A lovely post by +Sean Cowen on how to write great content and find inspiration here on Google+. Some great suggestions.
Sean Cowen originally shared:
The Art of Discovery, or 10 Things I Use to Find What I Post On Google+
I've been re-reading fantastic comments today that were posted a while back on my post The Circle Monsters, and How To Be a Good Google+ Citizen. http://bit.ly/1dQHSyy
After talking recently with so many new faces, and talking with friends off-network, it seems that I''m long overdue for discussing some of the ways I find, and have found, topics to write about on Google+. I think it might have been +Cheryl Saavedra or was it +Kyla Myers who told me a long time ago that I was good at finding content to write about on Google+. Well, I did have some help along the way. Having a good education helped; but so did some useful tools I've stumbled on over time.
Let me start by saying that I have discovery in my blood. I'm pretty sure I was born to be a curator, teacher, or world explorer of some sort. In my mind, oftentimes here on Google+, I feel like a Sherpa. I'm a guide that enjoys teaching others what wisdom and great ideas I've picked up along the way here, for over two years. Great people like +Mark Traphagen +martin shervington +Dustin W. Stout +Yonatan Zunger +Denis Labelle +Mike Allton +Jaana Nyström etc… are Sherpa’s as well. They put out fantastic, helpful content, and they help guide you through the uncertain waters of G+ in so many great ways. Look to those sorts of guides when you’re exploring Google+ on your own and could use help and guidance.
I traveled the world in my earlier days, and those experiences framed who I am today, and how I see our world, and our community here on Google+. It can’t be any other way. The genie’s out of the bottle, as the saying goes. All of my experiences and traveling have made me into who I am right now, and they have certainly helped me to be a better curator and seeker of knowledge. My world-view has opened my eyes to possibilities I hadn’t even considered in my younger days.
Google+ admittedly can be daunting to many people who may not have started here in the beginning. Yes, you may be a "Newbie" today (or Goobie as +Jaana Nyström puts it. ha! Love that!) but you won't be that forever! Our community makes friends at a fast pace. We're connecting with people we share like interests and passions with. You don't have to be anything you don't want to be here (Aunt Rose will not jump into your post and scold you for sharing family secrets, as is done on FB and elsewhere).
What you'll see is like-minded people talking about things they enjoy. They are talking about those topics with people all over the world, and they’re actually having adult conversations for the most part. Sure, some of the kids have left their seats at the Kids Table and are trying to wrangle a seat at The Adults Table, but for for the most part, we have a pretty cool community that is full of life and not shy about speaking on topics that many of us share.
Look, this community is vast and varied and there are factions and cliques here as you’d see anywhere else on the planet. Knowing that, and knowing how this UI works, gives you a great starting point for your journey within this world.
So, sit back and let me play Sherpa for you a bit longer. I promise that this journey will be worth it, and hopefully, you’ll pick up a pointer or two that you hadn’t considered. Some of these tips and tools may not appeal to you at all, and that’s absolutely fine. I simply want to make you aware of them; I want to give YOU some possibilities you might not have considered! As always, comments are most welcome and be sure to tell your friends if you see something you like. Now, on with the show!
10 Things I Use to Find What I Post On Google+
1. Visual sites like Pinterest, This Colossal, and Notcot can be good starting points for discovering topics to write about.
http://www.pinterest.com/ http://www.thisiscolossal.com/ http://www.notcot.org/
I’m a very visual person, and I find that these content aggregation sites stimulate my mind into thinking about new topics. I can quickly scan their boards and posts, and almost always something will jump out at me. An image, a thought, a connection to my life. I consider each of them to be a good starting point for new posts I write. Now and then, the image itself may be the entire post (since all pictures tell a story, or a thousand), and that’s what I may post.
But more often than not, they are a great tool for getting me to that next step of writing my post, adding my thoughts to that image, and putting my post into the stream. These sites, in of themselves, cannot provide you with your entire output of posts on Google+, but they can get you started on those days when you’re sitting there at your computer, unsure of what to write about.
2. Google Calendar can be a great time saver, and can help you stay organized.
I use Google Calendar frequently as it is simple, well organized, and is easy to pop content into. It’s actually pretty powerful when you see it in action. Here’s an example. I like to write about movies. I’m addicted to Old Hollywood, I look at Box Office totals religiously, and I like to know what movies are coming out, and when.
