It is difficult to get people to add you to their circles on Google Plus. In this article I will share the top 5 ways I know of to increase the number of folks who follow you. There are some differences between Google Plus and other popular social networks that I will point out next.
Who you follow and who follows you is handled a bit differently in Google Plus. It is not as simple as “Followers” and “Following” as in Twitter, but there are some similarities to the concept of “Lists”. In Google Plus the equivalent of “Followers” are people who “have you in circles” By doing this they can see your posts in their stream. Only if you add them back will you see their posts in yours.
You can create any number of circles with names of your choosing and add people to as many of them as you desire. Like “Lists” in Twitter they will not know your circle names or how many you have added them to. No matter how many circles you are added to and vice versa, each person is counted once when it comes to who is “in your circles” or “have you in circles”.
Top 5 Ways To Build up your following
1. Add someone to one or more of your circles and hope that they add you back.
When you add someone to a circle, a notification is sent to their Google Plus account saying ”Added you on Google+” followed by your account name. When someone adds you a notification goes out that they have “Added you on Google+” and it is easy to add them back. Click on the “Add” button an add them to one or more of your existing circles or create a new one.
2. Start a circle and add people to it, then share it to encourage them to add you back.
Instructions are found here on how to share a circle. Remember that only 500 people can be in one shared circle, but you can create even larger ones for yourself.
3. Comment on other Google Plus members status updates.
Be insightful because followers of that user will be able to see your comments and they may be compelled to check out your profile and add you to a circle or two.
4. Create great content and share it on a regular basis.
With a bit of keyword optimization people will start to naturally follow you for more. Remember, once someone adds you to a circle, what you share will show up in their feed. Even if they don’t follow you yet, your posts can be found when they search or if you belong to the same community.
5. Join a Community or start your own.
Communities are like groups in Facebook. There are currently communities for many different topics available. Join a few or even create your own and invite people.
Unless you are a celebrity or a known expert in your niche, it is hard to gain large numbers of followers in Google Plus. Be patient and give it time. I have been working at this for over a year and I have been added to about 2,200 people’s circles so far.
Bonus tip: Use CircleCount to see how you rate globally or locally on Google Plus. My account with just over 2,200 followers is in the top 39,000 of all Google Plus accounts. You may be surprised!
Which ways will you use next to build up your Google Plus account?
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