Social Media Guide for Wattpad

Google+

Why Should I Bother With Yet Another Social Network?

Nobody seems to want to learn Google+, and that’s kind of sad, as it is a decent network with a lot of great features and two enormously important perks. 

The visuals are good, and larger images are supported than on Twitter or Facebook. A good-sized post should be about 100 or so words, but it can be less, or more, as the occasion requires. The site also automatically adds hashtags, up to three. So if you want your own hashtags, you should add them. Otherwise, the system will add a hashtag or two, or three, and they aren’t necessarily the most ideal ones. But the system is learning, and it’s trying.

But how do I work this thing?

As with all social platforms, you should start by listening. And you will find that there are people who are interested in your kind of content. For me, I go after people who are fans of Star Trek or are even involved in it somehow. For social media, I went after people who I know are locally or internationally involved, somehow, with this discipline. 

And then what do I do? I just added them to my follow circles and didn’t give it a second thought. Those people get a notification that I’ve added them. If they want to follow me back, they can.

And then?

And just start adding content. The beauty of Hoot Suite is that you can add to a Google+ page, too, so add it as a stream and start adding your content there, too. Remember to use up to three appropriate hashtags (use one hashtag if you’re posting the same content to Twitter at the same time; more on this later) and you’ll make it possible for others on Google+ to find your content. 

Also, hit +1 and/or comment on and share others’ content, just like you would for any other social platform.

Enormously Important Perk #1

Become a Google Verified Author. If you’ve got a Gmail account and a Google+ page, make sure that the Gmail account is associated with the page. Then add whatever it is, online, you are the author of (say, blogs, websites, Twitter account, etc.).  Make sure you have a good profile image – a headshot is best. If you’ve got a company, you can use a logo, too. Then go here –https://plus.google.com/authorship and just follow the directions, including dropping a link to your Google+ profile page on any page where you want this association to stick (hint: put it in the footer; Google doesn’t care about where the link is on the page, or how large the font is). Then go here – http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets and test to make sure it’s working. And that’s it. Note that it can sometimes take a little while for this to percolate through the system. 

Why do you want to do this? Because, in search results, your profile image will show up next to whatever you author (Google doesn’t always show the image, but they do show it a lot of times). Pretty slick – it makes your content pop.

Enormously Important Perk #2

Google bribes you (there’s really no better way to say it) for using Google+ by giving you better search placement. Want to be found by your readers? Then you want to rank higher in search results. We’ll talk some more about this but this method is fast and easy, and it just might get you more readers. 

The link is to my professional Google+ social media page. The image is The Social Media Puppy. The YouTube video is a fairly good tutorial on getting started. 

Did this chapter help you? Did it hold your interest? Do you want to see more? Then please vote! You know the puppy wants you to. ;)