By posting upcoming film release dates directly into my calendar, I can instantly have content to write about years in advance. I can do that with movies since Hollywood schedules things far into the near future. By using this tool, with one click I can add the release dates of all movies directly into Calendar, and boom! I now have a ton of topics I can post about and discuss.
I can add notes and reminders for myself to talk about the next Hobbit film near its release date, and with Google Drive, I can even write those posts now if I like. You can take this a step further and use another powerful tool like +Do Share to auto-post these at the appropriate time. +Mark Traphagen discussed this recently here:
http://gplusgeek.com/doshare-guide-scheduling-google-plus-posts-advance-much/
It really is a powerful tool, and one that I’m still desperately seeking for some of my pages. For instance, for +Helping Others I’d like a one click link for all “World” days in the future. Things like “World Water Day.” When I do discover this, imagine how incredible it will be for our page!
Look at this: http://195-241-212-57.ip.telfort.nl/www/imdb_releases.html
If you’re not using the free Google Calendar and Drive, consider doing so. They’re incredibly easy to use tools that’ll help make your life easier. And those are the hallmarks of good tools, right?
3. Google Alerts can do all the legwork for you and will give you timely notices about news and any topic.
For my page +I Am Sherlocked (where I am a manager and do a great deal of the posting there), we have a community that’s been on pins and needles all summer long. We collectively have been dying to hear any news about the release dates of Series 3. It’s been torturous, and rumours have been floating everywhere. So, suffice to say, our page followers are clamoring for updated, fresh news - any news - that surrounds that event.
This is where Google Alerts has worked well for me. I set up a news alert for the word “Sherlock” as that’s the name of the BBC show I discussed above. Any time “Sherlock” is mentioned in their vast collection of news aggregators and contributors, I get an ALERT sent to my Gmail. You can stay current and find fresh news using any keyword or words.
They’re simple to set and you can use as many as you like. Add them at: http://www.google.com/alerts
A second tool I use in this area is organizing my Google News feed. I can customize and personalize what I see on the news page.
Go to the Google homepage. At the top, you’ll see a link for “news.” Click that and you’ll be taken to the news page. Once there, at the top right, you’ll see a gear symbol. Click that to personalize your news. You can personalize your entire news stream in many ways by adjusting your sources and letting Google know what topics interest you the most. This is very useful if you like to write current events posts and want the most updated news on any given topic. I’ve used it for years, and it has helped with with posts in so many ways. Again, it’s another useful tool you should considering having in your own Toolbox!
4. News Sites, Tech Sites and Blogs can provide you with ideas for content and posting.
I’ve been addicted to sites like http://arstechnica.com/ and http://www.cnet.com/ (and even http://www.wired.co.uk/) for many years. They are well organized and always get you to fresh topics and ideas to consider for your posts. They show you relevant and updated news, and they do a great job at expounding on their subject matter.
I’m a fan of long form journalism, that is, the longer posts - not the quick 150 word posts we frequently get spoon-fed now by many a site. So for me, I find myself delving into topics on sites like these. They give me a great deal of content to either share in a link (which I do infrequently, saving that for Twitter mostly) but moreso, they give me good background on topics I’m considering writing about, and they give me a bit of a push with Ideas for topics. They fuel my enthusiasm for my subject matter and always provide a source I can add to my posts to support what I’m writing about. One site may help you further in this area as well. It’s done by +Guy Kawasaki and it’s is a treasure trove of post ideas all on its own. It’s kind of the King of Aggregators. Take a look and marvel as how intensely cool it is. You’ll get hooked like I did! http://alltop.com/
5. Joining Communities can give you many a topic to write about.
When you join communities on Google+, you’re entering into new worlds of like-minded people. You know you love Star Wars. But you don’t always know what to write about. By joining a Star Wars Community (https://plus.google.com/communities/105293481108015270231) suddenly there are 92,000 fellow fans in the room with you, all talking about a topic you love! Being in these communities gives you a sense of belonging and offer you a place to explore all the areas of your passion for that topic!
