Google+ Content Marketing Sharing Strategies, Tips & Tricks

Trent Reznor Doesn’t Have To Try

See that massive Google+ ripple effect above from Trent Reznor? He made that happen simply by sharing a video of a bad lip-reading soundbite of Rick Perry. Trent hasn’t even tried with his Google+ Profile and his posts already have that much of an impact! He’s still rocking the default Google+ cover image and hasn’t yet grabbed his own custom profile URL (https://plus.google.com/+TrentReznor/); however, his account is verified and I would guess that Google would have that custom profile URL reserved for him. Although, I was able to grab mine even though there’s a professional race car driver and an upcoming musician named Andy Forsberg as well, so you may want to grab that custom profile URL up soon Trent!

You Do Have To Try

Even if like me you don’t have Trent’s reach, Google+ is still an amazing channel for marketing your content. The interface is beautiful, user-friendly and incredibly powerful. I have found it to be an absolutely invaluable resource for promoting my blog’s content, even with my relatively pathetic reach. If you’re not taking advantage of it yet, you [EXPLETIVE DELETED] should be! If you do take advantage of Google+ for content marketing, here are some strategies, tips & tricks for maximizing  your content’s exposure regardless of your reach.

Try These Strategies, Tips & Tricks

1. Make sure you have setup Google’s verified authorship, you know so your content’s results in Google look like this:
   
2. Share images rather than links, you can still share links in your image posts, but this way your post will stand out a lot more and attract more eyeballs. +You can get stats on how many people viewed the image!
    
   • This gives you additional insight into how effective or ineffective your different posts are. You can now calculate your +1 and reshare conversion rates for your posts as follows:
   • 21 (+1’s) / 3725 (image views) = 0.56% +1 conversion rate
   • 14 (reshares) / 3725 (image views) = 0.38% reshare conversion rate
   • You can then test different tactics in your posts and quickly determine what works and what doesn’t. After a while you will develop a solid methodology for how to best post your content in order to maximize your results!
3. Use hash tags in your posts where appropriate for added exposure. Simply enter “#word” and as you type relevant hash tag suggestions will appear.
   
4. +1 good comments on your shares and respond to people by tagging them with “+Their Name” so they know your message was meant for them and they’re alerted about it.
   
5. Make sure a Google+ share widget is accessible on your website to make sharing your content as easy as possible
6. Join & share your content in all relevant Google+ communities that would benefit from your content. Make sure to share your content in the correct category!
7. Disable “Show your Google+ communities posts on the Posts tab of your Google+ profile.” – this setting is active by default. If you don’t and you share the same content in multiple communities your profile will show the same post repeatedly. Thanks to Jeff Sauer for this pro tip! You can find it in your Google+ Settings, see the following screenshot:
   
8. Follow +JeffSauer, a true Google+ guru
   • Check out his blog Jeffalytics
   • Review Jeff’s recent Mozinar presentation entitled “Using Google+ as Part of Your Marketing Strategy” or watch the recorded Mozinar
9. Join the Google Authorship & Author Rank Community on Google+ to keep up to date with the latest tactics for marketing yourself and your content on Google+
10. As always, follow The Golden Rule: One should treat other’s content as one would like others to treat oneself’s content.