(Editor note: Welcome Kim, Lost Remote’s new contributor!)
As the grand-daddy of SEO, it seemed only fitting that Google would come up with some sort of tricky algorithm for populating Streams. But for now, they seem to have chosen the simplest possible method: listing posts in mostly chronological order (an improvement over the first week of G+, when “last commented” posts appeared at the top.) This gives the Stream a more “Twitter-like” feel; and flips conventional wisdom for social network optimization on its head.
Google is more than capable of making GSO (Google Stream Optimization – yes, I just made that up) far more complex than NFO (News Feed Optimization – someone else made that up). But until they do, here are a few reasons why your G+ posting strategy will need to be entirely unique from your Facebook posting strategy.
1. Frequency: A recent Facebook study suggested optimum posting frequency for news Fan Pages (for driving referrals) is somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-15 posts per day. But according to Facebook, the number of times you post has no bearing on the number of times you show up in your Fans’ Top News Feed. On the other hand, since Google Plus is simply listing posts in chronological order…the more often you post, the more likely you are to show up in someone’s Stream.
2. Engagement: Facebook’s algorithm gives extra credit to posts with more engagement. Clicks, likes and comments all factor in. The more you have, the more likely you are to show up in the News Feed. This gives brands incentive to put out really engaging content on Facebook. But as it stands, GooglePlus doesn’t calculate any of this when deciding what to put into the Stream. It simply keeps a running, chronological list in the same way Twitter does, letting the content speak for itself (although photos and bold text certainly help).
As we’re all learning, Google Plus isn’t just another Facebook knock-off. Its features are different and, as this demonstrates, our approach to mastering this platform will have to be different as well.