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Seriously Boost your Google Plus Strategy

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Seriously boost your Google+ strategyGoogle+ seems like the final frontier to many social media fans. They've either looked at it briefly and left or never tried it because they heard no one was there. But there's a third group of people: Google Plussers. It's this group that you need to connect with to seriously boost your Google Plus strategy.

Plussers are engaged superfans who can't get enough of Google+. They've learned the ropes and built relationships with a whole new crew of people. As the rest of the world begins to take notice, there are people who having been setting fire on Google+ for a long time. Ready to seriously boost your Google+ strategy? I've asked a few friends to share a few of their Google+ tips to help you get started.

 

Why should you give Google+ a chance:

 

  • Connect with a new audience of people.
  • Rank higher on Google with your Google+ content.
  • Increase the popularity of your blog and get great blog traffic.
  • Google+ Hangouts allow you to have face-to-face conversations with the world.
  • Because it's fun!

 

I've tapped into some excellent resources for this article, Mike, Rebekah, and Martin have all written extensively about Google Plus and you can find them active on the platform everyday.

Mike Allton

mike allton on google+

1. What's your best Google Plus strategy?

My entire world changed when I startedย overย on Google+. And that's not an exaggeration. For my first year or so, I would regularly follow up to 100 random people, hoping that a fraction would follow me back, not realizing that virtually none of these people were truly interested in me or what I had to say.
ย 
But then I had a moment.
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I read some advice from a number of users and realized how poorly I had been using the platform. I deleted virtually all of the circles I'd created and immediately began to be more deliberate in who I circled.
ย 

By carefully selecting who I circled, I ensured that every time I log into Google+, my Home Stream is filled with an enormously rich and valuable collection of articles and commentary on the topics I'm interested in.

2. Best tip for managing your circles

It was this careful curation of people and circles which led me to use the more effective technique of managing circles by placing people into circles based on volume. While I may still use some circles that are segments based on topics, my most important circles are simply labelled “Notify Me” and “All Posts” and “Most Posts” and “Some Posts.” The more interested I am in what someone has to say, the ‘higher' up the ladder they go in these circles.
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These two tips together have changed my entire world. Now, when I log into Google+, I'm in control of the kind of content I'm seeing and volume of posts from the people I'm interested in. This helps keep me informed about my industry and the topics I'm interested in, but it also creates daily opportunities for me to curate great content and engage with some incredible influencers.

3. Favorite Google+ Hangout you've been on

I've been blessed to have been invited to guest on quite a few great HOA's, but the one that's been my absolutely favorite so far has to be the Manly Pinterest Tips Show.

More ways to seriously boost your Google+ strategy from Mike on his blog The Social Media Hat

Rebekah Radice

rebekah

Whatโ€™s your best Google Plus strategy?

Write awesome content and then share it in a fun, engaging, and consistent way.

It really is that simple!

Whether itโ€™s content curation or creation, take your time to truly read each article you share and add context around the content. Ask questions and drive conversation!

What's your best circle strategy tip?

Keep up with your favorite people through notifications. Whether itโ€™s your industry, hobby, or family, create circles that include a common theme.

Then navigate to the circle and turn the notifications from off to on.ย Each time someone in that circle posts, youโ€™ll be notified!

What's your favorite hangout that you've been on?

Itโ€™s difficult to choose just one. However, the hangout that I felt had the most impact was Jason Wiser's, On Track Tips.

We discussed how to grow your business by leveraging virtual assistants. I had no idea what a nerve we would hit! It was exciting to see how many people are hungry to grow exponentially, but afraid to take that next step.

We gave them the tools, know-how and tips they needed to get moving and start hiring!

More ways to seriously boost your Google+ strategy from Rebekah on her blog RebekahRadice.com.

Martin Shervington

martin shervington

1.ย What's your best Google Plus strategy tip?

