You may already know I’m a self-confessed Google FanGirl. I’ve been shouting from the virtual roof tops about how great Google+ is for more than two years…on webinars, in Hangouts and at speaking gigs. I’ve taught classes and work with private clients to get them up and running on Google+ with a strategic plan. 

Yet, I’m still asked daily why in the heck someone should add yet another social platform to their already overwhelming marketing plan.

“Why Google+? I love Facebook.”

OK, I use Facebook and have been since January 1, 2008. I have a Facebook page and belong to a number of groups. I find though, as Facebook tweaks the newsfeed and controls more and more of what your fans see (or don’t see as is more often the case), that I get less and less interaction, regardless of what I do. And I experiment a lot!

Facebook is great for sharing personal adventures and quotes and staying connected with my friends and family. But it sucks for connecting with people who have said they’re interested in how I can help them build their online presence and visibility. Barely anyone sees the content I post and curate on my Facebook page. I have to “pay to play” now. And so do you if you want to get in front of your ideal audience.

Google+ is different.

11 Reasons Why I Love Google Plus

1. Creating a profile on Google+  boosts your search engine rankings in Google.
2. Every time a reader clicks the +1 button on one of your blog posts or Google+ posts, it increases your standing with Google
3. Easy to create Circles (lists) of people that are tightly segmented so you share the right content with the right people
4. You can create “opt in” Circles; people tell you they WANT to be notified when you post niche specific content (like an email list)
5. Hangouts enable you to create live streaming video shows (free!) that are simultaneously recorded on YouTube. This the best thing that’s happened for online entrepreneurs since blogging (IMHO)
6. You can use private recorded Hangouts to meet with clients, teach, train, facilitate masterminds – at no cost to you or your clients
7. All content you post publicly is indexed by Google – fast!
8. Google+ communities are better organized than Facebook groups. All posts are categorized so it’s easier to search and participate in discussions
9.  Google+ is integrated with Gmail, Google Drive, YouTube and Picassa, making it an all in one tool easy to manage your Google activity
10. There are plugins you can install to add Google+ comments to your blog posts. This one feature alone has increased the visibility, comments and shares of my blog; when someone comments, it’s posted on their profile with a link back to the blog post
11. The people! I’ve met people I never would have connected with on Facebook or LinkedIn. Many have become true friends, clients, collaborators, JV partners, guests on Adventures in Visibility, invited me to be a guest on their podcast, etc. My network has grown faster than on any other platform, ever.

 These 11 reasons flowed right out and are in no particular order of importance. And, there are so many more reasons I love Google+ and why it’s become my social platform of choice. As I was writing the list, I decided to throw the question out on Google+. Below is the post and the responses…(I’m having trouble getting the embedded post to show up so this is a screenshot. Click image to see all the responses.)

Convinced yet? Want to get started reaping the benefits of Google+? There is one caveat…

Like any social network, to get the benefits and rewards of Google+ you must be consistent, generous and committed to engaging with the people you meet. Otherwise, it won’t work well for you. It’s not good enough to drop a link and run. 

Now are you ready but you don’t know where to start? Click here to join me for a 90 minute webinar on how to Rock It on Google+!

If you’re not on Google+ yet and you’re feeling reluctant or stuck, I’d love to know why. Post in the comments so we can have a conversation about it. If you prefer a private conversation, we can do that, too. It will help me better articulate the benefits for others (and you, if you want to be convinced). 

The post 11 Reasons Why I Love Google Plus (and why you will too!) appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

Google+ Hangouts on Air are a game changer for small businesses and entrepreneurs. When you produce a successful show, it can be the fastest way to get seen, be heard, build trust and connect with your ideal audience.

The key phrase in that last sentence is “successful show.”  Anyone can set up a Hangout on Air (HOA) and fumble their way through it. And many do, which is not a great experience for the audience. 

