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Several reports and studies over the years boil down to the same thing: We buy from people we like. Though this isn’t always an option, it’s more common that we, as buyers, will bend our justifications around going with the choice that supports this view.

For example, think about your experience with restaurants near where you live or work. When you go to a place and feel warmly welcomed, that experience makes you more likely to revisit. The more you revisit, the more you feel “known” and valued. Sometimes, this comes from sharing stories with a server. Other times, it comes from the staff knowing something about you and your preferences.

Now, translate this to the online world. When people get the opportunity to learn more about who you are and what matters to you, they find reasons to be more interested in your other business pursuits, and this can come from all kinds of wild and varied angles.

Your personality can shine on a social network like Google+, and this will help with business-building. How do you do it? You talk about things related to your business, but you also talk about other points of interest outside of your day job. It’s a balancing act because if someone is coming to you to learn about your passion for education, and you end up sharing more on Google+ about your passion for reality TV shows, the disconnect might not really help you grow your business. But it can be done.

Consider this your litmus test: Would you talk to someone about this while waiting in line for something? If yes, then it’s probably okay to talk about in an off-topic way as a means to sharing more of your personality. If no, then don’t share it on Google+,.

Blending Business and Personal

Start with, this disclaimer: If you share all kinds of weird intimate details about how your life is a shambles, how you hate cats, or endless streams of nonsensical “chatter,” it probably won’t benefit your business. A certain element of curation is required for how you choose to share your personal thoughts and ideas alongside your business information. Filter yourself a little, to be sure that you’re not turning away any potential business connections. Pick and choose between all the thoughts that rush into your head, and maybe don’t post each and every one of them to your stream on Google+. By “curation,” the idea is that you are your own mental editor, and you pick the “best of” your thoughts and ideas for the day to share with people.

But you’d be surprised by what causes a connection.

Following are some of the stranger things I’ve shared that have brought me unexpected connections:

• My appreciation of ’90s hip-hop music

• Photos of the lake and waterfall near my house

• My love of Batman (and comics in general)

• A single tweet about a car

• Random one-liner jokes

• Reports on my efforts to get more fit

• A photo of a lobster

In all the previous cases, those random choices to share have resulted in an increase in my follower base, and in all those cases, it led to a business relationship that eventually ended in financial and strategic worth. Re-read that list. It’s absolutely silly. And yet, because I blend business information (mine and sharing great stuff from other people), people start to feel like they know me. We buy from people we like, and we like people we feel we know.

Start Early

I joined Twitter in 2006 and was one of the first 10,000 or so users. Twitter gave me a platform that translated into quite a lot of business value. People who came to Twitter much later didn’t always meet with the same success. I believe that my choice to learn as much as I could about the platform and to use it heavily to build relationships was part of what led to my business success.

The same can be true for Google+. The sooner you get in, start, and build some relationships of value, the better your chances to have a first-mover advantage.

Don’t worry that it’s early days. Consider this a great opportunity