Many communities are public, many are private. You choose which ones to join, and how involved you’d like to be in them. One thing is for sure - you will now have plenty to talk about in your posts, and you’re likely to discover that you’ve made a ton of new friends! I’m in quite a few communities and I’ve been surprised by how many posts I’ve written started from a conversation I had within the community.
Caution: some communities can be quite addictive, so plan accordingly! ha!
6. My Past History Gives Me Most of My Best Posts.
When I look back at the thousands of items I’ve posted to Google+, most of my best ones (and best received) have been ones with a personal connection to me. To my life. To my past. All of us have a history to tell - things we’ve experienced, places we’ve lived, people we’ve laughed and loved with. Life, our lives, can give you endless material to post about on Google+ - if you are willing to share that with us.
That’s the big choice you always have to make: how much do I really want to share about 'me' here? For myself, I’ve been an open book from the beginning. You could start reading my first post to my last and have a complete sense of who I am, what I love, where I’ve been, what hobbies and interests I have - pretty much my entire life.
I chose to reveal that to you all. I made a decision, early on, that I was comfortable here in this community, and comfortable with public posting. You might choose to share your life stories privately, or just with your circles, That’s the coolest thing about G+ - we have that CHOICE to do that. But make no mistake - the best and richest posts you ever will send up to the world from here are the ones that involve you and your life. They interest us; we’re intrigued by your tales and travels throughout life, and we frequently find commonality between what you’ve experienced, and what we have experienced. These are the posts I love the most on this UI - the ones from the heart; the ones that allow us to see who you are. You will find great success with these personal posts if you’re willing to put yourself out there and show the real you. I talked about that in my Circle Monsters post: and it still holds true.
7. Keyword Searches Can Be Your Best Friend on Google+.
Let’s say you’re interested in writing a post about Orbital Sciences reaching the International Space Station today. But you’re uncertain what to write about, or even where to start. See that big, rectangular box at the top of your screen. The one with the magnifying glass off to the right? Type in “orbital sciences” into that box and hit enter.
All of a sudden you instantly see what the Google+ world is saying on this topic. ALL posts that have that keyword are put in front of you. It’s such an incredible, powerful search tool, and one I use daily. From the results, you can display the “best of” or “most recent” matches to that keyword.
But even more, you can save your searches (which is very cool) for those times in the future when you’d like to write about that topic again. This is incredibly useful for seeing what the world’s saying on a given topic, but it also does something I haven’t heard many people mention before: it can stop you from posting something a million people already have. It’s right here that I often decide whether to create my own post on a topic or reshare someone else’s post.
Especially with current events and news, I don’t feel the need to be the 1,000,001th post out there when I could simply share work already done. This is one area where you’ll have to decide if you have fresh perspectives or content to add to the conversations. Here also, I often find links to add to my own posts. You see that even within this post; I used search to find the urls of posts from writers whom I used to illustrate some points here. Yes, it’s a powerful tool and one that’s definitely good to get used to.
A Not-So-Secret Tip: I find myself forgetting some of my own posts now and then, but I’ll remember the topic I wrote about. See that search box again? Look above it. Now I’m going to really open up your eyes. You can further search for that keyword by: everything, people and pages, communities, Google+ posts, photos, and the final option, more, opens up a third tier of searching for you. Using that pull-down menu, you can keyword search all mentions of that word from hangouts, events, from your circles, from you, or to you.
Wow. Cool, right? The one I use most, as I mentioned above, is “from you. “ For example, I know I wrote a post a long time ago asking people to tell me two things about them that I didn’t know. It was wildly successful but I could search for days trying to find my post. Using keyword search, I type in “two things” and then I choose “from you” on that pull-down menu, and voila! I found my post!
https://plus.google.com/103333429938529668020/posts/dGTBdCvPgnf
One more example: I know I did a post a long time ago on vintage lunchboxes but I have no idea at all where to look to find it. I remember it had a Scooby-Doo picture for one of the lunchboxes. I type in “scooby doo” and search by photos. Then I use that pull-down menu again and choose “from me.”BOOM! It’s now right in front of me!
https://plus.google.com/103333429938529668020/posts/79eFGp52hwi
I think this will be one of the best ways for you to discover (and re-discover) content to write about on G+. I find it to be my best tool, and it has often kept me from writing many a post that other people have done much better than I ever could have. Decide if it works for you, and experiment a bit with it. I think it’s one of the best parts of our UI experience!
