Just because you have a lot of people in your Google+ Circles doesn't mean they'll become customers or that they'll even read what you have posted. You need a plan to make sure you're constantly developing your networks so they contain potential customers and paying customers.

Engagement online is about staying the course, and you need to be in it for the long-term effects. 

Stay Engaged

The key with making any social media strategy work it to make sure you're staying engaged.  You need to keep up with your account, read posts, respond, and post new things.

This does take effort on your part, and, at first, it can seem as though you're doing a bunch of work for no tangible results.  Building your reputation online does take time, and it will take effort.

Here are some ways to make it easier for you:

• Get online regularly – It's a good idea to start getting online at regular times.  Ideally, you want to be online and posting things when the rest of your audience is online.  This will increase the chance of your posts being seen and responded to.

• Come up with lists of interesting links – Come up with a list of things that you can post that are relevant to your different Circles. Though you might change this list or find things in the moment, having a backup plan will help you continue to have content to share.

• Write down questions you want to ask – You can also prepare for your Google+ encounters by writing down questions you might want to ask of your Circles.  You can spread these out over time and see what the responses might generate in terms of new questions or new conversations.

• Respond to at least 10 people a day – While '10' is a random number, try to set some sort of goal in terms of how many people you might connect with during a day.  This will show that you are listening and that you want to interact. Over time, you may not be able to respond to everyone, but this is not the worst problem to have.

When you break up your engagement online into these manageable chunks, things don't have to be that difficult.  In fact, you might even enjoy what you're doing.

(And when you enjoy engaging with others, they can tell, and they will come back to enjoy more of what you have to say.)

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when using social media is to post all the time, but to post things that your audience doesn't care about.  Not only does this make you look like you don't care, but it can also make it seem as though you don't know what your audience wants to know.

So, you need to stay ahead of your audience.

Stop and look at what your audience has enjoyed in the past.  They might have liked your blog posts or your motivational quotes.  Do more of that.

But you also want to bring your audience information that might help them in the future.

For example, if you were running a weight loss supplement business, you might talk about weight loss, but you might also give information about what to do when they stop taking the pills or what they might do with the clothes that don't fit anymore.

Try to answer the question: what else does my audience need to know?

This will help you stay on top of the pressing concerns of your audience, and it will ensure your followers come back.  If you continue to provide something of value, people will continue to come back for more.

When you're trying to build confidence in your products, you also need to build confidence in the way that you interact.

Start posting things that don't apply to your customers, and they'll look for someone else who gets what they need from a company. 

Seek Out New People

The building of a network doesn't end when you hit a certain amount of people.  In fact, this process needs to continue to with more and more connections, even as you start to get overwhelmed by the process.

Why?

Think about the way your business operates right now.  Even though you have a certain amount of customers, they may not always buy something from you every single day. You need to have more customers so you can have daily sales.

In either case, your network should continue to grow.

Think about the funnel structure that you created with your Circles.  Your aim should be to find followers who are prospects, but then they turn into regular customers. 

You would then move them into another Circle.  But then you need to fill up that prospect Circle again.

To keep building your network:

• Continue to post your link on your pages

• Bring more of your conversations to Google+

You might want to direct readers of your website or blog to Google+, and start having more online conversations there.

When people realize that's where you will be, then you can see more followers by your side.

In addition, the more people you add into your Circles, the more others will want to be a part of your following too.

 How to Market with Google+

The funny part about social media is that many new businesses owners might wonder when they get to the marketing part of these tools.

They wonder why they haven't learned anything about how to use marketing pitches or how to sell to their customers when they learn how to use Google+.

There is a good reason why you don't hear about that – it's not about advertising.  Using any type of social media is about building your connections first and establishing trust.  Once you have that, then you can start speaking up about your products.

But you need to have that connection built first.  If you try to push products too early, you might just end up with followers who think you only want their money. 

Talk about Products

Within your marketing strategy, you will need to talk about the products you're selling, but there are ways to do this that are engaging and less sales-y than you might have considered.

• Talk about the benefits – People want to know how something is going to benefit them in their daily lives, so it's a good idea to speak to this first.  When you can make the connection to a benefit that comes from a need that you've noticed in your community, you will get more results.

• Show the product – It can help to create a video of the product in action, especially if it's a complex item.  Show what the item can do, how it can be used, and how it can be customized to the experience of the customer.

• Share testimonials – When you can show that the product you've created has already helped others, that makes people more willing to try out the product on their own.

• Speak to what makes your products unique – Whether your item has something of value to add to a customer's experience or it does something that the competition's product does not, you want to speak to this.  Separate your item from the rest of the field so that it's clear you have something that's worth buying to offer.

The trick with this is that you need to start with building connections first and then talk about your products.  In addition, you don't want to talk about your products all the time as this can become monotonous.

Perhaps one day a week you talk about a product so you're still getting the word out there, but you're not bombarding your audience with details they may not need or want to know…yet. 

Another way to approach your marketing strategy is to talk about your story.  When you can show the reasoning behind why you chose to sell a particular product, it gives the item more of a human feel, which can allow the customer to feel more engaged.

For example, if you were selling a weight loss product that worked for you, then you might talk about your own battles with weight loss.  Talk in specifics about how you came to your own decision about a supplement or device, and then others can see their own stories in this sharing.

You may want to start out with this sort of story in your profile and on your website, to create a foundation or platform for your marketing.  You can tell the story over time, and engage the audience in that way.

People want to know more about you and about what you have to offer.  When they can understand why they should be as interested in what you have to sell as they are, then they are more relaxed about the sales aspect.

If you don't have a story that is personal to you, perhaps you can share a story about a friend or a family member that inspired you.

Stories can sell products, and on Google+, you have many ways in which that story can be shared. 

Of course, everyone wants to feel the buzz of your business.  They want to see what is special and what is exciting about your business.  To engage further, you might want to speak about upcoming sales or special events where people can meet you in person (even if it is in a Google+ Hangout).

Think about ways in which you can extend the conversation you've had online with your followers and Circles.  Perhaps a local group can meet up to talk about your company.  At this event, you can take pictures and then you can post these to your Google+ feed.

When you do, you show that you are someone who is willing to be out in the public eye and that you are so confident that you want to share what you have with the world.

Sales and specials are also going to catch the eye of customers, so it's good to start talking about them long before the price change occurs. Or you may want to have seasonal specials or specials for certain holidays.

Think about what your customers might respond to and then let them know that they are going to save money or get more for their money during certain times.

Remember too that the more specials you have, the more it can look as though your prices are too high most of the time.  Limit the number of sales you have so they are special to the customer.