Getting Started with Google Plus

            When it comes to business, Google+ can be one of the best chances of increasing your search engine rankings (especially when compared with other forms of social media marketing). Google+ has one billion registered and 359 million active users, meaning that there is a large audience untapped if you are not yet using this site to its fullest potential. One of the first steps to being a successful Google+ user and gaining followers is vamping up your profile and utilization tactics, and it’s not as difficult as it may seem. With a little bit of work, you can have hundreds of relevant followers in a short amount of time, and you should only see a domino effect from there

Below are a few ideas to help get you started increasing those followers:

  1. First, focus on the quality and quantity of the content you share

Before you set out on your primary goal, attracting more followers, it is a good idea to make sure that the quality and quantity of the content of your profile is rich and will greet potential followers with an engaging experience. Ultimately, when Google+ users land on your page, you want them to have the sense that following you is going to deliver consistent content that is of value to them. You really only have a few seconds to convince your potential follower whether or not they are worth your time. A few tips:

• If you have had your profile a while, spend some time going through and making sure posts and content are relevant to the message you are trying to convey
• If you are a new user with a blank slate, spend a little time optimizing your Google+ profile before you set out on a mission to gain followers (and as always, don’t neglect your other social platforms in the mean time)!

Use the social channels that are already working for you.

Chances are if you are new to Google+ you are not new to social media as a whole. Use your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Tumblr sites to promote your Google+ presence (many of your followers on these sites will likely use Google+). This is an easy way to add people to your circles and gain a response from an audience you already have.

Another way to gain followers on Google+ based on your existing networks is to create a link to your profile and put it in an email blast to your business mailing list. Additionally, putting a link to your Google+ site on your website can also be a good way to attract followers.

A SOCIAL MARKETING CROSS-OVER SIDE NOTE: When you send out a social marketing announcement on these other streams, be sure to share on Google+, BUT (and this is a big BUT), you need to be sure that the content you are posting to Google+ is unique in some way. To gain followers outside of your existing networks you will need to post exclusive content (photos, videos, blog posts, etc.) to be successful. ASD

  3. Understanding “Your Circles”

When you are trying to gain followers you are going to primarily be using the Google Plus Circles tab, which has the following buttons at the top to break down your social connections: Your circles, Have You in Their Circles, Find People, Relevance, and Action.

Some important things to consider about your network:

Your circles include all of the people you are following or that you have added. Unlike Facebook and other social media platforms, you need to ask yourself how many people you can actually follow and keep-up with daily on Google+ (it may even be far less than Twitter based on the content). 100-200 people is a maximum range to shoot for, in most circumstances and to truly gain an influential status.

The “Have You in Their Circles” list shows people that have added or are following you. It is important to remember that to be considered influential on Google+ you need more followers than you are following. The above recommendation of not following more than 100-200 people/businesses should help with this—but also remember to look at relevance. Use the relevance tab to look and see who are no longer active users and delete people from your circles every-so-often.

  4. Getting the right keywords:

There are ways of getting plenty of circles in a day. One is by looking for some shared circles and follow the instruction given by the “circle owner”. Sometimes we get stuck on a certain person that we thought they’ve the most contacts of all but then you will realize that you need to look for another person to follow for you to get more circles.  The solution for that is don’t look for a person – instead look  for a shared circles. Try typing on the search bar these keywords: sharedcircles, circle, circles, circlesshared, circle sharing, bestcircleshare. Try to think more of like these keywords. They are being “hashtags” which are used to identify messages on a specific topic. Note: be sure to add the people on the circles so whenever the owner added you then you’ll get the circle as well.