Part 6 of Spencer Wade's ongoing series

Part 6 of Spencer Wade's ongoing series
The series is a "MuST READ" for those running a community

Originally shared by Spencer Wade

Your Brand & G+: Using Communities to Promote, Engage, and Influence “Pt. 6 Be Implicit – Not Explicit”

Anyone who has ever had to sell a product or service knows the difference between explicit and implicit advertising. Simply stated, explicit marketing is in-your-face while implicit marketing is subtle. It gets a bit more complicated than that, but for the point of this discussion that definition will suffice.

Google+ Communities are the perfect place to practice implicit marketing for two reasons. First, Google doesn’t appreciate you creating Communities for no other reason than selling products or services. That’s not their ideal usage of the platform. Second, and in much the same way, your followers don’t want to be blasted with “buy this now” when they come to your Community for information and interaction.

So how can we generate leads without ruining what we’ve built? Implicit marketing is the answer. There’s no need to pressure customers into purchases, or push your followers into anything they’re not expecting. Simply provide a bare-bones explanation of a product or service where possible (i.e. in the body of relevant content, when discussing a problem your product or service solves) and provide links back to your site for in-depth information.

Following this simple formula will lead visitors to your landing pages and guide them to the top of your sales funnel. Once there, you can provide all the information they need to make their own decision. This can be risky, they could choose to not purchase, but if they do decide to convert there’s an added bonus for you – the business and G+ Community owner – they’ll believe they did it of their own free will. And research shows they’ll do it again.

Thanks for stopping by, if you have any questions feel free to ask them below or start a new post!