Good Going Google Plus - K1 Challenge Update

Good Going Google Plus – K1 Challenge Update

Posted on December 8, 2013

You ready for a quick round up of what has been one heck of a whirl wind week for me on Google Plus and an update on my Google Plus K1 Challenge? Of course you’re ready!

(Also, video at the bottom for you too, an “open casting call” for a Google Plus Hangout – if you’re interested, get in touch.)

Anyway, I hope this post will serve as a mini case study, of sorts, about some of the benefits of using Google Plus as I know there are still a few people who are hesitant to use the platform. For me, this last week has been one of my best weeks ever on social media and I’ve been active on social media for about 5 or 6 years now, so all in all, good going Google Plus.

There have been so many new, different, interesting and exciting things that have happened on Google Plus in the last week and I’ll try keep this somewhat brief and outline them for you below:

At the time of writing this have gotten 244 new circlers giving me 720 circles which means I’m 280 away from my goal with 23 days remaining. I never thought I’d gain 200+ in a week but I did, if I can do it again I’m almost over the line. Whilst the numbers are well and good I’m a big advocate of actually engaging with people who circle me as I think that way the value lies.
Was the first person to be featured by Christine DeGraff in her new series of 31 Interesting people on Google Plus. Christine was asked about what gave her the idea to embark on such a mission and she said it was my K1 Challenge which prompted her to give me a dig out and voila, her 31 Interesting People project was born. I was blown away to be included, and blown away to be a spark for her project.
Craig Chamberlin gave me a jump in circlers (and confidence) when he shared my Google Plus K1 Challenge post with his almost 30k circles. He was one of the first to share it and made me think that I might actually achieve the goal. He then made me blush like no other when he held me up as an example of good engagement on Google Plus in a video he did about engaging on social media. All in all, awesome.
During the week I’ve come the closest I’ve ever been to some kind of viral. My infographic on onsite SEO and on Google Plus hovercards have been viewed about 15,000 times in the week which is pretty good shooting (in my books at least). I’m particularly pleased about the reception the hovercard infographic has gotten. Thus far it has been shared about 40 times and so that is my branding and calling card being circulated all over the place which can’t be a bad thing really. It’s also given me my first good reason to use Google Ripples – very cool. Screen grab below for you viewing pleasure.

During the last week on Google Plus I was able to rustle up some business as well and have a new client for online marketing consulting who is based in California. We held our first 2 hour session during the week via a Google Hangout and it went most excellently. We have more sessions planned for the future and to be able to find clients, and then hold sessions with them via Google Plus, is really a game changer for me. If you think I might be able to help you with your online efforts then get in touch ;)
I’ve been very fortunate to have been able to interact and engage with some, well influential people on Google Plus. I literally had to do the celebratory funky chicken dance (no, you don’t want to see it) when Martin Shervington shared my post. He has like 265k circles so it was most flattering, encouraging and exciting. Martin and I even had a bit of back and forth banter which, not to be too gushy about it, did motivate the heck out of me.
My Google Plus hovercard infographic was shared by Andrij Harasewych to his social media community. My fellow Google Plus newbies will, upon reading his about page, understand why this share excited me so. You don’t see G+ credentials like that everyday!
I’ve noticed a jump in traffic to my site from Google Plus and a lot of people have started to join my mailing list as well. It could be that people coming from Google Plus are more targeted, or more interested in what I have to say, and hence there is an uptick in sign ups. You can keep that uptick going by signing up below ;) For me being able to see increases in these sort of metrics are important as I don’t just want to get to 1,000 circles, I want to try get to 1,000 circles of people who are interested in what I have to say, and, will spread it on.

Good Going Good Plus – K1 Challenge Update

Ultimately,in the last week I’ve had more engagement then ever before on Google Plus and myself and Mr. Jingles have become well and truly acquainted. Since the K1 Challenge kicked off and all the aforementioned good stuff happened people have, eh, started to talk to me hehe. It’s gotten to the point that the list of people I’ve engaged with has gotten too long to list them all but hey, if you’re reading this, you know who you are and really thank you!

If you’re wondering what I’ve been doing to try foster the continued engagement just check out my Google Plus K1 Challenge post where I outline what I’ve been doing and will continue to do.

I had been hoping that my G+ adventure would kick off fully and I think this last week was the week when that happened. No looking back now either and as the video below shows – hangouts are next on my Google Plus to do list..If you’re interested come circle me on G+, get in touch, and let’s get the camera rolling :)