Hi Jesse!  I think my biggest question about Google+ is how to get people to circle my business page.  I found out I can’t circle people directly from my business page, so I would like to know some strategies to get people to my Google+ business page and put it in their circles.  Also, if I make a post on Google+ from my page and it is marked as public, how many people actually see it?  Thanks in advance.

Jesse, welcome to SME….looking forward to your wisdom and knowledge!Here’s my question: With all the platforms out there, could you define the distinctive qualities of G+ and explain why I should give it time and attention instead of other online connections.I have an account but am not very active and know very little about how to “make it work” for me.Thanks,Dea

Hey there, I’ve been told that Google+ can improve your site’s SEO, but I’m not clear on HOW it does that? Is it from adding +1 buttons to your site, or frequently updating your business’s Google+ page? Please help! P.S. The Small Biz Club Leader is super hot!!

This is perfect timing! As I am typing I am setting up my business page on G+  

Hootesuite is the only option I have found for scheduling posts, I am also looking for options to share G+ posts to FB. 

Looking forward to all suggestions and tips!

@dianebianchi for your first question on how to get people to circle your Facebook Page, there are 3 steps:

1. Make sure you’ve installed a Google+ Badge on your website and it’s in a prominent position so your existing visitors can find your Google+ Page. Utilize your existing channels to promote your Page.2. Post early and post often to your Google+ Page – even though not many people are following or +1′ing or sharing your content, that content will still appear in Google.com search results amongst those that have circled your Page. Their Google+ friends will also see the posts in Google.com search results. As a result, they’ll discover your content and circle your Page – take advantage of Google’s other products to help promote your content.3. Use your personal account. Follow people and brands that have common interests with your Google+ Page. Search for people with like interests and circle them. Then, participate in their conversations, +1 their content, share their posts. They’ll notice, and follow you back. As a result, you’ll have an audience you can then start promoting your Google+ Page to, and that audience will in turn follow your Page.

In response to your second question, anyone who circles your Page will potentially see your post. Post more than once if you have to, in creative ways, to get their attention in case they missed it.

I hope that helps!

@deairby the distinctive quality of Google+ is that it’s not actually a social network. It’s a social layer on top of all Google products.

So, the effort you put into plus.google.com (the element of Google+ that _is_ a social network) will affect the friends of those that interact with your brand on every other Google product. If you want to improve your search rankings, build a presence on Google+. If you want to improve your visibility in the contacts of users that are interacting with your brand, build a presence on Google+. If you want to improve your Youtube subscribers, do Google+ Hangouts On Air, and improve your presence there.

Everything you put into plus.google.com will affect your visibility in every other product that Google produces.

@misscindyld the short answer to your question, on all fronts, is yes.

Google is relying more and more on authenticity of content to rank content in search results. The more it can tell that content is from real people and authentic brands, the less spam Google will see in its search results. So it wants people to be authentic and brands to be the actual brands posting. Therefore, linking your brand to your Google+ Page through a Google+ Badge will help provide authenticity to your brand’s Google+ Page and the content within (as well as the content on your website). Also, linking the authors of the content on your website to their individual Google+ Profiles will provide authenticity to that content, because Google will know it’s written by real people (for the most part).

+1s and shares also help. Google sees each one of those +1s and shares of your content as “endorsements” to that content, providing greater knowledge to Google that real people like that content and want to see more of it. This affects both generic search results and personal search results.

@lorithueme welcome to Google+! Hopefully my answer above helps!

@jesse-stay, I did add my pages to my Hootsuite account and I added DoShare to my Chrome browser. So now to play around with it

Thanks for all the great tips!

@jesse-stay- I just noticed in G+ that you are now announcing people in my circles that have a birthday. Is there a way for you to turn that off? I don’t know everyone in my circles and I am not sure others may want to have their birthday annouced outside some friends and family… what do you all think?

Also, I do appreciate your comment in regards to personal vs business pages. I also spend a lot of time and postings on my personal page, since I see more comments and the like for my brand. However, when I do go to my business page, since I don’t have a ton of people who have circled me, will this really get out to more people? How many times do you suggest posting- I do this only 1 maybe 2 times / day and it is different everytime.  I also share articles that I believe my followers are interested in learning more. 

Why is it that you can’t invite people in your circles? Many people in my circles know my brand, so why can’t I invite them.

Also and this is important. No one even some Google staff have been able to help me with this one: I have set up event’s on many occassions, however, when I type all the information in and it shows that I can do a hangout and submit with all details including time begin and ends it will not post?

What happens when you create circles, I know you can arrange your circles anyway you want, but when you do a hangout, it seems like they are not in alphabetical order, is there a way to do this? I would like to either have a search or a way to alphabetize this as opposed to going through all of them based on when I set up that circle.

Is there also going to be a time when you can circle more then 5,000?Last ?- Is there anyway to save a post.. I have heard the only way is to create a circle and bring that person into your circle.

Sorry, but I do use G+ a lot more then some other social media, besides of course this forum. @dianebianchi

Wow,

Did not think you were up working this late, Thanks so much for answering my questions- 4. – Not sure why- tried all browsers including the new one called Torch. 2 google people – Staff – one technical and one I met on a hangout indicated if I sent them a screen shot they would get it to technical and let me know- It has been at least a month since I heard back from either one.. Maybe need to find more Google Staff/technical people on hangouts.

7- Saving a post- I sometimes see posts from my circle or their circles that I want to bookmark or save for future refference. I was wondering if you know how to save them in like a section of your profile. Maybe that is a suggestion for Google if they don’t have that now, they can deposit into my paypal account 24/7 for that idea.

@jesse-stay

thanks for the helpful info @jesse-stay