Get ready to rock your Google+
Five down and dirty tips to rock the socks off your Google+! Are you ready for this week's Fab Five Friday?
Google+ can be a tough neighborhood to break into when you first start. So what's a newbie Plusser to do? These five things will help you make connections and meet people. Social media is all about making connections and having fun.
1. Post consistently — Many people lurk when they are new so when people check their profile , it's empty. Post one or two good things each day to start. It may seem like no one is paying attention but people will check your posts to see if you are active when they are considering whether or not to follow you. Make sure when someone knocks on the door, you are ready.
Resource: Five Easy Steps to Bake the Perfect Google+ Post
2. Hit a trend of the day — Google+ loves hashtags and there are tons of daily trends that flow consistently each week like #MemeMonday, #TravelTuesday, #WildlifeWednesday and more! Go to your home button, check the right hand side to see what is trending. You can either share someone's post from the stream and add your own note with the hashtag or create a brand new post to go along with the trend. If you post on the same days each week, you'll find other people who like the same things that you do. The #Caturday folks are a purrffect example of this.
More on trendspotting here.
3. Join a community that interests you — Click on the community button and search away. Check the “recommended for you” section and I bet you'll find something good. You can preview a community before joining. Just pick one for now that looks interesting, sometimes people are overzealous and choice too many. Join the community, read their guidelines and start to post comments. You'll meet new people and have a little home base to check on each time you come on Google+.
More on communities: How to make Google+ Communities Part of Your Social Strategy
4. Make your posts stand out! — It don't mean a thing if it don't have that bling! Use some formatting to give your posts some pizzazz. Give your post a bold title, and use some italics, sprinkle in a few relevant hashtags and voila! Your post is ready to go. Make sure you give credit to the source of the text and photo that you are sharing. Being a good citizen by giving proper credit is very important.
Here are a few examples of posts that did well on Google+. They all have great photos, formatted text and engaging text. If you share a post from someone else, give them a h/t (hat tip) mention to say thanks.
5. Create a small circle that you can follow closely — Managing circles can be an overwhelming task when you're new. I suggest creating a circle of just ten people who you can check every time you come on Google+. You can pick your stream view on the top home button. The default stream shows all the people you follow. I have a Fab Circle of ten people who I follow and +1 and comment on their posts daily.
Learn more about the Google+ stream here.
I hope these five tips will give you a little more focus for Google+ and some ways to connect with other Plussers. Give it fifteen minutes twice a day and before long your notifications will start popping up consistently.
This post was inspired by Dr. Julie Connor. 🙂
Photo credit by Kham Tran via Creative Commons
Hey! That’s my face! lol
These tips are #amazing! Well done!
dustinstout Funny to see yourself when you weren’t expecting it, right? I used you as a G+ example, of course!
So happy you liked it and THANK YOU for sharing. You are one of the best people I’ve met on G+. 🙂
Great stuff!
I totally needed this, Peg. I am managing (too many?) platforms for my nonprofit, in addition to other duties. We want to be more engaged in Google+ but it’s a new world that requires some knowledge. This is helpful, except for the circle suggestion. I can’t even commit to responding every day. This is apart of my hesitation: do we engage as well as we can, or should we stay out of the mix?
suzisart Good question! The circle suggestion is two fold: #1 to help you have a focused group of people to follow with consistent data. #2 Yes, you will need to engage just like on Facebook or Twitter. If you tweet and someone responds to you, you need to answer.
I manage a lot of platforms and profiles to I know what you mean.
You truly are the QUEEN of G+ Peg! I can’t even begin to tell you how much your insight and knowledge and total willingness to share all of that G+ goodness in your head has helped me. Thank you for including me. My mentor was (is) amazing! 😉
Rebekah Radice That’s so nice of you to say, Rebekah! I think that helping others learn the platform brings more value to the whole experience. I wish that it was more intuitive when you start but I’m always happy to help people learn it. Bringing my smart friends over from Facebook and Twitter is part of my master plan to make G+ fantastic. 🙂
PegFitzpatrick I love your diabolical plan. It’s working! 🙂
Rebekah Radice Awesome! 🙂
Valuable & simple to use tips! This is exactly what is needed for a beginner to start rocking his/her Google+ page. Adding to these 5 tips, one should also have a complete profile so that visitors know that this is a genuine profile. I completely agree with the point that one should be active on regular basis if they want to build strong Google+ presence. Considering that Google+ is going to be a next big thing, concentrating on these useful articles is important.
Great tips. Although I have been a part of G+ for a while now, I’m finally committing myself to actually utilize it on a daily basis. I see the benefits and will gain from them. See you on Google +!