Google Plus Communities are a great way for companies to communicate and interact with their customers. While Google Plus Communities may sound similar to Google Plus Circles, they are actually separate and used for different reasons. Creating a Google Plus Community Research and Develop Community Ideas that Match your Followers’ Tastes It is important to build communities that are actually meaningful to your followers. Take some time to research and brainstorm some potential topics that might be associated with your brand and assign a Google Plus Community to each of these. If they are interested in your topics, they will automatically sort themselves into the appropriate communities (once they are invited, of course).

An example of a Google Plus Brand Community Page

Make sure your Brand remains Active Generally speaking, people join your Google Plus Community because they want to see more information about the topic from the perspective of the brand. Make sure to stay on top of each community with providing them with quality content to keep them satisfied. Emphasize a High Level of Responsibility for Managers and Moderators Moderators are similar to managers except with less privileges, and are typically the person solely in charge of their particular community board. In addition to providing new content to followers, managers will also have to deal with any disputes among community members that may arise. It is important for everyone on the team to realize that a brand community is still a face of the company and the brand, and any moderators or managers who are in charge of a community must remain professional at all times. How well a community board is governed can have a strong impact on community follower retention. This also gives less skilled moderators a chance to improve their valuable customer relation skills. Explore other Google Plus Communities as your Brand Join other pre-existing Google Plus Communities to spread the influence of your board and build up the trust of the community members. While it is standard etiquette on most internet boards not to appear as though you are advertising on the board, it is still possible to introduce your community to members of other communities as long as it is tasteful and you are an established member of the board. Expand your Reach to the Rest of the World Propagate your Google Plus Community information everywhere! All Google users can join a community, so make sure you extend the invitation on blog posts, on other social media sites, and so on. Google Plus Communities as Customer Service Hubs Once your moderator team has enough experience dealing with customers, Google Plus communities becomes a valuable customer service channel for your followers. The benefits of tackling customer service in a public setting are twofold. First, any problems that are quickly and effectively resolved by your moderator team is public for all members to see. If you are confident in your team’s ability to resolve issues, every successfully solved problem serves as a testament to your exceptional customer service abilities. Second, by giving users an area to post their problems, other users may begin helping and adding their own expertise. Be sure to keep a watchful eye for consistently helpful individuals so that they can be promoted to moderators! Want more tips on Google Plus Communities? We’ve written another article about communities in the link above. Written by Nick Steeves

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