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I know you're all screaming at me right now. What do you mean – another social network?!
In today's interview, I chat with Evo Terra from ePublishUnum, author of Making Killer Google+ Profiles. Evo is an author, podcaster and digital business strategist now focusing on helping authors with digital publishing and marketing. You can watch the video interview below, or here on YouTube, or read the notes below.
In the video, we discuss:
- How Evo got started in the publishing world in the early 2000s when he was interviewing sci-fi authors on the radio. He then moved into podcasting in 2004, as a very early adopter and wrote Podcasting for Dummies with Tee Morris. He created Podiobooks.com which is for authors to record and distribute free audiobooks – a fantastic resource. Now he is creating Guides for Indie Authors.
- Why bother with Google Plus anyway? Evo explains how G+ is different because it is Google and so it is highly integrated into the rest of the internet many people use. How G+ compares to Facebook and other social networks. Facebook is where you hang out with people you already know, whereas Twitter and G+ are for connecting with people who you don't know – yet. You add people to your circles when they have the same interests as you.
- On being a ‘person' vs a ‘page' on Google Plus. Being a person is important and sharing interests is critical so be yourself as the author – curate what you share according to the author persona you want to portray. There won't be a friends and family spillover, so there shouldn't be a privacy issue on G+. For two brands as I have, it can be a little complicated. You can have other Pages for other things, like a company or for each book, or for a series. It can be a collector and it doesn't need to be really active, it is just a good property to have.
- On the Google Plus profile and how to optimize it. Make sure to use a picture of your face. Photography is critical on G+ as it is on other networks now. Using photos a lot is important.
- How to start using Google Plus. Start by figuring out ‘who you are' as an author and you should share based on these topics e.g. your books feature archaeology, then share that type of material. Content should be in the categories of Interacting, Sharing, Supporting, Informing and Asking. Check out this worksheet which will help you figure out what to share, or how to rebalance what you already share. You can also engage directly from your Gmail if you're within the Google eco-system, so it is part of your daily activity, rather than a specific destination. It is different to Facebook, and you can expect a different set of ‘rules'. You're likely to create a new network, but that doesn't mean you need to leave everything else. It's a great way to connect with people who are early adopters and key influencers in the business.
- On social media fatigue and how the online environment has changed. Social is part of our lives now. Evo mentions Google Now and we discuss Google Books and Google Play which could have a big audience on the Android platform but right now is pretty shocking compared to KDP and Kobo
- EPublishUnum helps authors with books, roadmaps and communities around indie publishing and becoming successful as an author. You can join the Books and Beer hangout live every week
You can find Evo at EPublishUnum.com and you can find the Killer Google Plus Profile book here.
Find Evo Terra on Google Plus here, and find me on Google Plus here.
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1 2 Next »There's some excellent advice in this video. Many people under-estimate the usefulness of Google Plus due to the fact it's not the most popular platform. But I have been trying to use it more often.
I have been using google+ for quite a while now, but I still have the feeling that although there are some genuine individuals, there are lots more that seem little more than fronts for companies trying to sell anything from insurance to caravans. Posting stock photos and pretending that you are an individual creative photographer does little to make me want you as a contact. Having said that, I do think google+ has value, though perhaps not quite as much as the googlethusiasts would have us believe, and I will persevere. Interesting video though, and I was taking notes :)
hey joanna, superb chat......google + is a topic that i really needed some help with.... brilliant....keep up the good work
This question is directed at Evo Terra. At this point I have social media fatuige. I am not looking forward to starting an entirely new platform on google+ which to me has exactly the same philosophy as all my other social networks such as twitter, youtube and facebook do. I do not view it as different or special in anyway. I knowthat there are a different set of people using google + than there are on other social networks. The last time I checked on the statistics in early 2013, studies showed that 60-75% of google+ users were male and a majority of all users worked in the tech industry. Personally, I find the google+ interface and layout unappealing and it doesn't hold my interest as a twitter or facebook pages do. The only value I see in google+ is yet another potentially obnoxious social network to promote myself, book or business and potentially take over all my free time despite the drawbacks I have mentioned.
I didn't see a question anywhere in that statement, Angela. How can I help?
Thanks for watching, Gary and John. To your experience John: I'm glad that's not been the case for me. Sure, I get the random contact and a slew of circle adds from businesses, but the overwhelming engagement has been with honest-to-goodness people sharing and conversing. And that's with deep involvement at just about every level.
Having just switched websites from Blogger to Wordpress, I do miss the integration among the Google products. It was easy to post blog entries on Google+. I didn't see a lot of traffic coming from G+, I got more traffic from other social media. I did however liked that comments on the blog post showed up as comment on the post on G+, which was nice to see some engagement there.
I also like the hangout feature and have used it to do some teaching on creating characters which did but I'm still in the fog when it comes to it. May take another pass at it.
I use G+, but not to a lesser extent than Facebook and Twitter, mostly just as another place to post links to my work.
I am going through a nightmare right now with google! There is no support and it is very confusing to navigate. I just joined it a few weeks ago and was having enough trouble learning circles and such. Then I added a 2nd email addy with my penned author name to be. It gave me another google page, my circles weren't there. Then I changed my name on my profile to my pen name and that confused issues more. Now, tonight, I got an email from google saying my profile name is not valid and if I don't take action I will be suspended. I spent hours searching to no avail what on earth I am supposed to do and nobody to talk to about!
That sounds like a rotten experience, Debby. If I can help iron it out for you, let me know.
Thanks for offering help, the first I have had. It began when I was told I had the option to change my profile name, so I changed it to my author pen name, which is actually my initials with my maiden name. At the time I also added a 2nd gmail address. Suddenly I had 3 profile pages. I wanted to delete the other plus pages that didn't have my circles on them but the option is not very clear and stated if I delete, I will delete 'all my google plus pages'. Then a day later I got a threatening email from google saying my new name is not legal, take action or you will be suspended in 4 days (probably tomorrow). I searched forums, posted for help, to no avail. There were no answers to my query, I don't know what they want me to fix, change or delete. So tonight I changed my profile name back to my original, within minutes, google emailed me and told me that isn't my name, "Take action or you will be suspended". I just left it, I can't be bothered wasting precious writing hours again, I'd say I've spent about 11 hours searching for help, there is no assistance so I guess I will be suspended for whatever their reasons. Very upset at the whole experience.
I'm pretty sure your last name isn't "- Writer", Debby. :)
But let's not clog up Joanna's blog post. thisisevo@gmail.com reaches me if you need help, but I'd start by picking ONE of those profiles and deleting the other two. Pick the name you use when you write. Again, your last name isn't " - Writer", so be Debby Gies or D.G. Kay. Either will be fine.
That's a good start.
Thanks so much for taking the time Evo and thanks to Joanna, as always for posting great info and doing great interviews with such knowledgeable and helpful people!
I was fortunate to join Google Plus when it was still in the testing stage, and I love it!
I just passed 20,000 followers and am rapidly approaching 22,000. I've had some great discussions there, some scientific, some funny, some both. It definitely makes a difference to show your real self and to engage with other people.
Thank for bringing back Google+ to my attention. Coincidentally, I was planning to recheck all the authors' community pages I have subscribed today. Although I have been extremely busy with Facebook and Twitter, I am never really disconnected from the subscribed pages as the updates are daily delivered straight to my Gmail inbox.
Social is really a big part of our lives now and Google+ makes communication much easier.