Google+ is still a very important part of the social media landscape. Even thoughGoogle Authorship has disappeared, we still have Google+. Growing your presence on this social media giant is as important as ever.
I want to tell you how you can grow your Google+ following. Unlike Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook, there are no follow penalties or limits on how many people you can follow, or how many people can follow you. This is a recipe for major expansion.
Keep in mind that you don’t just want to grow your numbers. You want engaged followers. In this post, I’ll explain both how you can boost your numbers andincrease your engagement.
Follow my instructions, and you’ll have an extra 500 followers or more by next week.
Optimize the heck out of your profile.
I know I’m starting with the boring, but I’ve got to say it. Your profile needs to lookgood.
There are millions of people on Google+. Your profile must stand out to people who are in your niche.
You don’t want to be yet another bland, faceless entity on Google+. You want to shape your profile into something that looks interesting. Be a person that others want to follow.
When I look at the profile of Guy Kawasaki, he looks like the kind of guy I want to put in my circles. He’s interesting, active, and has a ton of followers).
So, go fix up your profile. Put some real pictures of your face. Add your story. Invent a tagline, and give people an interesting introduction.
If you don’t start with an optimized profile, every other tip I share with you below is going to be a waste of your time.
Follow as many people as possible.
In order to be followed, you must follow others. It’s the name of the social media game.
In social media, there are certain unwritten rules of etiquette. One such rule is the follow-back etiquette. If someone follows you, you follow them back, as long as they don’t look like some spam account. You get a pass on the follow-back etiquette if you’re a really busy person or a celebrity.
This is where a Google+ following begins. You start adding people to your circles.
Here’s how you do this.
- Click on the people icon in the upper right.
- You should see a list of “People to Add.”
- Go through the list of people with whom you have some association — colleges, college buddies, neighbors, etc.
- Add them to relevant circles. By the way, I wouldn’t worry about trying to classify everyone just perfectly. I’m all about being organized, but a tedious friend taxonomy will probably just waste your time in the long run. Don’t worry about what you call your circles. Other people can’t see your circles.
Add as many people as you want to. The more you add, the more likely they are to add you back.
If there are people who followed you, then you can follow them back. These are the “People to Add.” The other people you’ll see are “Suggestions.” Add them, too.
To take your following up to the next level, go to the “See more suggestions page.” This is where you can focus your following, and add a lot of people in a very limited amount of time.
Again, you want an engaged follower list, not just a bunch of numbers. You can use this page to refine your efforts. In addition, you can use the “Add all” button at the top right to add dozens or even hundreds of people at once.
How many people should you add to your circles? As many people as you think are relevant to your niche and interests.
Here are some general rules.
Of the people you follow…
- One quarter of the strangers not in your niche will follow you back.
- One half of the strangers who are in your niche will follow you back.
- Two thirds of your friends will follow you back.
Do the math, and see how many followers you can get.
Remember what I said about optimizing your profile? If you add someone to your circles, they will get notified. Then, they will go and look at your profile. If you don’t look very interesting, they won’t add you. If you do look interesting, then you’re in, and you’ve gained a follower.
Join communities.
When you add people to your circles, you’re putting your name in front of one person at a time.
That’s okay. But what if you could put your name in front of hundreds or thousands of people?
You can. It’s called communities.
