2011/08/01

Follow Smart People to Google Plus - Small Biz Survival

Posted: 01 Aug 2011 04:51 AM PDT

My best advice for Twitter users has long been this:
Follow smart people.

I'm sticking with that advice as I spend more time working with Google +.

What makes G+ different for me: Conversation.
The setup invites conversation with threaded comments. I'm seeing lots of questions, followed by plenty of back and forth discussion. This works well for expected things like crowd sourcing. (I got tons of recommendations of photo book printers by asking.) It also works for the Brag Basket. (I'm getting more comments on the Brag Basket in G+ than here.)

I'm finding my photos, especially of ranch life, draw a lot of attention.
Lesson: share what's different or unusual about your life. What in your business or life is different from most of your contacts?

There is good potential for networking. Using circles, you can organize who you share with. I haven't made much of circles yet, because I'm a believer in sharing my diverse business and life. And I am making lots of new connections, so it's working for me.

Fill in your profile. People choose to follow you based on the thinnest of information. Make sure your profile is fully filled out. A little secret: what ever you put in your current employer and title appears when someone hovers over your name. That is crucially important, and your actual literal employer might not be quite what you want to list. Mine says "Small Town Entrepreneur" and "Co-Founder of Tourism Currents."

Don't notify others on G+ of your every post.

Trap to watch for: when sharing with your circles, you get a chance to "Notify about this post." Don't do that, unless you think this post needs my personal attention. Why not? Because it puts your post in my Notifications stream. Then I spend time trying to figure out why you sent it to me. Was I mentioned? Are you expecting something back?

Hangouts
Hangouts are group video chats. I've enjoyed conversations for fun, for business, and one to shop for jewelry. (No I'm not kidding. Oklahoma jeweler Dan Gordon showed me some cool rings by Hangout.) It's easy to use, and works well with small groups. Sheila Scarborough suggested getting together a group of your peers as a way of introducing them to the tool.

Resources to get you started

Because I follow smart people, I have two smart resources for you.

Chris Brogan is writing extensively on Google Plus. Start with his Getting Started post, and stop by his site for updates and new articles.
Rex Hammock wrote an excellent guide on Google Plus for the non-obsessed. It's available free. An Early Overview of Google+ as a Content Marketing Platform.

Bottom Line
Google Plus is still in a field trial. If you're interested in networking beyond geographic boundaries, and you're interested in learning from following and interacting with smart people, it's worth a bit of your time right now.

If you do jump in, come find me. I'm Becky McCray on Google Plus. Say hi when you get there.

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