I answered my own question by building a Google+ page for my blog. If you are like me and you are trying to build a community than there are a number of ways to do so. One of the more obvious to me is to build outposts that your community can hang out/visit you in.
You might not find time to visit me here on a daily basis but I am guessing that many of you will make it to Facebook and or Google+ on a daily basis and if you do it gives me one more chance to engage/interact with you. That engagement is important to me and here is why.
One of the many things that I want to do is become a published author. In a “perfect” world the publishing houses would find me and offer me ridiculous amounts of money to do what I love- write. That is not an impossible scenario but the probability isn’t as high as I might like it to be so I am working on alternative solutions.
Self publishing is one of those and if I go down that route than I need to marshal my resources and do my best to try and market/promote the hell out of my book. A bigger platform provides more reach and offers a greater shot at helping me reach my goals so it makes sense to me to try and build.
The trick is to try and do so without losing touch. Â As you grow it gets to be harder to continue to really engage and make yourself “real” to people. It is a problem that I want to have but it doesn’t mean that I am not paying attention to it.
Social media isn’t any different than the “real world.” People remember how you made them feel so it behooves you to do your best to be real and show them who you are. I am a goofy guy who likes slapstick comedy. I am a father. I am a friend. I am a man who sometimes rants about the world. Some people love me and some people hate me, there really isn’t too much in between.
But I have done my best to be transparent with you. Some of us will develop real friendships. Some of us will be online acquaintances and some of us will be something altogether different. It is all part of how it works.
Circling back to the initial question of should you create a Google+ page for you blog I say absolutely.