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The SITS Girls

Where Women Get Social & Learn About Blogging

Blogtober: Let’s Get Social With Google+

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Can you believe we are already at the half-way point in our social media challenge? You are all really rocking Twitter and Instagram. Today we are going to tackle Google+.

Blogtober is a week-long event designed to give you helpful social media tips and enable you to grow your following as you make new connections.

Blogtober: Google+

People make fun of Google+, but I say don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Plus, we’ve all heard that Google likes itself, so posting on Google+ should help you get more people coming to your blog. While there have been some recent changes with Google no longer using authorship, having a bunch of +1s and shares on Google+ can still really help.

Take the time to really set up your Google+ profile. You’ll see it is quite different from Facebook and Twitter. To me, it feels more relevant to blogging. It’s not so much family and friends sharing selfies as it is interesting articles and beautiful photos.

Tips For Using Google+

  1. Join communities. There are hundreds of communities on all sorts of subjects: wine lovers, social media gurus, puppy owners, etc. You name it, there is probably a community for it, and if not, you can make one. Basically, this will help you find like minded folks. You can share your posts not only to the public, but also to these communities. They can also be a great tool for networking.
  2. Make a page for your blog. This is something very simple to do. Once you already have a personal Google+ page, go ahead and create a branded page for your blog. Plus, you can share the stuff you post on your blog page to your personal page and increase your audience as well as your social proof.
  3. Use the 80/20 rule. That means 80% should be stuff you share that other people created and 20% should be you promoting your stuff. This is a big deal on Google+ where the community is more sensitive to people who do too much self-promotion.
  4. Share your posts with the public. There are some times when sharing to a specific circle makes sense, but for the majority of your posts, you should be sharing with public. These updates aren’t your deepest darkest secrets, they are things you want to get read by as many people as possible.

For more tips, check out all of our posts about Google+.

Link Up To Grow Your Google+ Following

Link up your Google+ profile below, and follow five new people. Once you follow, leave a comment, +1, or share at least one of their posts to your feed. Be sure to let them know you found them with #SITSBlogging in the comment.

What is your best Google+ tip?
Share it with us in the comments, or on twitter using #SITSBlogging!

Want to catch up with all the fun we have been having this week? Check out our tips and Linkys for Twitter and Instagram.

About Amy Ruiz Fritz

Amy lives in Saint Paul, MN and is a freelance writer. She's been blogging since 2004 at the Chronicles of Nothing (www.nonchron.com) and loves to write. You can find her hanging out on the Twitter (@NonChron), where she met her husband, or drinking a glass of wine while writing one of her four blogs. She is currently working on a book about navigating the dating world and staying sane.
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. i love gooogle+!!
    and these are some great tips. thank you. if i could add one that would be…comments, comments, comments. commenting on other G+ people’s posts is a great way to build that support network and get your message out to a wider audience.

  3. Happy to link up and meet other’s on Google +, let me know when you are following me and I will follow back! Nettie / Moore or Less Cooking

  4. I am a Google+ newbie. I amhaving a tough time trying to figure it out while juggling my other social media platforms. I’m looking forward to learning more!

  5. I must admit Google+ has been the most confusing one for me yet…and this is from someone that is fairly new to twitter lol

  6. I love G+!! I will follow as many as I can but I will also follow back anyone from #SITS. I’m #232 on the list.

  7. This is great! I’ve been avoiding using Google+, but now I see how vital it is for blog success. Networking (and commenting) is a skill I really want to master. I think Google+ can really help me with that. Thanks again SITS girls for sharing great tips and info with us! 😉

  10. so fun. I have been trying to build my google+ followers, but for some reason I find it harder to do than any other social media account. any tips on how to grow faster? I am always adding bloggers I like and ya’ll are meanies who dont follow back hahaha. But seriously I think compared to every other social media outlets, everyone’s stats seem lower on google+, or maybe thats just my thinking. I added over 10 girls, fingers crossed!
    have a wonderful day bloggers!
    Jess

  12. Thanks for the tips! Aside from sharing my own posts, there’s so much about Google+ I don’t know– I had no idea you could join communities!

  13. If you enclose or word or phrase in *’s, it turns bold. That’s my one tip. I’ll probably get more into it once I can schedule using Hootsuite.

    • If you’re using Chrome, download the add on and you won’t need the shortcuts to bold, italicize or strikethrough. The editor makes it easier to share.

  14. I used Google+ a lot before. There can be some great Google+ parties, that if you join and use certain #, you will get a lot of +1 and comments. That is my biggest tip. Be generous in sharing your +1 and thoughts!

  15. thanks, this and the links are super helpful. I have a question though- you mention setting up a brand page for your blog in one of your links. What if I already have a google+ profile for my blog, but it’s not a page? I created it a while back before they came out with pages. Should I leave it as is, or close it and make a page? Thanks!

  16. I would LOVE to know what other bloggers’ tips are for G+. I have not been able to get into it and would love some suggestions. Right now, I’m trying to post at least once a day. I wasn’t sure if I should just treat it like FB or not?

  20. My blog page on G+ now is 100% in Portuguese. The transition hasn’t been easy, but I am going to get there. I added my personal one to the link up because it is the one in English. 😉