8. Video Discovery with Vimeo and YouTube can be eye-opening.
I used to post animated short films on Saturdays. I often would spend a great deal of time on Vimeo and YouTube, using keyword searches to find great new videos to post. Like the searches I mentioned above, you have many search options available at these sites to find interesting and cool videos, too.
Videos are popular and give you a quick way of adding content to your stream.
They can be informative, illustrative, funny, sad - they can say whatever you want to say and adding them to your stream has never been easier. When you’re at those sites, simply copy [Control +C] the entire url of that video, like this: Oktapodi (2007) - Oscar 2009 Animated Short Film to start a new post, and [Control +V] that entire url directly into the text box, or choose the link option, add some of your own commentary and titles if you like, and that’s it.
It’s an easy way to add content and people all over the world can immediately start sharing your funny/sad/happy/brilliant videos! Our entire content at +FRIDAY NIGHT SESSIONS is music videos, and I started that mini-dynasty simply from sharing videos! There’s a reason billions and billions of videos are viewed each day - they’re powerful, easy to use, and they quickly get to the heart of any topic. I might not choose to only use videos as my content in my own stream, but I do use them liberally, and I’ve had quite a few become very popular. Experiment a bit and see if using videos now and then for your content isn’t something that works for you.
9. Posts From People In My Circles Often Give Me Content to Write About.
I often reshare friends posts on G+, as I’m a huge fan of indie artists and musicians, Heck, choose any topic and I’ve likely reshared someone’s post on that topic. I try not to constantly reinvent the wheel.
Here's an example: If I want to write about the new approach to commenting on YouTube (Codename: Distiller) I could, of course, write my own post on the topic. But I don’t know the topic well enough yet to write about it. But I know someone who does! +Yonatan Zunger worked on the project and he wrote about it here:
https://plus.google.com/103389452828130864950/posts/ToW83LPx9Ef
For me, this is a no-brainer. I’m not ready to share my own words on this topic, but he has written some great words, so I would reshare his post and add my own commentary above the post. I might add some additional links or #hashtag keywords and I even might ping some fellow Plussers so they see this as well.
Now, with little work, I’ve added content into my stream, I’ve given credit to the original poster by using the share button (see Circle Monsters for my thoughts on this), and I’m remaining active on Google+. Many people I know are great about resharing; some people aren’t and don’t follow the rules. My simple rule is always give credit where credit is due and use the tools - they make sharing easy and that’s the name of the game for some of us when it comes to posting: time management.
10.The Plus Awards Page Gives You 150 Categories to Instantly Consider Writing About.
Okay, full disclosure: I started the +Plus Awards and during one fast afternoon, I came up with a ton of categories to post about on Google+. I based my organization on the Dewey Decimal System as that’s how the world’s libraries organized themselves, and I think I did a decent job of giving you many a category to choose for your topics.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/107984185936335158835/communities/106720194518736065836
Go to the page: see those menu options on the left? Each one is a macro category and each subpage has a list of categories to nominate writers in. Have you seen an amazing post on G+ and thought that it should be recognized as being great? So did I! That’s why I started the Plus Awards, and with that I also created a list you can use to find your own content to write about. It’s a free tool from me to you, and it’s my last item I have to offer you for finding great content to post about on Google+.
Hopefully, one or two of these ideas will appeal to you, or at least will get you thinking about what we post on G+, and how we find that content. If you apply some of these ideas, I imagine you will become one of the newest Sherpa’s on Google+, and I may be coming to you for guidance on my next how-to post! If you read this to the end - congratulations - you get a Gold Star in my book, and you are definitely someone to watch in my circles. Thank you!
#findingcontent #content #whattowriteabout #googleplustips #googleplus #circlemonsters #rulestoliveby #contentcreation #contentcuration #contentcurator #googlecalendar #googledrive #doshare
Image: http://bit.ly/1hdezpM
https://plus.google.com/+JasonMayes/posts/Bu6opo8yV5B