In case you missed the post on Build a Better Blog about how Google+ can help your blogging, I'm following up here as I've refined my thinking a bit more. I announced that I had set up two opt-in circles and have invited anyone who wants to get information about business blogging and online visibilty to add their G+ profile to a form and I'll add them to the circles.
I don't take credit for this idea. I saw a post by Chris Brogan where he announced a marketing circle and I'm modeling the idea.
As a business professional growing your business, it's essential to make it as easy as possible for people who follow you and love what you offer, to get the valuable information you create, find and filter for them. No longer can we focus all our efforts on building one email list (that's super important to do, though, since marketing messages delivered by email convert the best for sales). Our lists are everywhere now: Twitter followers, Facebook Friends, LinkedIn connections, YouTube subscribers and now, Google+ contacts.
Creating special circles for those who raise their hand and WANT to get your great content is simply another way of making yourself available where your raving fans congregate.
The beauty of opt-in circles is that you can limit what you share to only those who want it. I don't have to share every cool blogging tool or article with everyone I know (like what happens when you post a tweet), many of whom could probably care less. I can share with a limited circle of friends, colleagues, clients and others who WANT that info.
By the way, I realize that Circles are designed as a way for you to organize your contacts into groups by interest, topic, geography, etc. I'm suggesting here, another way to look at how you think about using G+ for your business.
What do you think? How are you using Google+ and organizing your Circles?
If you would like to be added to one or both of my opt-in circles, fill out the form here.
So how do you put together that form and where does the url for my (and others) G+ profile go? It says powered by Google Docs but then???
Connie
Connie, I built the form with Google Docs. Go to http://docs.google.com and click Create button and then Form. You’ll be walked through the steps to create a form. The form I created resides in my account. No one sees it but me. “powered by Google” means that it’s software from Google that has created the document. Hope that helps.
What I’ve come to realize is (and then I saw a post from Chris Brogan about this) is that even if I add someone to a circle, they may not see what I post IF they have not added ME to a circle. They may see the content if they click on the “incoming” link, but unless a person circles me, they won’t see my stuff. Here’s @Chrisbrogan:twitter ‘s article: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/whocircleswho/
So if you want to be in one of my blogging or online visibility circles, you’ll need to add me to one of your circles if you want to tap into what I’m sharing. https://denisewakeman.com/g+
Sounds interesting. I always appreciate your great info and I’ve added my name to both and signed up for your linkedIn. I’ll also look forward to hearing how this works. It’s rather fun watching Google+ grow and evolve. 🙂 Thanks.
Thanks for joining the experiment, Kaye!
Will you be sharing something different than you do on Facebook, and other channels? Thanks.
Sherry,
There will be some cross over on content sharing. However on G+ I will
probably be sharing links to more resources and articles that I come across.
I read so much great stuff that can be helpful for others in my community.
That’s why I’m asking if people WANT to get the content, rather than simply
pushing everything out everywhere. Blog on!
On Twitter @coachclair:twitter asked me: how will you manage people in your opt in circles who no longer want to see content?My response: Good question & this is an experiment. If they don’t want to see my posts, they can block me, I suppose. or ask to be removed…I haven’t encountered an obvious answer yet. No telling though how G+ will evolve.If you have thoughts about this, please post them here. Thanks!
This is a great idea for building a list – Thanks Denise