{"id":3356,"date":"2015-04-16T14:41:29","date_gmt":"2015-04-16T19:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/?p=3356"},"modified":"2015-05-19T16:55:30","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T21:55:30","slug":"how-to-increase-your-google-presence-part-1-posting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/how-to-increase-your-google-presence-part-1-posting\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Increase your Google+ Presence : Part 1 – Posting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our blog post this week is a guest post from John Waldron at markITwrite. This will be a 2 part series giving tips and tricks to making the most of your Google+ account. Since a large part of the G+ community is comprised of techie type folks, we thought this might come in handy for many of you out there trying to share your knowledge and expand your reach to a broader audience. Enjoy!<\/em><\/span><\/span>
\n\"Google+<\/span>Before we get down to the nitty gritty and look at how to achieve a greater level of engagement on G+, let\u2019s get something out of the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

Google Plus isn\u2019t dying, it\u2019s not dead<\/a>, it\u2019s not useless and the bottom line a G+ presence is essential for most businesses who are looking to enjoy a strong online presence. If you read this, ignore it and decide it\u2019s too much like hard work and that you\u2019re happy to stick with Twitter and Facebook, don\u2019t complain when your competitors are reaping the fruits of G+ and you\u2019re rushing to catch up wishing you\u2019d got on board earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n

Optimizing your page<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Before you get started with all<\/span> of the exciting stuff it\u2019s important to ensure that your page is properly optimized. The reason for this is you\u2019ll want to ensure that your page can be easily found and recognizable by those looking for a business within your niche, or even your geographical location.<\/span><\/p>\n

Images<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

This starts with images. The last thing you want on your business page is a generic G+ image. As such use your company logo or the same image that you have on your Facebook or Twitter profile pic and background for your pic and cover photo. That way, users will know it\u2019s you when they see your page.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our markITw<\/span>rite picture and cover photo<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"markITwrite<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"markITwrite<\/p>\n

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About section<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The next area that you\u2019ll want to address is the about section. Elegant Themes<\/a> have written an excellent blog about optimizing your profile page properly, Including a paragraph on the about section.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Early Days<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

As a good starting po<\/span>int we\u2019ll assume you\u2019ve just created a G+ page for your business. The chances are, if your experience is the same as most G+ users who are just starting out, you\u2019re struggling to find connections, and of the few you do have, most aren\u2019t visiting your page and engaging with the wonderful arr<\/span>ay of posts that you\u2019ve started putting up.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, don\u2019t panic just yet, there\u2019s good news on that front and as long as you\u2019re willing to put some time and effort in, you\u2019ll be able to turn that around in no time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"PostingStep one \u2013 Setting most posts to public<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

I cover this step first as I never cease to be amazed at the amount of businesses who have pages on Google who haven\u2019t done this correctly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whenever you post to G+ you have the option of who you would like to see each post. If you have a business and you\u2019re looking to promote services, products or even your blog, the likelihood is that you will want as much exposure as possible. And this, of course means setting most of your posts to public so that other users may share and promote them on your behalf.<\/span><\/p>\n

While that may sound obvious there isn\u2019t a day goes by where I go to reshare a post from another page and it states that the posts has been set to private.<\/span><\/p>\n

But don\u2019t panic, it\u2019s quite straightforward.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whenever you post, simply take your cursor to the box underneath and click public. Once you\u2019ve done this your posts will be visible to all.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re still unsure then check out this video<\/a> which will clarify exactly how to do it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"GoogleCircles<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

That said, depending on your audience you may also want to create circles to sort your various connections in. The reason for this being that you may have connections that share some of your interests, or connections who are just family or friends.<\/span><\/p>\n

As such you should consider creating circles. That way, you can share each posts with the audience you deem suitable and not bore family members with work posts or business contacts with pics of your dog.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still confused? Then check out this video<\/a> on how to create and add connections to a G+ circle.<\/span><\/p>\n

Step Two \u2013 Volume of posting<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The first thing to consi<\/span>der is the regularity of your content. This is not an exact science and opinions vary on the precise volume of posts but the smart money says between once and twice a day. If you\u2019re posting several times a day it\u2019s going to turn other users off when they see their stream flooded with your posts. If you only post once or twice per week, users will forget you are there and they won\u2019t make the effort to visit your page to see what you\u2019ve posted.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, if you think you need to adjust the volume of your posts do just that as there\u2019s research out there to suggest that it\u2019s the right decision.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"SharingSharing other users content<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

While your number one priority may be gaining as much exposure <\/span>to your content as possible, it often pays to share the content of others.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing that\u2019s more of a turn off to social media users than those who post nothing but self-serving posts.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you want to gain their respect and interest you need to be sharing a variety of content including informative posts from other users within your niche. Put some commentary with the posts as well. Such as<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA very informative post from Joe Bloggs discussing the advantages to using Google Plus. What do you think\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n

