As of late, I've gotten a ton of questions about social media. Whether it's Twitter, Facebook, or my newest favorite G+. I have to admit that I'm a bit of a junkie. I just love the fact that I can find out the latest updates quick and easy. When I first started diving into social media, I would drop off a post and run. I didn't understand the importance or value in sticking around. We've all heard the recent buzz about Klout and our "influence". I want to try to break this down a bit. There's a fancy mathematical equation that they have for figuring out your influence and it appears to be changing weekly, but here's what I'm realizing.
1. You are viewed as influential if your post to social media (Twitter, Facebook, G+) gets an interaction. There are weighted points though for that interaction. I'm going to list them in increasing importance to your influence.
Twitter favorite = Facebook Like = +1 a post on G+
Twitter reply = Facebook comment = G+ comment
Twitter retweet = Facebook share = G+ share
* The major difference is the G+ affects your SEO as well as your influence, which is why I've included a couple extra tips about G+.
2. Your number of followers does not mean that you are more or less influential than someone who has more or less followers. In other words, someone who has 1,200 Twitter followers is not necessarily more influential than someone who has 200 Twitter followers. It's all about your interaction. If the person with 1,200 only interacts with the same 5 people on Twitter, while the person with 200 followers is interacting with 50 people than the person with the 200 followers is viewed as more influential.
3. There are universal symbols that can help with interaction across social media. The @ symbol can be used in Twitter, Facebook and G+. The @ works best in Twitter and G+ because it alerts the people that you are talking about. Facebook does not. The # symbol can also be used in all three, but is much more effective in Twitter and G+. The purpose of the # symbol is to make your post searchable so you want to use something that someone might search for. For example, if I had a cupcake recipe I was sharing I would make sure to include #cupcakes & #dessert. The # symbol also gives us a way to follow a conversation, whether it's a Twitter party or a conversation on G+.
4. Here's why I LOVE G+. It takes the ease of posting a quick thought (Twitter) and makes it easy to post pictures or video to get a visual image. It's all about attracting people to content of value.
Here's a screen shot of a recent post that I made to G+. I originally posted on my business page and then shared the same post on my personal page. Take note of the first post by my business page. (#cupcakes, #dessert). When I shared the post I made sure to use the @The NY Melrose, which is why it is blue in the post. This sent a notification to me letting me know that someone was talking about me. Plus, now if someone likes the post they can add my business page because it shows who the post was originally posted by.
The overarching point is that G+ takes the best of both worlds (Facebook & Twitter, plus adds in a little Pinterest). The number one reason you NEED to be in G+ is because it not only affects your influence, but it affects your SEO. In a nut shell, this means that it makes your posts more searchable in Google, which in turn means that people are more likely to find you!
Here's the great news! I'm co-hosting a G+ Blog Hop on September 8th. So mark your calendars and make sure to join in. It's a great way to start creating a good base of people to follow. If you need help with how to get started or to create a business page, check out my tutorial.
Addie
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Robyn @ simply fresh dinners
Thanks for the post, Jenny. I've been stumbling around Google + for awhile now and today I've finally decided to figure out what I'm doing! lol. I've never had a personal FB page so I guess that's why I'm lost but your information is going to help a lot.
Have a great day.
Kimberly Leverett Osburn
This information is so helpful. I have been so confused when learning how to navigate on social media. I never knew what # meant and when or if I was supposed to use it. Thanks for making it a little more clear. I have a question? What is proper etiquette for putting a 1+ your own posts in Google+ <3 Kim
DeAnna
Thanks so much for these tips! I just finished reading the tips for pinterest & G+. I'm currently tackling pinterest, so all these posts were terrific. Do you happen to any info on hashtags? I'm not exactly sure how to use those.
Thanks for sharing.
Becky
Great information- I have been dragging my feet to get into g+ even though I know "it's good for me." 🙂 Thanks for sharing why!
Jenny Melrose
If you run into any questions, please feel free to email me. You might find this post on Conquering G+ helpful as well. It covers all of the posts I've done on G+. https://thenymelrosefamily.com/2013/03/conquering-google.html
Trish - Mom On Timeout
I feel like a total failure when it comes to Google+. I am really trying harder there and your blog hop is helping 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing this great information at Mom On Timeout!
Carrie R
Hey dear! I featured this post on my A Little Sunday Potluck series this morning. Please stop on over & feel free to grab my new A Little Sunday Potluck feature button! 🙂
http://www.thefrugalfoodiemama.com/2012/09/a-little-sunday-potluck-9912.html
Amy
Makes a lot of sense. Still trying to master G+, but at least I've got someone like you who has gone before me to show the way!
Amy
Trish @ Uncommon
Jenny, This is such a great article. We will be sharing it on our FB page tonight!
Take care,
Trish
Susan @ Oh My! Creative
Thanks so much for the help...I will be pinning it! I don't really understand G+ and am not very good a twitter either! It's almost like there is no time to create blog content when you have to do so much sharing. Plus, I like to leave comments on peoples posts! It's just crazy! Most of us are mothers...we don't have time for this! Thanks!
Donna
Thanks Jen. You have really helped me to get me feet wet with Google +.
Christine
Thank you for these social media tutorials! I followed a tutorial you made previously to set up a Google + page for my blog, but I'm still learning to like it/use it effectively. Thank you for the reminders on how important they are!
Nicole
Awesome Tips & info! I will definitely be here on September 8th 🙂
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust
Thanks for the tips! I'll be here on the 8th for sure!
Jillian @ Hi! It's Jilly
Thanks for the post. I am a bit intimidated by G+ for some reason. Sounds like I need to "get over it" and jump in. Ha ha!
[email protected]
Great post. We really need to use G+ more effectively... but I find though I share things there I never actually look at it myself..... time to start looking!
Shasta Farrar
Excellent post, Jenny! I love how you laid out the similarities between fb, twitter and g+ on "liking" or sharing a post. GREAT information to share before the g+ hop. THANK YOU!
Shasta
another jennifer
Great post. I will share it with my followers! I have a G+ account, but I haven't done much with it. I'll put your blog hop on my calendar.
Stephanie w/ LifeCreated
Thank you for such an informative post...I will have to sign up for G+, and just got twitter about a week ago.
This taught me a lot I didnt know!
[email protected] and More
Thanks for posting this. I'm trying to get involved in G+ but it's like teaching an old dog new tricks, we just get comfortable with the media we're already using. Do you know if it's better to be using G+ as a business page or as a personal page? Most of the bloggers I've seen are using as personal.
Renonda
Great post Jenny! This is why I keep coming back to your blog every day.
I've got to be better about using G+ and Twitter. I don't have a lot of followers on G+ so I tend to ignore it a little. I do have a Facebook hint, if you upload a picture from your post to Facebook, you can add the post link to the picture and you get a nice big picture on your timeline instead of the one Facebook picks for you when you just add a link to your post.
Now I'm going to have to go give you Klout!