HOAs are Better than TV

Why better than TV? The ability to connect intimately with your audience. Not only can you broadcast globally…

• You can interact in real time via the Event page
• You audience can watch anytime at their convenience
• Public Events are indexed by Google
• YouTube is the second largest search engine
• You can get the exact, highly-niched content you want

I was invited by Zara Altair to be a guest on her Midweek Zap HOA to discuss the process for setting up an HOA and some promotion tips.  In 36 minutes we covered quite a bit, and yet there’s so much more I do for my own show, Adventures in Visibility. The conversation does not cover the steps for setting up an HOA. My program on Google+ 101 can help you with that.

10+ tips for making your Hangout on Air Show a Success

There are detailed timestamps for the tips in the video description on YouTube.

1. What is the purpose of your show: why, what, when and how are they going to support the growth of your business?

2. Before you create your first show, watch other shows first. RSVP, +1 and share. Participate during the live show to experience the live engagement. An excellent example of a highly engaged show is The Mia Connect. 

3. Practice. Before you schedule a live event, do a couple of practice runs with a friend or colleague.

4. Brand your show. Create a header banner that tells your story. Google+ Business Spotlight is a great example.

5. Create a YouTube custom thumbnail. This can be used in place of a trailer video for your HOA as well as uploaded to your video as a branded custom thumbnail. You can see how I use a custom thumbnail here.

6.  If you have guests on your show, get correct, up to date information from them: bio, headshot, social links and bullet points for the content they want to cover. It’s critical to make your guest(s) shine and you do that by providing your audience the best and easiest ways to connect with them.

7. Include calls to action in the Event description. Tell your audience to RSVP, +1 and share the event. Ask them to comment and ask questions for your guest.

8. Promote the heck out of your guest(s). Use Canva or PicMonkey to create images promoting your show and pithy quotes by your guest.

9. Promote your show on other social networks.

10. Show promotion doesn’t end when the show is over. Now, it’s time for you to post the video on your blog and then promote your post. Go the extra mile and transcribe the show and add captions to the video. At minute 25:00 in the video I share additional ways I get the word out post-show.

It doesn’t end there!

This is just the tip of the ice berg. I have a checklist of nearly 50 actions I take pre-, post- and during the HOA. The results are proof that the work pays off. My audience grows with every show. My guests love me and the audience gets tons of value from the information shared before, during and after the show.

The post Ten Tips for Making Your Hangout on Air Show a Success appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

Our topic of the day was how to create more visibility on Google+, not so coincidentally the title of Stephan’s latest ebook in his Google+ Pro Tips series. We also discovered the answer to the question: Introvert or Extrovert as well as Stephan’s most memorable adventure (at 41:37 in the video below).

Stephan Hovnanian owns Shovi Websites, a web design and marketing firm located outside Boston, Massachusetts. Stephan has always stressed the importance of strategy and intent when building and managing the web presences of his clients, and Google+ is no different. 

Stephan is a real-life example of a personal brand that uses Google+ for networking and marketing. His strategies have increased his web traffic and search ranking; opened up opportunities for speaking gigs and webinars; and brought in contributions to high-profile blogs such as MarketingProfs and 12 Most.

On the Hangout we discussed how to create a highly visible presence on Google+:

• Why you are now a television channel (5:02)
• Posting strategies (7:27)
• Commenting strategies (15:18)
• The best way to engage with influencers in your niche (25:05)

Check out the Event page for comments, conversations and photos!
(Time stamps are included on the YouTube page for the video)

During the Hangout, Stephan introduced the latest ebook in his Google+ Pro Tips series: How to Get More Visibility on Google+. We gave away copies to four lucky winners: Richard Clarkson, Captain Stan Walker, Nicky Pasquier, and Sheila Finkelstein who tweeted about the show.

