How to incorporate Google Plus in your blogging strategy – Shelby Says

Yesterday, Jim shared his experiences with Google Plus and how he uses it to promote his blogs and website. Today, I give you my view.

For more than a week, I watched as the social media world begged for Google Plus (G+) invites via other networks. I waited for my own invite and was anxious to try it out myself. While I waited, I read up on G+ so that I’d be somewhat familiar with the service once I joined.

I’ve only been using G+ for a week and I won’t pretend that I know everything about it. However, I’ve been able to identify some of the pluses about G+ already.

While I haven’t shared any of my own blog posts via G+ (until this one), I can see the greater reach it has compared to other social media forums. I see bloggers taking advantage of that reach in G+ already and have heard that many are getting more traffic on their blogs from that forum. I’ve noticed many more people from other countries in G+ than in other networks.

Is it just because it’s shiny and new?

One could argue that the current G+ buzz (pun intended) is the force driving more traffic to bloggers’ sites and, when the newness fades, so will the interest. I’ve also heard discussion that since the first plussers were all techies and social media geeks, the general users who are now there aren’t finding what they wanted to find. If that’s true, maybe they just aren’t looking hard enough.

Google managed to incorporate some of the best features of Twitter and Facebook while adding in some very intelligent tools such as video chats via Hangouts and the concept of Circles. Unlike Twitter and Facebook, G+ allows users to group the people they follow and who follow them into designated Circles.

G+ may indeed be a shiny new toy, but it’s a toy that I think most people will spend a lot of time with because there’s just so much to explore. If they spend enough time with it, they will keep coming back for more even when it’s no longer shiny and new.

Thinking in Circles

I think the true bloggers’ delight in G+ might be the concept of the Circles. If you truly understand the relationship part of social media, this is just brilliant.

Even if it’s not a conscious decision, we all attach labels to the people in our life. Some are family, some are friends and some are just people we run into occasionally. Different layers of trust are distributed based on those relationships. That’s just part of being a human being.

When a blogger posts on Facebook or Twitter, he or she has very limited control over who sees it. In G+, I can see the benefit of creating different Circles so that sharing is more defined and the reach becomes more personal. Circles humanize G+ in a way Facebook or Twitter just aren’t. After all, we all need to remember that the person behind the computer screen is a human being.

Recalling how Buzz and Wave turned out, I admit that when I first heard about G+ I was worried that Google was heading toward its third strike and would be out of the social media game for good. However, after seeing its benefits, I now think Google’s third try is more like a charm.

Join us for #shehechat tonight!

Our Twitter chat starts tonight at 8pm CST and Jim and I are excited to be live streaming the event from Leff’s Lucky Town! Each Thursday evening, we discuss social media topics live on Twitter in a back-and-forth style. Tonight, you can join us at Leff’s or watch for the link that will be sent out today via Twitter for the live stream.

Here are the topics for this week:

1. How to incorporate Google Plus in your blogging strategy.

2. WordPress plugins for integrating social media feeds on your website.

3. How to handle guest blogs on your business website.

If you’re new to #shehechat, here is some background:

* Introduction to #shehechat and how to follow along on Twitter

* Our blogs on this site in the “She Said, He Said” category which started #shehechat