How To Make Google+ Really Sing. And I'm Not Talking Tenor but Soprano..

I have been playing with Google+, trying to figure out the best way to incorporate it into my social media arsenal. Look out world, @Lihsa is armed and grammarous!

For one, I’m loving being one of the few active Google+ers in a room full of geeks. I am learning a ton. Reminds me a lot of the early Twitter days, before the rest of the world got on the Twitter Train.

But first, I had to install a few tools, otherwise, it was a lot like the avalanche that the Twitter stream created.

· Chrome: makes, sense, right? Google+ works better in Google’s Chrome browser. You can download their browser at http://www.google.com/chrome.

Next, set up your Google profile. There is a big controversy about Google+ requiring real names. But you can work around that. As a female lawyer, I am not inclined to share my personal data. And since my last post on Google profiles, they have made some modifications, allowing you to limit who sees this info to either “You”, “Circles”, “Extended Circles”, “Public” and any customizable set thereof.

· Name: I used my Twitter handle and my last name’s initial. Problem solved.

· Photo: I used my Twitter pic so my Twitter Peeps would recognize me.

· Intro: To be consistent in with personal brand, I copied my Twitter description.

· Bragging Rights: Be funny. Otherwise, you just come off as a pompous twit.

· Occupation: Well, I toyed with this and chose to be more descriptive rather than putting my actual title. Sue me.

· Employment, Education: Because of the privacy options available, I listed my business, but limited to just my circles.

· Location: I just put the states instead of giving addresses.

· Birthday: I put my day (but not the year—you never ask a lady her age!) because I like getting birthday wishes. Hint, hint 😉

Then I uploaded a Chrome Extension called Publish Sync. You can get it on Facebook or in the Chrome Store. Publish Sync gives me the ability to auto-synch postings from Google+, Facebook, Twitter and a few others. Now I don’t have to tediously post in 5 different locations.

Lastly, I installed the latest version of Google+me. It has some great features, which has made it a lot easier to use. The two best features are:

· Status Notice: this resides on the chrome tool bar and lets me know when I have new notifications.

· Collapsible Posts: this is really nice, especially when over-sharers who are hugely popular (the Scobleizer) and have ridiculously long comments section. Keeps my posts nice and tidy.

Oh, and a word about circles. I’ve read some interesting articles about different circle philosophies. Some say limit your circles to batches of no more than 15 folks. Others create incredibly niche categories like “people who think green.” Others let everyone in. Me, I have 14 circles broken out by job titles like tech, marketing and writers. But I’m finding that they all seriously overlap and tend to default to my stream.

I’m finding Google+ to be incredibly robust, falling between Twitter, Facebook and blogging. Lots of great conversations and lots to learn.