TODAY @StephanHov on #AdventuresInVisibility HOA – how to create #visibility on #Google+ RSVP: http://t.co/ePrHtZVklC

— Sheila Finkelstein (@TechSavvySR) May 15, 2014

Stephan’s social links (connect with him!):

Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephanhov (@stephanhov)
Facebook: https://facebook.com/stephanhov
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/stephanhov
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/stephanhov
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+StephanHovnanian
Amazon: http://stephanhov.com/amazon
Google+ Business Spotlight: http://gplusspotlight.com
Blog: http://www.websighthangouts.com
Shovi Websites: http://www.shoviwebsites.com/

For your convenience, below are the mp3 and transcript from the live Hangout with Stephan. 

[wpdm_file id=13]

• Watch past Adventures
• Subscribe on YouTube 

Be sure to visit Stephan Hovnanian for more information, and follow him on Google+!

Do you know someone who has an outstanding online presence? Someone who has created massive visibility? Let me know in the comments and I’ll reach out and invite them to be a guest on Adventures in Visibility!

To get reminders about when Adventures are scheduled and when replays are posted, you can get on the list and follow me on Google+. Be sure to let me know you want to be added to my Adventures in Visibility Notification Circle so you get the invitation directly through Google+.

The post How to Create a Highly Visible Presence on Google+ – Adventures in Visibility with Stephan Hovnanian appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

Every day, Google+ gets better, especially if you’re doing business online. And if you want to amplify your visibility and message to a wider audience, well, there’s no better social platform on the Web. IMHO.

Let me demonstrate for you the power of using a platform with so many integrated elements, by sharing a sequence of events and posts that have been creating a lot of buzz for the last four days (from the date of this post).

First, if you’re at all confused about the what and why of using Google+, here’s a great overview Stephan Hovnanian posted on Facebook in response to a “I don’t Google+” comment:

 Google+ is a social layer that sits on top of all Google’s products (search, Gmail, YouTube, the ads you see on web pages, everything). Connecting your Google account to your various social profiles, blog posts, etc. allows Google to learn what you know the most about, so it can recommend you to other users looking for the same thing.

The social network part of Google+ lets you connect with other people who share the same interests as you do, build relationships with them, and see what they recommend. It’s all about building a huge trust engine so when you search for something, you see the best possible site and not those spammy-looking sites that have tried to “game” the search engine for the last ten years. And yes, it’s a little freaky to allow a single company to mine that much data on you, but at the same time they have much stricter privacy controls than Facebook, and are pretty transparent about what your personal information can be used for.

 How Google+ Can Spread Your Message Far and Wide

On November 15 I hosted Adventures in Visibility, a Google Hangout on Air, with Mike Allton, an expert on using Hootsuite. The live video streamed on the Google+ Event page I set up to promote the interview.

After the Hangout, Mike Allton wrote a terrific recap of the Hangout and posted it on his blog The Social Media Hat.

Mike posted the link on Google+ and shared it with the Public…

You can see that post got, and continues to get, a fair bit of engagement: +1s, comments and shares. That could have something to do with the fun meme image created by Jeff Sieh.

Now here’s where it goes crazy…

The day after the Hangout, I received an email from my colleague, Joan Stewart, also known as The Publicity Hound. Like the good publicist she is, Joan let me know she had written a blog post about the Hangout, and then, she suggested I consider her for a guest spot on Adventures in Visibility.

Take note: she suggested a topic and backed it up with a video tutorial to demonstrate what she wanted to share with my audience. Of course that piqued my interest and it’s a tip you can easily implement too, when you are contacting people about being on their webcasts, Hangouts and podcasts.

 OK, now I’m interested. I click on Joan’s Pinterest board and I watch the tutorial video and post a comment.

The comment creates a new post on my Google+ profile…

What? Yes, that’s the new feature introduced by Google to integrate Google+ and YouTube: if your profile is connected to Google+, comments you post on YouTube will be posted on your G+ profile (if you allow it). Very, very cool!

