FitSocial 2013 Conference

Google Plus…

You know you should be dedicating more time to this platform and learning how to use it more effectively. You hear of people making great connections and growing their social influence exponentially using Google Plus…but it also seems more time consuming than the average social network to figure out, you’re already on every other social network, and you’ve heard Google Plus compared to a “deserted wasteland” from some of the more vocal naysayers. Up until now, Google Plus hasn’t been your biggest social media priority.

Does the above description sound a little like you? Yeah, it sounded like us too until a recent trip to Las Vegas where we were participants in NMX (New Media Expo), and attended a very engaging session on Google Plus by G+ power user, Amanda Blain.

Amanda threw out some pretty impressive stats about Google Plus; stats like there are now over 100 million active users on Google Plus (Active being the key word). She also shared helpful hints and tools showing just how key Google Plus is in driving traffic to your site (i.e. by using Google Authorship). So we’ve been spending some time getting to know Google Plus since we got back from Las Vegas by setting up our profiles and following users like Amanda, and are now inviting you to join us on there!

If you already have a profile on Google Plus, add FitSocial to one of your circles.

Google Plus launched “Communities” last year. This is a part of Google Plus where you can share ideas and network among a group not necessarily connected via circles. It’s kind of like Facebook Groups, but better organized. We started a FitSocial community today, and invite you to join our FitSocial Community here.

There’s a lot out there so we encourage you to search through the various communities and profiles of Google Plus and find other communities and circles to join. Unlike Facebook, where you tend to only engage with people you know, Google Plus seems to work best by just finding like-minded people to follow and engage with – effectively expanding your reach within the fitness & health world.

If you don’t have a Google Plus profile yet, and/or need a crash course on how to begin using it quickly and effectively, here’s a helpful blog post from Google Plus user, Martin Shervington, titled “The Ultimate Google+ Quickstarter Guide“. There are countless articles and posts out there to help you get started with Google Plus, and really the best place to find this information is on Google Plus and searching within it. (hint: use #gplus or #googleplus or #g+ to search)

And to really dive head first into this Google Plus pool, we’ve scheduled a Hangout! Hangouts are video chats where up to 10 users can video meet and…hangout. We’re going to meet on Tuesday, January 22nd at 12pm.

You can view the invite and RSVP here. We’re going to be discussing Google Plus (of course!), sharing tips, asking questions, and brainstorming ideas on how to best use it to promote health and fitness. If more than 9 people RSVP, we will host what is called an “On Air Hangout” and broadcast the talk via YouTube so everyone can at least watch and text chat in.

Do you have any tips on how you’re using Google Plus well? What Fitness & Health blogger and/or professional is using Google Plus well? What brands are doing a good job there? What’s Google Plus’s future? What features do you want to see?

Comment here, or better yet, circle us & join our Hangout next week!

 

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