Free Ways To Increase Your Google+ Followers

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1. Optimize the heck out of your profile.

There are millions of people on Google+. Your profile must stand out to people who are in your niche.

You don’t want to be yet another bland, faceless entity on Google+. You want to shape your profile into something that looks interesting. Be a person that others want to follow.

When I look at the profile of Guy Kawasaki, he looks like the kind of guy I want to put in my circles. He’s interesting, active, and has a ton of followers).

So, go fix up your profile. Put some real pictures of your face. Add your story. Invent a tagline, and give people an interesting introduction.

If you don’t start with an optimized profile, every other tip I share with you below is going to be a waste of your time.

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2. Follow as many people as possible.

In order to be followed, you must follow others. It’s the name of the social media game.

In social media, there are certain unwritten rules of etiquette. One such rule is the follow-back etiquette. If someone follows you, you follow them back, as long as they don’t look like some spam account. You get a pass on the follow-back etiquette if you’re a really busy person or a celebrity.

This is where a Google+ following begins. You start adding people to your circles.

Here’s how you do this.

• Click on the people icon in the upper right.
• You should see a list of “People to Add.”
• Go through the list of people with whom you have some association — colleges, college buddies, neighbors, etc.
• Add them to relevant circles. By the way, I wouldn’t worry about trying to classify everyone just perfectly. I’m all about being organized, but a tedious friend taxonomy will probably just waste your time in the long run. Don’t worry about what you call your circles. Other people can’t see your circles.

Add as many people as you want to. The more you add, the more likely they are to add you back.

If there are people who followed you, then you can follow them back. These are the “People to Add.” The other people you’ll see are “Suggestions.” Add them, too.

To take your following up to the next level, go to the “See more suggestions page.” This is where you can focus your following, and add a lot of people in a very limited amount of time.

Again, you want an engaged follower list, not just a bunch of numbers. You can use this page to refine your efforts. In addition, you can use the “Add all” button at the top right to add dozens or even hundreds of people at once.

How many people should you add to your circles? As many people as you think are relevant to your niche and interests.

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3. Join communities.

When you add people to your circles, you’re putting your name in front of one person at a time.

That’s okay. But what if you could put your name in front of hundreds or thousands of people?

You can. It’s called communities.

When you join a community, you are part of a larger group of people who are engaged on a certain topic. This is another way that you can refine your level of engagement on Google+ in order to amass not just a lot of followers, but the right kind of followers.

This community, for example, has nearly 100,000 people. If I join this community, I have a good chance of widening my exposure among people who are interested in Google+ Updates.

On the communities page, Google+ suggests communities that you can be a part of.

Look for communities to join that have these characteristics:

• Large. The definition of “large” varies according to your niche, but if it has a few hundred or thousand members, it’s probably a pretty good size.
• Active. Each image icon tells you how many posts the group has. I’m looking for numbers in the thousands here.
• Relevant. Only join communities that are relevant to your interests.

While you’re busy joining communities, don’t forget to allow your community memberships to show on your profile. This could give you an extra leg up to gain more exposure and more followers.

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4. Post on Google+ every day.

Here’s another general rule of social media. It doesn’t matter what social media platform you’re using, this is always true:

• The more active you are, the more often you’ll appear in feeds.
• The more often you appear in feeds, the more like you are to be seen and followed.

In other words, the more active you are, the more people will follow you.

I recommend that you post regularly on Google+. Treat it like your own personal mini blog. Be sure to keep your content style varied.

It’s easy to pop up some text, photos, a link, a video, or even an event with a single click.

As long as you have an engaging commentary, you’ll continue to pick up a steady stream of followers. By the way, it’s best to keep your posts available to the public in order to gain as wide an exposure as possible.