A Few Simple Tips for Adapting Your Google Plus Profile to a Global Audience

Google Plus is a great social platform to develop a following, and by adopting a few basic adaptations to your profile and posting strategy it is remarkably easy to develop a diverse array of followers.

Set Your Language Settings

An often overlooked (free) feature available via Google Plus is use of their Google Translate application, which is built-in directly for desktop users.

Give the Translate Feature a Try

To use the translate feature, just make sure that your language settings are defaulted to your native language by visiting your account settings: http://www.google.com/settings/account - & clicking on language. Once your language settings are defaulted to your language of choice, you'll notice a translate button at the bottom left hand corner of any public posts written in other languages.

Note: As far as I know the Translate option is only available for posts in a desktop setting, but they do have a mobile app for Android and iTunes, linked below if you wanted to check them out.

• Android App Store on Google Play: http://goo.gl/wpdBy

• iTunes: http://goo.gl/CRrXA

There is also a desktop app to visit at: https://translate.google.com

Photos Help

It can be tough to tell if you want to follow an account which is entirely in another language. The information shared may be offensive or something you fundamentally disagree with.

A filtering system I have had success with on Google Plus is to scroll through user posts and look for images that are safe or normal looking (think cute cats, landscapes or comic illustrations for example) - 9 times out of 10 they are generally a safe account to follow and be followed by.

It's kind of a silly trick, but also a good method to use in your own posting strategy to help foreign-speaking followers know that you're a safe or un-offensive account to follow as well. A 'safe' picture is worth a thousand words :)

Summary

Aside from adding a bit of diversity to your standard posts, photos like the one above have a way of disarming your social persona at a casual glance. And just about anyone, regardless of the language they speak can recognize and appreciate images like this one - Essentially these just make it easier for people to engage with you on Google Plus regardless of their native dialect.

It's also a bit easier to 'Plus 1' a photo-post than to read a written content post...in any language actually, so photo posting on Google Plus is a way to give others something to 'Plus 1' on your profile without having to link into a separate blog or outside website.

Language Settings

Setup your language account settings at: http://www.google.com/settings/account to enable the 'Translate' feature for Public posts.

Join Communities Relevant to Your Interests

Also, by adding some diversity to your standard posts (based on other hobbies or interests you may have) will help to broaden your follower-base and aid you in finding new networks in the form of Communities to join - which are the real secret to gaining a follower base on this social network, but that's for another post :).

I hope this was helpful and that anyone reading this is having a great day - Cheers!