Google+ is increasingly becoming a must-have feature for businesses of all walks of life looking to expand.

As a social networking tool and way to expand your outreach to clients, Google+ has been the premiere social media platform for businesses for the last three years.

In addition to getting active on Google+ and social media, if you’re running a massage practice you should consider joining Google My Business.

Why? Because Google My Business is already integrated through Google+ as well as Google Search and Google Maps and it offers another way to start a dialogue with clients.

Google+ > Facebook and Twitter?

So, the question becomes – do you really need to list your business on another social media site in addition to your massage practice’s presence on Twitter and Facebook? The short answer is probably.

According to Business Insider, Google+ and Google My Business help to enhance your business’ placing in search engine (a.k.a., search engine optimization) more than Facebook or Twitter alone.

By creating a webspace on Google+ for your practice, customers can “follow” your practice in realtime and get apprised of upcoming promotions and discounted products.

Since Google+ also shows your practice’s contact information, hours and in-depth customer reviews right off the Google search page, you can work on building relationships instead of spending more time and energy than absolutely necessary on networking and conveying the services you offer.

Putting Your Practice on Google+

When you sign up for Google+ and get integrated through Google My Business, your practice’s clients can find you through a Google search, Google Maps, or Google+ and various social media.

Many of the same benefits to your practice that were gleaned through using Google+ apply to Google My Business – clients can “follow” your practice and leave reviews of their experience with your practice.

You can also post periodic updates, promotions and photos right to your Google My Business page, which is shared through your page on Google+ and social media.

Creating a Google+ Business Presence

If you haven’t created a personal page on Google+ then you should do that before signing your practice up on Google+.

Step One: Selecting Business Type

Once you have a personal profile set up, it’s time to put your practice on Google+ so that you can link up with thousands of potential clients.

The first thing you need to do is stipulate the kind of business that you’re looking to network online – click the storefront option from the link below.

https://plus.google.com/pages/create

Step Two: List Your Practice

Once you select “storefront” among the three available options, you should stipulate the country and phone number for your massage practice. Google then utilizes the phone number that you provided to create a Google+ page for your business.

Chances are Google will automatically integrate your business to Google+ using the phone number that you provided.

If Google can’t find your business, you will navigate through a page to add your practice’s name, location and business type. The page looks like this.

It’s incredibly seamless and your massage practice can be added within minutes to Google+ and its social media network of hundreds of millions of users.

Step Three: Update Your Practice’s Page

After you have established your practice on Google+, you will be asked to upload a photo and provide a tagline that Google+ can use to mediate contact with your clients and online followers.

You only have ten words to describe your practice in the tagline, so only mention essential services here. Uploading a photo of your massage practice’s storefront for the photo isn’t a bad idea.

At this stage, you’re almost done creating a Google+ online presence. You’ll be asked to fill out an “about” section at this point. In describing your practice in the “about” section, you can also tell clients where they can go to find blog posts and contact information.

Step Four: Networking Through Google+

After creating a Google+ page for your massage practice, you’re ready to start interacting with clients and adding people to your circles.

There are four categories to start with: team members, customers, VIP and following.

Generally, you will spend the most time adding people to your VIP and customer circles since these are the groups you’re trying to establish a closer relationship with and possibly share promotional offers with.

Feel free to create new circles to help keep your contacts smartly organized.

Takeaway Points on Google+

Getting your practice on Google+ as soon as possible is essential because Google+ allows millions of people to find your practice online.

From your Google+ page, prospective clients can quickly look at reviews, hours of operation and contact info for your practice.

Google+ is also a great way to share blog posts and promotional offers with followers and clients alike.

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