Here's the 5th installment of GaGa for Google +. Every Tuesday I'm going to provide some weekly tips and a few key people to follow on Google +. We are trying to help the Active Rain Community acclimate to Google + because there is huge synergy in combining Active Rain and Google +. This is not an "either...or" but a "both" strategy.
The end of last week brought a new introduction to Google + called Google Plus communities. We are all trying to learn the impact of this. There are several real estate communities you can join, and these are meant to be areas where you can read and share info on a specific topic. You can read more about it in the above link.
This week's tip:
Interact by leaving comments for others. Like all social media, interaction is key. When you interact.comment, others will reciprocate...just like here on Active Rain. Except, it seems to be quicker/easier on Google + and when you're commenting, and when others comment back, it helps your authorrank, and that in turn help your SEO placement for your blog posts on Google. Plus, it's fun... and honestly, I really didn't get this until after I started doing it.
If you are in your account, you'll see a little red box on the upper right with a number. This is the number of updates you have. An update can be a comment on your post or if someone shared or plussed your post, or if someone mentioned your name on a post. It's a quick and easy way to scan through your updates and keep you engaged. You'll see on many of the streams that there are real conversations, back and forth comments, and that makes it fun. Some of these conversations have been fun, others have really created and shared wonderful ideas (e.g. marketing ideas, top blog post ideas, how to improve SEO, how to leverage G+ for real estate, etc).
You can either view your whole stream, or you can focus on one of your circles by going to the upper left and selecting that circle. So, for example, sometimes, I just feel like reading and interacting w/ people on Active Rain, so I select that circle; other times, I want to focus on local people, so then I click on that circle that I created - it depends on my mood/objective.
So leave some comments on posts/updates that you find interesting. There is no 10 word minimum. And, while points are fun on Active Rain, improving you google authorship will help you rank better and will get you a lot of business.
Who to follow:
Each week, I'm going to highlight a few Active Rainers. While my focus on here will be to connect you w/ some great Active Rainers in a new setting, I'm also going to try to expose you to some others that are "doing things right."
And, for others using Google +, please feel free to reblog this and/or create your own version, as well as leave a link to your profile in the comments.
Virginia Hepp - Virginia Hepp has been using Active Rain for a while. I remember that Bob and the others would always use her as an example for ranking so well in google and filling up the 1st page of google with multiple placements. She is always a smiling and cheerful face on Active Rain and has her catch phrase of WWBGD (What would Bill Gassett do?).
Kathy Streib - Now it's always fun seeing a friendly and familiar face in another channel. How can you not love Kathy Streib? She is such a great learner and sharer and she is just jumping right on board with google plus. Kathy has been great too in spreading the word about Google Plus.
Barbara Todaro - And another familiar favorite here from the Rain. Yes, Barbara is active in both communities...exactly what you would expect from this marketing genius. She knows how to leverage her posts and give them a little boost of google juice. And, now she has jumped right in and is interacting with everybody.
John McCormack - Now John has really got a good thing going. He is doing this really smartly...he has his wife Debbie involved, so the two of them are making a super big splash. They have posted some great pictures about their area, and they clearly have the engagement aspect going right in all of their social media. He truly understands that by commenting, others will interact with him.
Denis Labelle - Denis works at Google, so he is one of the go to sources on Google Plus. And, in this post, he has linked to several key articles that will help you understand Google Communities. There is info in here on what they are, how to find them, how to use them and even how to start your own.
Here are links to previous Weeks
GaGa for Google_ - Who to follow + Tips 12/4/12
GaGa for Google + - Who to follow + Tips 11/27/12
GaGa for Google + - Who to follow + Tips 11/20/12
GaGa for Google + - Who to follow + Tips 11/13/12.
Here's a link other useful posts:
A simple tip on how to post visuals better
Not using Google +? Your real estate competition will crush you
What is AuthorRank and get the jump on google
So, we hope that you will join us on Google Plus. As we've mentioned, we are all learning this together and you are starting with a friendly family. Oh, and here is my profile on Google Plus - Debbie Gartner
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