{"id":2109,"date":"2013-09-20T14:59:21","date_gmt":"2013-09-20T22:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.salesjumpstart.net\/blog\/?p=2109"},"modified":"2013-09-20T14:59:21","modified_gmt":"2013-09-20T22:29:21","slug":"using-google-communities-for-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salesjumpstart.net\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/using-google-communities-for-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Google+ Communities for Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span>Have you ever considered building an online community for your business? \u00a0 There are many ways to do this- from building and hosting your own using open source software to using an online community builder or building one with tools on the existing social networks – Facebook and Linkedin, for example, both have offerings in this area.<\/p>\n

One of the newest, and potentially most significant players in this market is Google. \u00a0\u00a0First launched in December of 2012 Google Communities provided an easy set-up, but a minimal feature set. \u00a0\u00a0It had the advantage, however, of a large audience of potentially interested members, having been built as an integral part of Google+. \u00a0\u00a0I have built several communities on Google+ – including one with over 20,000 members, so I know some of the ins and outs of this technology and would like to help save you some time and do what I can to help your community be a success should you decide to build one.<\/p>\n

\"English:<\/a>
English: Google+ wordmark (Photo credit: Wikipedia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First, it is important to understand the difference between what Google calls \u201ccommunities\u201d – but goes by many names in the industry (\u201cGroups\u201d on Facebook other services, \u201conline forums\u201d with some other technologies) and a \u201cpage\u201d. \u00a0A page is a way of promoting your business that is offered by Google, Facebook and Linkedin. \u00a0\u00a0A page is like a simple website with an administrator can post information and users can comment. \u00a0Users cannot, however, initiate a post. \u00a0With a community users can both comment, as they can on a page, but they can also initiate posts. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Communities can also be either public or private while most pages are public since they are used for promotional purposes.<\/p>\n

This can make the moderation of these communities a little more complex than just the standard customer relations function of addressing and managing comments as you would have on a page. \u00a0Let\u2019s take a hard look at Google Communities – both its strengths and weaknesses to see if it could be to the advantage of your business. \u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ll also try to give you a few tips on building your one community on Google+ should you decide to go that route. \u00a0\u00a0First its strengths:<\/p>\n

Advantages to Google Communities<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0It is a snap to set up. \u00a0\u00a0It is so easy to setup a Google community it will probably take me longer to write this post. \u00a0\u00a0The is a bit of an exaggeration, but you can get the basic setup finished in five minutes or so, and improve it from there. \u00a0The setup is just not a big deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. \u00a0It is good for relationship building. \u00a0\u00a0Since users can initiate posts, there is less of a \u201cpearls before swine\u201d quality to the engagement. \u00a0\u00a0While you will want some moderation guidelines, basically your members can say whatever they want whenever they want. \u00a0This will have the effect of having the relationship be more \u201cauthentic\u201d – you are basically putting yourself out there.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0It can enhance your stature in a subject area. \u00a0\u00a0Since you will be managing a community where people can freely express themselves, you will have to be fair and allow a different views to be expressed – in some cases possibly from competitors. \u00a0. \u00a0Depending on the subject area, this may help you to be seen as an expert in this area.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0You will learn from it. \u00a0\u00a0Since a well managed community will have a variety of views being expressed you may learn some new things and get new ideas. \u00a0\u00a0With a \u201cpage\u201d setup you might just be hearing what you want to hear. \u00a0Sometimes when a discussion gets lively on a community some great ideas can be generated, and new ways of looking at things can be revealed.<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0There may be some SEO Benefit. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Google indexes posts in its search engine your business might get a bit more exposure through it. \u00a0In addition, with Google Communities you are allowed to display up to 10 links on the Community home page and these can be links to your business or other resources for your members.<\/p>\n

7. \u00a0Hangouts and Hangouts on Air. \u00a0\u00a0While the technology for communities themselves may be more or less traditional – and even have less functionality than most systems, there is an important exception. \u00a0\u00a0Hangouts – Google\u2019s name for video conferencing, is integrated with communities and is an amazing technology. \u00a0\u00a0These hangouts let you meet in a live videoconference with up to 10 people which can take your community to a whole new level. \u00a0There is also a \u201cHangouts on Air\u201d – currently not as well integrated but still possible, that lets you \u201cbroadcast\u201d these hangouts and record the to Youtube. \u00a0\u00a0This alone may be reason for you to select Google communities if you have a subject area and population of potential members you feel could benefit from this kind of video presentation.<\/p>\n