By posting a comment on Joan’s video, on YouTube, and showing up publicly on my Google+ profile, many of the people who follow me were introduced to Joan Stewart for the first time and went crazy for her outstanding free publicity tips. Be sure to check out the comments. Concurrently, I shared Joan’s blog post about Mike Allton’s blog post about our Hangout, on Google and that began to spread as well.  Be sure to read this introduction from Stephan Hovnanian’s share. He adds a great tip.

Days later, the Hangout and blog posts continue to spin around Google+ as more and more people are introduced to the content.  And what I outlined is only the tip of the ice berg. I’m sure there are many more shares than I know about.

So what does this do for YOU?

You may be wondering why this makes me a Google Fangirl and what this example can reveal for you.

I LOVE how activity throughout the Googleverse shows up in so many places. One comment on a YouTube video created a cascade of new followers for all involved (Joan, Mike and me, among others). Every comment and share creates more blog traffic, which creates more comments and new subscribers and fans. If you have Google+ Comments plugin installed on your blog, then all those new comments are posted on G+… and it goes on and on.

At the very essence of all of this though, is community engagement. Without that, none of the above visibility-creating activity would have been possible.

Six months ago I didn’t know and had never heard of Stephan Hovnanian (thank you for the introduction Chris Lang!) or Mike Allton, and the many others who have commented and shared this content. Now, I consider them friends. Though we’ve never met in person, I learned quickly that these guys and so many others, are smart and generous. They make it fun and easy to stay connected. I learn from all of them every day.

My suggestion to you is this: start following everyone I’ve mentioned in this post. Their names are linked to their Google+ profiles where you will learn more and can dive in to their fantastic content.  Follow. Read. +1. Comment. Share.  That’s how you’re going to get the most out of Google+ and meet many outstanding people.

By the way, as a result of Joan Stewart’s email to me, I’ve invited her to join me on an Adventure in Visibility in December. I’ve known Joan for about 8 years, though we haven’t connected for awhile. She’s a pro at getting free publicity and we’re going to talk about that and how you can repurpose your content for more visibility and more publicity.

To get reminders about when Adventures are scheduled and when replays are posted, you can get on the list and follow me on Google+. Be sure to let me know you want to be added to my Adventures in Visibility Notification Circle so you get the invitation directly through Google+.

The post I’m A Google Fangirl – Here’s Why appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

Note from Denise: I LOVE Google+ and I’ve met many smart, generous people on the social network. Stephan Hovnanian is one of them. I’ve hosted three Hangouts with Stephan to introduce you to his brilliance and to the power of the G+ community.  After you study Stephan’s infographic, scroll to the end to learn about two training webinars I’m presenting to help you get started on Google Plus.

UPDATE: Stephan has published several Kindle ebooks on Google+ Pro Tips, including one on How to Get More Visibility on Google+.

Ten Visibility Tips for Google Plus

You joined Google+ because everyone is telling you what an amazing platform it is to make an impact, to stand out and be recognized for the authority you have (or are building) in your field of expertise.

 

10 Tips for More Visibility on Google+

1. Understand Your Audience Reach
2. “Hand out” your hovercard (it shows up more than you think)
3. Engage in Comments first
4. Reimagine your content (here are 12 creative ways)
5. Use Social Listening techniques (here’s a real life example)
6. Use citations and attribution (it’s like a blog trackback)
7. Hop into “What’s Hot”
8. Ask Questions
9. Be Yourself! Be Genuine! (Jaana Nyström says it best here)
10. Take time to understand the platform

Using these techniques will help you grow the reach of your profile. Be sure to put a focus on post quality so people always expect your name (and comments) to be synonymous with excellence. It’s a tall order, and of course you can let your hair down once in a while, but you came to Google+ to use it as a platform to make an impact, and these tips will help you on your way.  

 

To get started using Google+ to boost your online visibility, join me for two on-demand training webinars: 

 

Boost Your Presence and Build Your Online Platform with Google+

• Google+ 101: 7 Steps to Rock It on Google+
• How to Set Up and Present Your First Live Hangout

Click here to get started now!

The post Ten Visibility Tips for Google Plus [#infographic] appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.