="200" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-9789" />You would be wise to get involved in Circles and Hangouts. Circles are a way to organize your connections into the appropriate categories, such as family, colleagues, clients, etc. By organizing your groups of connections, you can more easily market to the right group, set up plans with another, and share valuable information to another.

Hangouts are a great way to “hang out” with a group of people online, through webinars. Join other webinars or host your own and either way, you’ll start getting your name out and showing participation. 

<h2>Comment on other’s posts</h2>

When you regularly post content and hope that people will comment on it, you may be handling Google+ all wrong. If you start commenting on other’s posts before you ever create your own, you’ll show interest in others that they may want to reciprocate. 

Creating your own content will take some time and energy but you can easily grow your audience by commenting on others’ posts. It can be time-consuming and challenging to come up with your own content in order to grow your audience, so consider commenting on other people’s posts to make yourself known and spark an interest in everyone that sees it to check out your business.  Remember that this is meant to be a social exchange. 

<h2>Engaging with communities</h2>

Be sure to engage with communities regularly and make sure you appear active and quality-driven in your interactions. Try one hour per day at first and then after one month when your name becomes recognized, try to do it in 15 minute increments throughout the day. You’ll need to commit more time at first and then you can cut back after you’ve covered the basics. 

Make sure you aren’t self-promoting, but rather, try to help others. When it’s your turn to share content, be sure to share commentary to help engage and motivate others to read on, such as why you shared this piece or why you think they should see it. 

<h2>Visuals </h2>

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/27530307_s-300x200.jpg" alt="Social Media Marketing" width="300" height="200" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-9790" />Lastly, be sure to incorporate visuals in your content. Large images work well because they will catch someone’s eye on their newsfeed. Make sure you’ve considered a good post format with the image, such as the engaging post title at the top in bold, great summary of the content after that, a hashtag, and followed by a large image. Then, create Pinnable images so that people will share your images on Pinterest. 

Use these tips when marketing on Google+ this year!