I try and keep my posts and the posts of others at about 50\/50 as I\u2019ve found this blend works well. Be careful though, always make sure you share trustworthy posts. Don\u2019t go down the route of just sharing someone\u2019s posts because they shared yours. If the quality isn\u2019t high enough it reflects badly on you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Step three \u2013 Posting<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

This is vitally important as , if your posts aren\u2019t engaging, would you blame anyone for not making the effort? Many users will have a lot of contacts and will often scroll down their stream looking for interesting posts to +1 or reshare, or both. If your posts doesn\u2019t grab them in the blink of an eye they will just keep on scrolling, so you have to get this right.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Images<\/a>Image is everything<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

As such, a good place to start is with the image. Make it something interesting that stands out. You can even use Gifs now if you really like them, but be careful. While Gifs can be funny, they often look cheap and tacky and those are two words you won\u2019t want people mentally associating with your brand. So choose wisely.<\/span><\/p>\n

A snappy headline or title<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of research out there surrounding the correct lengthy of a headline. At markITwrite we try to stick to six words or as to close to six whenever possible. What you don\u2019t want is a headline that reads more like the prologue to a Dickensian novel. That said, you do want a headline that makes other G+ users stop in their tracks. So, short and interesting is the way to go.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example of a catchy headline<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c5 Great Ways to Gain Twitter Followers\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another example of a not so catchy headline saying the same thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c5 Tried and Prove<\/i><\/span>n Strategies for Increasing your Number of Twitter Followers that are Proven to Work\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

See what I mean?<\/span><\/p>\n

A Teaser Sentence<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Under the headline you can add another sentence with something interesting \u2013 a hook. Perhaps a question surrounding the post. Say for example your posts is \u201c5 Great Ways to Gain Twitter Followers\u201d <\/i>you can start with the sentence \u201cHi guys, I\u2019ve written a blog on increasing Twitter followers<\/a>, can you think of any others that I may have missed\u201d? Not only is this likely to increase the interest of readers, this kind of question is a great way of increasing engagement. After all, people just love being smug if they think they\u2019ve thought of something that you haven\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tagging brands<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Tagging brands is easy and can be a great way to get big names engaging wi<\/span>th you. All you have to do is start typing and begin with the @ sign followed immediately by the brand you are tagging. If your post is interesting or promotes another brand in some way you may find them engaging with you or even resharing your post. This can be invaluable as if a major player in your niche shares your post you could wake up the next day to find that a lot of relevant users have decided to connect with you.<\/span><\/p>\n

The image beneath shows a blog that I\u2019m about to post from our website. I\u2019ve tagged Social Media Today in the post in that hope that they will read it and engage in some way.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Tagging<\/a><\/p>\n

Hashtagging<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Hashtagging is a great way to gain your posts more exposure on G+ and here\u2019s why. If your using G+ and you want to search posts on a particular subject all you have to do is go to the search bar at the top of the screen and type the hashtag followed by the relevant subject.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example #SocialMedia<\/span><\/p>\n

At this point you will be given the option to \u2018explore SocialMedia\u2019 if you click on that option you will be taken to posts that include this hashtag. Simples.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Hashtag<\/p>\n

Then you\u2019ll be able to read all of the most recent posts that contain the hashtag #SocialMedia or whichever hashtag you have entered, or explore the related hashtags on the left.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, obviously the flip side of this is that if you use the hashtag properly, other users will be able to find your posts using the same search.<\/span><\/p>\n

The good news is that Google automatically picks up most relevant hashtags so you may not have to do this. If this is the case, the hashtag will be shown towards the top right hand of your posts. As such, you may decide to use a hashtag that G+ hasn\u2019t picked up to give you an extra advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HotTrending topics<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Trending topics are subjects that are trending due to being very popular at that time. And while your posts may not be directly related to a trending topic a bit of creativity on your part can go a long way.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, as I type this \u2018Big Sean\u2019 is one of the trending topics on social media. As such you may be able to find a way to connect the trending topic with your service or product.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s one of the top of my head.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI reckon #BigSean would love the #BigSale we\u2019ve got on until the end of the week\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

See, it\u2019s all about being creative and jumping on the trending bandwagon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Replying to comments<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

As your posts start to see engagement it\u2019s absolutely essential to make sure that you engage right back. If other accounts +1 your posts it doesn\u2019t do any harm to thank them and if they reshare thanking is a must.<\/span><\/p>\n

Replying to comments is equally important as it shows you are genuinely interested in the opinions and input of others. It also shows that you aren\u2019t just a bot scheduling posts and are a real person.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our blog post this week is a guest post from John Waldron at markITwrite. This will be a 2 part series giving tips and tricks to making the most of your Google+ account. Since a large part of the G+ community is comprised of techie type folks, we thought this might come in handy for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":3373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to","category-tech","category-tech-entertainment"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3356"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3732,"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3356\/revisions\/3732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}