When ‘followers’ are talked about on Google+ the term circles is used. Lets define what circles are before we start.
What are circles on Google+
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A circle is a group of people you are following.
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You can have as many circles as you want
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Circles are similar to Twitter lists. It’s a way of organising the people you follow
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You can give your circles different names (it’s entirely up to you how you organise them)
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People will not know what circle you have put them in. This is private.
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People can add you to their circles however you will not know what the circle is called. All you will know is that you have been added to their circles.
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If someone is in one of your circles you will see their content in your newsfeed
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If someone is in your circles but you are not in their circles they will not see your content in their newsfeed. However if you choose to share a piece of content directly with that circle they will get a notification.
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You can choose to share different pieces of content with different circles or you can share the content publically
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Public content will be displayed on your profile as well as showing up in the mini feeds of everyone who has you in their circles
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When someone says the term ‘circle them’ it means add them to your circles, i.e follow them.
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You can put the same person in multiple circles
Now that we are clear on what exactly circles do / are let’s move on to how to build an engaged following. The key with Google+ is not to get hooked up on trying to find your normal target audience like Facebook and Twitter. There is no point in hunting for these people and circling them if they have an inactive Google+ account and are never likely to engage with you on Google+. So find the people on the platform who are engaging and being active.
1. Use the Ripples feature to find engagers. Search for popular content/ brands that is/are relevant to your industry. View the ripples of content that has had a lot of plus 1’s to view the people who have shared it. Circle those people and initially add them to a ‘High Engagers’ circle so you get to know who they are. Aim to get them to circle you, by commenting and sharing their posts, so when you share content similar to what they previously engaged with they will be likely to engage with yours too.
Tip: Split your ‘High Engagers’ circle into multiple interest/industry specific circles so you remember what type of content it is that they are interested in/engage with.
2. Search for and connect with bloggers. Bloggers are often very active on Google+ as they keen to use the platform to optimise their content. I.e with Google Authorship. Type ‘Bloggers’ into the search bar under the people tab to bring up a selection of bloggers on Google+. Then add them into a blogger circle so you can easily refer back to them to engage with them and build relationships.
3. Do some research around communities. They are the perfect place to find active Google+ members. Google+ will recommend communities for you to join based on your interests. If particular people in the community stand out as being more active over others add them to a circle and call it ‘High Engagers from *community name*’ If they have noticed you being active in the community they will most likely add you back.
Tip: Be aware of community etiquette – most communities will have guidelines which you will see once you have joined. Make sure you stick to these guidelines to avoid getting chucked out and blocked. Most of them will not allow you to link drop or spam the community with your posts without any engagement/ interaction back form you in return.
4. Search for ‘shared circles’ and follow them. What a lot of people don’t know is that you can share your circles on Google+ with the public. This can be useful when people create circles around specific industries and high engagers. To search for circles to add that people have shared type in ‘shared circles’ into the search bar when under the circles tab. Adding a ready made circle will save you a lot of time however be aware that Google will only let you add a certain amount of people a day to avoid bulk following.
Now it’s time to put these strategies into action. You will be astonished at the amount of engagement which goes on on the platform once you are connected with the right people. Far more rewarding and satisfying than being on Facebook in my opinion 😉