Ask the Experts: 10 Ways to Boost Your Engagement on Google+

Whatever your social media channel of choice, and whether you spend your time tweeting news, pinning all the pairs of shoes you’d like to buy, instagramming your dinner or sharing holiday pictures on Facebook, we always expect people to +1, like, retweet, repin or comment on our posts.

There’s one key thing we’re all aiming for – engagement.

Google+ is one of the social platforms where it has been proved harder to build large followings and get high engagement. Succeeding on Google+ can often require a strong strategy, a decent timeframe and a ton of hard-work and patience.

As everyone is keen to find new ways to raise their game on social, we’ve talked to 10 Google+ experts who have kindly agreed to share with us their top tips for boosting engagement on Google+. Let’s go!

1/ Eric Enge: “Develop in-depth posts specifically for Google+”

“The key thing to realize about Google+ is that it provides the strongest support for long form discussions of any major social media platform. For that reason, resharing tweets, or even Facebook posts on G+ does not work.

You need to develop thoughtful, in-depth posts, specifically for G+.

You also need to add thoughtful commentary whenever you reshare the posts of others. In addition, as people respond to you and comment on your post, make a point of replying and engaging.”

2/ Martin Shervington: “Share other people’s content more, push your own less”

“Use an asterisk either side of a word or phrase to create a BOLD headline (and know that titles of Google+ posts are the same principle as the titles of your blog posts when it comes to SEO); and make sure you have an attractive image attached, or drawn in from your blog, in order to catch the eye (see below) – this makes a world of difference.”

3/ Adam Connell: “Turn Google+ posts into mini blog posts”

“Out of all other social networks that I’ve used, Google+ is by far the best for engagement.

 There are numerous tips I could share with you but one that stands out to me is turning Google+ posts into mini blog posts and adding a serious level of value/detail.

 In order for this to work well it does mean that you have to understand exactly who your audience is and what you can share that will solve a problem they face.

 You can give this a boost by tagging influencers in the post where relevant.

 A good example of effectively using this tactic would be this post by Demian Farnworth. The post is engaging, educational, well written and includes some very influential G+ users.”

4/ Ashley Faulkes: “Focus on images”

“To me, Images on social media are what grabs people’s attention. So in my opinion, it is more important than even the headline or content.

When you post something in Google+ the default visual is an image grabbed from the post, and usually cropped to a size that is not ideal.

So in practice, I always delete that part of a Google+ post, and upload my post image directly. That is the key to awesome images, and the start of great engagement on the platform.”

5/ Mike Alton: “Be selective with whom you circle”

“Many new Google+ users think that the key to success is to get more and more new users, and that the best method to do so is to circle as many other people as possible.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Instead, people and brands need to be selective in the people they’re circling. Only circle peers and influencers and potential prospects or partners – other people and brands with whom you may have a real interest.

By carefully curating who you circle, you can ensure that your Home Stream will be filled with valuable and interesting posts – the kinds of posts that you’ll be eager to engage with and share with your own growing audience.”

6/ Ronnie Bincer: “Participate in HOA Events”

“Participate in the comments of someone’s Hangout On Air event that you are interested in. Think of the HOA event as a networking party where you can meet others who have similar interests.

Become known as an insightful commenter (don’t try to ‘steal the show’) and repeat at other HOA Events. Circle those that interact with you in the events and make thoughtful comments on their own postings that relate to what interests you.

Eventually others will start to interact with you and will likely check out your postings.”

7/ Debbie Miller: “Be active”

“Creating circles and interacting with individuals, as well as groups, is a great way to show your personality and/or expertise and stimulate conversations around your content.

If you’re trying to boost engagement specifically for a brand, posting relevant information and showcasing the human side of it will help encourage users to continue to engage with you.”

8/ Ian Cleary: “Add lots of value first with no expectation of anything in return”

“Google+ is the same as any other social network. The more you put into it the more you get out of it.

Identify the most relevant people in your niche and start sharing and interacting with their content. As you build up relationships the engagement on your content will increase.”

9/ Neil Patel: “Participating is the biggest way”

“Most people just post links instead of commenting, interacting with other members, and even sharing non work related stuff.

If you use Google+ for more than just work related stuff, you will notice that your engagement will go up across the board.”

10/ Christian Karasiewicz: “Be helpful”

“Rather than starting out by posting your own content and expecting to see a massive amount of engagement, start by engaging with content other people have posted first.

Not only does this help improve your visibility, but as you add more value to the conversation, it helps you be seen more as a giver.

In turn, the more you give, the more you will start to get by way of engagement from the people you’ve interacted with and connected with on Google+.”

We really hope you’ve found the advice from our Google+ experts useful and you’re ready to put these tips into practice!

Stay tuned for our next article in the “Ask the experts” series, but in the meantime, feel free to share with us your top hints and tips in the comments section below.

Now you know.

Feature image taken from: http://www.realsmo.com/