There are so many tips out there I thought I would offer something a little different.
The +1/recommend feature on Google+ means that content that is +1d can end up in the streams of those who are following you.
It also means that the content itself may be from a Profile or a Page that is not being followed by them already i.e. they only follow you.
So, if you want to give content even longer legs, try some of the following tips:
  • +1 content when people have shared your own posts i.e. to say thank you for them sharing it (leaving a comment is a good idea too)
  • +1 content that is from a Page – even a page that you own, and this will also enter other people's streams
  • +1 content which you think deserves a fresh ‘push' e.g. from a week ago, and you will often find that you get new visitors as it reaches out across the plus and flow in people's streams (you can track this using your live web stats)
There we go!ย 

2. Best tip for managing your circles

My best tip is to build up niche ‘opt in' circles for campaigns by asking “who would like to be included” – this is a great list of people you can then notify when the campaign starts.

3. Favorite Google+ Hangout you've been on

This may well be one with Maria Quiban from Fox News when I had the chance to chat about comedy with Sir Ben Kingsley!
More ways to seriously boost your Google+ strategyย from Martin on Plus Your Business.

Peg Fitzpatrick

peg fitzpatrick google+

1.ย What's your best Google Plus strategy tip?

Being consistent. I get asked a lot how I got so many followers on Google+ and the most important thing was posting good content consistently. I take time when I post on Google+ and every post has a great photo or graphic with interesting content.
Having a Google+ page that people are interesting in viewing or that they make a point to visit is important to me.

2. Best tip for managing your circles

Don't circle people like crazy . Take time to build relevant circles of special people.
I like to use my circles for listening. I set up small circles of people that I want to follow closely and make sure that I see what they are posting. This ensures that I can find great posts that I know I'll love each time I check my Google+ stream.

3. Favorite Google+ Hangout you've been on

It's hard for me to pick a favorite but I'm going to choose a Hangout with Barry Eisler in the author series of Hangouts for APE.

I hope you got a few ideas for how you can seriously boost your Google+ strategy. Come on over and meet your new community!

Other posts in this series:

Seriously Boost your Pinterest Strategy

Seriously Boost your Twitter Strategyย 

ย Photo credit: Big Stock Photos

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26 Comments

  1. Peg, thank you for this post because I “know” that I need to make Google+ a priority, and I’ve tried many times to read some compelling arguments for it, even used it for a time and experienced some good moments, but I’ve never read a post (until now) that just made it so fantastically simple.ย 
    Do it. There are 11,000 reasons why. Real people are creating real value on Google+ and you’re just missing out to not join the party. Use it wisely and learn the ropes (of circling and best content) just like you would any other platform.

    Consider me convinced. I’m going to try to make a weekend project of figuring out my Google+ life. Thank you for this truly excellent post and all the great viewpoints + tips.

  2. byRegina ย Regina – awesome! I’m out to pull people to Google+ one at a time. You’ll find a huge new audience for your fantastic blog and your great visuals will really be popular.

    Thanks for taking the time to read this and let me know if you have any questions on Google+, I’d be happy to help you.

  3. I will have to check it out again. ย I like what you said, start all over again. ย I have been using Google+ for a few years now but it seemed like it was more of a social fad but I’m glad to see there are real people like yourself who understands how it can work. ย Thanks

  4. PegFitzpatrickย Thanks for that compliment Peg. I’m one of those people who might actually have a question for you later, so thank you.

  5. byReginaย Really happy to help if I can, Regina. Google+ is a little different than Facebook but once you get the hang of it and connect with people, it’s unbeatable!

  6. So many great tipsย PegFitzpatrick! I love your advice about circles. I remember when I first got started. I had no idea where to begin or how to circle people. I’m glad I had you cheering me on and always reminding me to take it slow and build up an audience the right way. It makes all the difference in engagement!

  7. rmrogel1022 ย I moved the share bar over to the right side. There’s tons of post about Google+ that are basic tips. Here’s one for youย http://12most.com/2013/06/25/tips-for-new-google-plus-users/

  8. Rebekah Radiceย There’s so many ways to grow on social networks and asking questions is a great way to go! I knew that Google+ would love you once you got there, Rebekah. It’s fantastic to check out your profile and see your engaging posts.

