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Primary Goals of Usage: Convert to community, learning, build audience, and social interaction

Number of Original Posts per Day: 3–5

Number of Shared Posts per Day: 5+

Number of Comments per Day: Varies. 10+/post

Links to My Blog or Projects per Day: 1–2

Number of Off-Topic Posts per Day: 1–2 (of my own). Usually the posts I share by other people are the off-topic posts.

Typical Strategy: What’s different for me on Google+ is that I purposely started off with no strategy and went with more of a “gut instinct” approach. My thinking was, I can write about health, nutrition, and fitness endlessly on Google+, like I do everywhere else, or I can do something different. So, I decided to start posting pictures of myself practicing what I preach. The pictures range from me not wanting to get out of bed in the morning, to being all sweaty after a yoga class, to pure silliness. What I’ve found is that people respond to them. Because I’m (visually) sharing my life, they can relate, they see that I walk the walk, they get inspired and I’m not being preachy by telling anyone what they should or shouldn’t be doing. This has led to inquiries for my services and increased viewership on my show.

Notes: Up until Google+ came out, Twitter was where I spent most of my time. I’m on Facebook as well, but the platform never fully resonated with me, and so I mostly use it to keep in touch with family and friends. What I loved about Google+ right away was that there is so much room to play. I can write more than 140 characters; I can see actual posts and pictures without having to click a link; I can decide whom I want to share my posts with; and because people have the ability to add me to their circles, I am “meeting” tons of new people.

By showing her daily practice, Jacqueline reinforces her commitment to health and yoga. By using photos instead of tweets and blog posts, Jacqueline adds a personal connection element that gives her community a face to the actions, so to speak. This is something you could do for your business, even if you’re a desk jockey. Showing your mug every day hard at work, especially if you can find a way to make it fun and varied, can give a connective benefit.

Some Partially Fictitious Day-in-the-Life-of Suggestions

I came up with some ideas for how other businesses and professionals can use Google+ for business by creating sample day-in-the-life-of experiences for different business professionals. I then went back and asked representatives from these industries what I got right, and what they’d do differently. This section includes what we came up with for you.

These started as fictionalized day-in-the-life-of bits, and then I found a real person, so the use of “I” is to make it easier to personalize. I don’t personally represent all these professions.

The Author

Time Used per Day: 1 hour (broken into two 30-minute blocks)

Primary Goals of Usage: Research ideas, connect with readers

Number of Original Posts per Day: 2–3

Number of Shared Posts per Day: 4–5

Number of Comments per Day: 10–20 (a lot of back and forth with readers)

Links to My Blog or Projects per Day: 0 (I don’t blog.)

Number of Off-Topic Posts per Day: 1–2 (As an author, everything can be on topic.)

Typical Strategy: I want to connect with my readers and let them feel like they’re on the “inside” of my projects. This builds up anticipation, plus drums up sharing activities to potentially grow the initial purchase of the book. I also show Amazon and other online book preorder links.

Special Uses: I use Google+ for a lot of research. (And yes, sometimes “research” is a bit sketchy and far-fetched.)

Notes: Writing can be lonely. I admit to using Google+ as a water cooler from time to time, a place to get ideas and thoughts from outside sources, and to just feel “seen” during the loneliness of writing.

Takeaway: The more you can build excitement around your project and make people feel like it’s theirs as well,