The best format for Google+ posts

Publish titles

The title of a post is the first thing most people look at when deciding if they want to read it. To stand out from everyone else, be sure to make it bold with an asterisk on each side.

People won’t waste time reading long titles. Keep it short and concise by keeping your title 40 characters or less.

The summary

Abstracts are important because they tell readers what they can find in the publication. Many people reveal the gist of the post in the abstract, while others use it as a sneak peek. What you do for yours depends on the goal of the post and your audience. If a statistic or fact will make your readers want more, feel free to include it. If you end up revealing the whole point of the post without leaving anything else for the reader to learn, you may want to skip it.

The summary should be brief. Most people get as close to 159 characters as possible. The abstract will occupy three lines of text. This is perfect for most people because they can flick through it quickly due to the short width of the post.

The other benefit of keeping the summary short is that people won’t have to click “Read more” to see the rest of the post. Some people just don’t want to do that, but again, it depends on your audience.

Images and videos

Images and videos are a great thing for Google+ now. They have taken a hint from Pinterest and Instagram. However, when sharing images and videos on Google+, it is important to include the link in the post. This will lead to the highest traffic numbers you want from the social network.

Text in publications

Posts must engage your audience. It should spark a discussion because that’s what people want to do on social media. You may want to ask a question or let your followers know that you are open to answering their questions. This can be a great way to get lots of feedback and share.

A call to action is always an option. Telling followers what they can find on your site or in an article you’ve published can lead to huge engagement, especially if the content is valuable.

Labels

If you don’t use hashtags yet, you should start now. Hashtags are what makes you appear in search results on Google+ and other social networks. With Google+ posts, you should use three to five hashtags. Always think about what your consumers are looking for that is related to the post when trying to create hashtags.

Follow the format to increase participation

This is the best format to follow right now. It has helped many people increase their commitment, so it could do the same for you.