  9. It’s an unbelievable privilege to be included in an article like this from someone of your caliber, Peg. I continue to learn more and more every day from you and Martin and Rebekah and MANY others. Thank you for letting me tag along!

  10. mike_allton ย I’m happy I met you on Google+, Mike. It’s a new and changing landscape and I love the people that I met on G+ and maybe wouldn’t have met without G+. I appreciate your sharing your ideas in the post and the article with your network.

  11. Hiย PegFitzpatrick. Can you add me to your notification circle for your author interviews? I loved the one withย @Barry Eisler.

  12. Thanks for posting this. Still trying to find my way around G+ even though I have been on it a while. I’d love to hear more about strategies for creating circles. Mike’s tips are interesting but it’s not clear how that would work.

  13. Aye, it will take some time but I am starting to notice how some bloggers are starting to get the hang of Google+. ย I even came across someone who has over 800K followers (Nomadic Matt). ย Sort of defeats the selective process mentioned in these tips.

  14. ltsailiataย I’m not sure if we’ll have any more author interviews – we did a series when we were promoting the book APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur – How to Publish a Book. I’m glad you liked it!

  15. gerridetweiler ย Mike uses a system that he moves people from one circle to another circle based on how much content he wants to see from them. You could probably comment on Mike’s G+ post for this and ask him for more information. I’m sure he’s written about his Google+ circle strategy in more detail.

  16. gerridetweiler ย thank you! Here’s the post where I explain in more detail:ย http://www.thesocialmediahat.com/article/secret-tips-using-google-circles – though the labels that Google+ uses now for circle volume have changed to More, Standard and Fewer, the concept is still the same.

    Create a circle for “More” posts, and adjust the volume for the circle to “More” so that Google+ knows to put more of the posts from people within that circle into your Home stream. And then you only put people in that circle who you want to see more and more of their content.

    And then repeat for Standard, Fewer and you can also create a circle for Notify Me.

    The correlation to this technique is that, for the most part, ALL of my other circles are set to have NO posts shared within my Home stream. I can jump into those circles any time I want to if I am interested in seeing updates, but they don’t impact my normal use of Google+.

    I sometimes refer to these as “Silent Circles” and there are lots of great uses for them as well:

    – Personal Interest
    ย – Clients
    ย – Geography
    ย – Shared Circles
    ย – Vendors
    ย – Influencers

    And so on. I find this to work particularly well in tandem with HootSuite, since I can set up circles within my Google+ Page and then monitor those circles within various HootSuite streams. Since I can overlap by putting people and Pages into multiple circles, I can still have someone in my Some Posts (Standard Posts) circle, and also have them in a, say, “Influencer Circle” that I monitor specifically for updates and opportunities.

    In other words, I conceptually separate my “Volume” circles from my “Categorization” circles and use them in completely different ways.

    Does that help?

  17. Hi Peg,ย ย 
    Thanks so much for these wonderful tips you have shared form some great people I know!ย  I love Google+ and am pretty active especially with sharing.ย  I needed to find a way to get more organized and love Mike’s tips.ย ย  Of course, I know Rebekah well and enjoyed her tips…she is such a star! lol.ย  Now it’s time for me to get to work on my circles and sort them out.ย  Thanks again..Donna

  18. donnamerrilltribe ย I make my circle strategy pretty easy, don’t worry about it being overcomplicated, just make it work for you! Thanks for reading and commenting, Donna!

  19. Hey Peg. Great tips in this post. I find that most SEO people seem to like Twitter the most, but as I explore Google Plus more, I think it has great potential and is probably an overlooked opportunity. Even something as simple as participating in conversations helps.

  20. Brian Lang ย I’m definitely not an SEO person but I know that Google+ helps with Google search and Google authorship which helps with overall SEO. I have Google+ posts rank high within Google search and never see tweets. Google Plus is definitely worth the time you put into it.

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