Engage your readers
Engage your readersExperience is revolved around your posts
Social media platforms have become an important part to any company’s marketing initiatives. One integral component of any platform is the post. It’s really what the experience revolves around. In order to have a successful profile, you need to create posts that are engaging, and if you use Google+, there is a number of ways you can do this.
Here’s four things you can do to make your Google+ posts more engaging:
1. Use formatting
What many users don’t know is that they have text formatting options that allow you to put emphasis within the body of the post. For example you can:
- Bold words – If you put an asterisk on either side of the text, it will be bolded. e.g., *bold* will show as bold in the post.
- Italicize words – Putting an underscore before and after text will italicize them. e.g., _italics_ will show as italics in the post.
- Strike through words – Placing a hyphen around a word/word will strike through the text. e.g., -strike- will show as
strike.
Using proper formatting, especially bold or italics, will draw a reader’s attention. For example if you write a post about an upcoming company event, you can bold the date, or put the name of a book, show, video, etc. in italics.
2. Post something and then comment on it
Social media, especially Google+, is all about interaction. You want to communicate with your followers or be the conversation starter. One commonly observed trend about Google+ is that its users tend to be more interactive than on platforms. As such, it would not be good idea to just post a link on your profile and leave it – you’ll be missing out on potential interaction!
Instead, when you post a link, share content or another post, share it first and then comment on it. Ask your circles for their opinion, thoughts, ideas, etc. When they interact with you, be sure to reply and keep the conversation going.
If you notice that you have made a mistake or grammar gaffe, hover over the post and select the downward facing arrow in the top-right of the post box. Click on Edit Post to make changes.
3. Tag people
There will be times when you mention specific people or companies in your posts. Why not create this into a potential for engagement by tagging them? You can do this by putting an @ or + sign and typing the person/company’s name. Just make sure there is no space between the @ or + sign, and when you type the name, a pop-up box should show up and allow you to select the profile. Clicking on it will add a link to the profile in the post and will also automatically share it with them when you hit Share.
4. Vary your content
A key to an engaging profile is that it needs to be varied. Don’t focus on sharing links or just pictures as this will eventually cause users to stop interacting with you. A good mixture of shares, +1s, images and original content with links will keep those in your circles much more interested.
While Google+ isn’t the most popular social media platform today, Google is investing heavily in it, and it appears to be paying off. If you are looking for ways to get your profile and presence established before the big rush, let us know, and we may be able to help.
