My Google Top Contributor Experience: It all started when...

Recently, I attended the Google Top Contributor (TC) Summit 2013 as a TC from Google+ and my experience was life changing. As a business owner, it was an amazing experience that allowed me to share the small business owner's concerns when it comes to using the Google+ product for business.

How it all started for the TC Summit

To help you understand the full impact that this event made on my life, I want to take you back to the beginning when I first found out that I was a TC. It was a Tuesday, and I had just found out that my brother-in-law had passed. A main water pipe had burst in my area so the water in my home had been off for 10 hours. So I wasn't having a good day.

Then I received an email from +Natalie Villalobos, who was the Community Manager of Google+, to let me know that I had been selected to be part of the TC program. Of course I started doing my Happy Dance and sort of running around the house. LOL!

Representing business owners at TC Summit

On a side note and as a business owner, I realized that this gave me a great opportunity to represent business owners at the Summit. And I did just that whenever I had the opportunity to ask questions. In asking questions, I realized the following:

• Define who who you want to reach on Google+. Who's your target customers?
• Determine how you will integrate Google+ into your current social media strategy.
• Decide how you will using Google products to organize your online presence

I knew that this experience would change my life and it did. While at the Summit, I was afforded the opportunity to have a voice for the business owners on Google+. Representing the business owners' point of view was important to me and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to do that.

If you had this opportunity to represent business owners, what questions would you have asked?