Disadvantages to Google Communities<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0It is hard to get new members. \u00a0Don\u2019t expect an immediate flood of member requests once you setup your community. \u00a0Since they are so easy to set up there are tens of thousands of them – maybe more. \u00a0\u00a0You may have to build your community one member at a time at first. \u00a0\u00a0It is also possible that your best potential members aren\u2019t active on Google+ at all, and even if you persuade them to join they won\u2019t participate much.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Moderation can be a challenge. \u00a0\u00a0It would be nice if these things \u201cran themselves\u201d but they don\u2019t. \u00a0\u00a0Posts that are low quality or off topic are frequent, and you may have to use your best diplomacy skills – or your hammer – \u00a0to address these. \u00a0\u00a0It is not uncommon for \u201cdrama situations\u201d to break out and it is even possible for whole communities to \u201cmelt down\u201d. \u00a0\u00a0As community owner, you will be responsible for this.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0It\u2019s Time Consuming. \u00a0\u00a0Managing your community – including approving new members, participating in discussions, \u00a0moderating disagreements, encouraging quality and posting your own content can be a major time sink. \u00a0\u00a0This must be weighed against the advantages of having a community.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0Communities compete with each other. \u00a0Google set up communities so that anyone could start one on any topic – and they can even have identical names as other communities. \u00a0This means that there are many overlapping and competing topics all competing for the same audience. \u00a0\u00a0The is particularly true of the larger communities with broader topic areas – it is probably best to not compete with those communities unless you are willing to invest substantial effort.<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0Spam is a major issue. \u00a0Google communities are absolutely plagued with spam. \u00a0\u00a0They have a spam filter that is pretty good at weeding most of it out, but you will still see it. \u00a0There is also a problem with \u201cnear spam\u201d – \u00a0posts that are just bad for whatever reason. \u00a0While this is mostly an issue on the public communities, it is not unheard of on the private communities either.<\/p>\n

So should you do it?<\/p>\n

The answer is, of course, \u201cit depends\u201d. \u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t do it \u201cjust because you can\u201d however, anyone can set these up and an empty community won\u2019t do you any good nor will one you work on extensively that never gets \u201ctraction\u201d. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Think first about precisely what you want to accomplish with your community and then carefully weigh the advantages and disadvantages listed above. \u00a0\u00a0At this point in the development of communities it is unlikely that a broad topic will work unless you are already a recognized authority in that area and have a ready population of followers. \u00a0That is not to say private communities won\u2019t work, however, or even public communities in niche topic areas.<\/p>\n

Going for it? \u00a0Here are a few tips.<\/p>\n

So if you have weighed the advantages and disadvantages carefully, and you think it can help your business or practice area, here are a few tips to help you get started:<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Set up the community completely before you invite anyone. \u00a0As we discussed here, the initial community setup can be done in just a few minutes, but doing it right can take considerably longer. \u00a0\u00a0Get everything ready. \u00a0Have some good web copy for your descriptions, set up your posting categories and write some moderation guidelines. – you will need them later.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Have content ready. \u00a0\u00a0Consider \u201cseeding\u201d your community before you even invite anyone with a few interesting posts that set the \u201ctone\u201d of the kind of posts you want in your community. \u00a0\u00a0The last thing you want is for new members to to join an empty community. \u00a0\u00a0It might even be a good idea to have several posts pre-written for future postings.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0Identify Prospective Members. \u00a0\u00a0If you are already active on Google+ identify everyone in your circles who you think might be interested in your community. \u00a0Make a special circle for these prospects. \u00a0\u00a0If you aren\u2019t active on Google+ it may be a tougher slog, but do some searches on your topic area and build a circle based on this interest.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0Invite your best prospects. \u00a0\u00a0Try to get a commitment from as many of the people you know who might be interested. \u00a0Write them and tell them what you want to accomplish and enlist their support. \u00a0\u00a0After you have done this, send an invitation to these prospects.<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0Start engaging. \u00a0Try to get a conversation going with these initial members. \u00a0\u00a0Use your best content if necessary. \u00a0\u00a0Do whatever you can to \u201cmake it interesting\u201d.<\/p>\n

6. \u00a0Invite a \u201csecond wave\u201d of prospects. \u00a0\u00a0Now take the rest of that circle you have built and invite those potential members. \u00a0\u00a0Write a good introduction about why you think will be a good community. \u00a0Continue promoting your community however you can as an ongoing effort.<\/p>\n

7. \u00a0Select a Moderator. \u00a0\u00a0Ask one of your members to help with moderating the community. \u00a0This will not only reduce your workload a bit, but will have the added benefit of making your community look a bit more \u201cestablished\u201d.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s about the best advice I can give you. \u00a0\u00a0The rest is up to you. \u00a0Wishing you the best!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Enhanced<\/a><\/div>\n

\"Post<\/a> Tweet This Post<\/a><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever considered building an online community for your business? \u00a0 There are many ways to do this- from building and hosting your own using open source software to using an online community builder or building one with tools on the existing social networks – Facebook and Linkedin, for example, both have offerings in … Continue reading Using Google+ Communities for Business<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesjumpstart.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesjumpstart.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesjumpstart.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesjumpstart.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesjumpstart.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/salesjumpstart.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesjumpstart.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesjumpstart.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesjumpstart.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}