Though Google+ is no longer available, during its active years, it provided an effective platform for users to build thought leadership and personal branding. Here’s how one could have leveraged Google+ for these purposes, and similar strategies can still be adapted for current social media platforms.

1. Build a Well-Defined Profile

The first step to establishing thought leadership and personal branding on Google+ involved setting up a professional and polished profile. This included:

• Profile Photo: Using a high-quality, professional headshot helped create a good first impression.
• Tagline and Bio: A concise yet powerful bio that highlighted your expertise, interests, and professional background was key to positioning yourself as a thought leader. You could mention your industry, notable achievements, and the areas you focus on, such as “Digital Marketing Strategist and Content Marketing Expert.”
• Links to Work: Providing links to your website, blog, or portfolio in the profile added credibility and allowed visitors to explore your content more deeply.

A well-optimized profile helped visitors understand your expertise and established trust early on.

2. Share High-Quality, Original Content

One of the most effective ways to establish thought leadership was by regularly sharing high-quality, original content on your Google+ profile. This involved:

• Blog Posts and Articles: Posting articles or thought pieces on industry trends, insights, or best practices helped showcase your expertise. Thought leadership requires producing in-depth content that positions you as an authority in your field.
• Videos and Webinars: Sharing educational videos, tutorials, or hosting webinars on topics relevant to your niche was another powerful way to engage your audience and showcase your knowledge.
• Presentations and Infographics: Visual content like presentations and infographics allowed for the easy sharing of complex information in a digestible way, helping your followers learn from you.

The key to becoming a thought leader on Google+ was consistency in sharing valuable and original content. Regular updates showed you were active, engaged, and had unique perspectives to offer.

3. Curate Content Thoughtfully

In addition to sharing original content, curating high-quality third-party content was an important aspect of building thought leadership. On Google+, Collections allowed users to curate content around specific topics.

• Focus on Niche Areas: Curate content relevant to your expertise, ensuring that your followers perceive you as an expert in that particular area. For example, if you specialized in digital marketing, curating content about SEO, social media trends, or influencer marketing was essential.
• Add Value with Insights: Instead of merely sharing links, adding your commentary or insights to curated content gave it a personal touch and demonstrated that you were actively thinking about the industry, not just reposting.

By curating content and adding personal insights, you could amplify your voice and make your Google+ Collections a go-to resource for followers seeking quality information.

4. Leverage Communities and Engage in Discussions

Google+ was home to a range of communities organized around specific topics, allowing for meaningful engagement with like-minded professionals. Here’s how participation in these communities could help build personal branding:

• Join Relevant Communities: Joining Google+ Communities that aligned with your expertise or interests allowed you to network with peers, exchange ideas, and learn from others.
• Participate in Conversations: Active participation in discussions, answering questions, and offering solutions helped you become known as a helpful and knowledgeable contributor in your niche.
• Share Insights: Sharing your original content within these communities (where allowed) could drive traffic back to your profile and further establish your thought leadership.

Active engagement in communities ensured that people began to recognize you as an expert in your field, thereby strengthening your personal brand.

5. Use Google+ Collections for Thought Leadership

Google+ Collections was one of the most powerful tools on the platform for organizing and curating content. For thought leadership and personal branding, creating niche collections around specific topics helped you build a structured repository of valuable information.

• Create Multiple Collections: You could set up multiple Collections based on your various interests or areas of expertise. For instance, a digital marketing expert could create separate Collections for “SEO Trends,” “Social Media Strategies,” and “Content Marketing Best Practices.”
• Stay Consistent: Consistently adding fresh content to your Collections showed that you were up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in your field.
• Engage Followers: Encourage your followers to subscribe to your Collections. This helped create an engaged audience that regularly received updates on the topics they were interested in.

6. Engage with Your Audience Regularly

Building thought leadership also required regular interaction with your audience. This went beyond simply posting content—it meant fostering relationships with your followers and engaging in meaningful conversations. Some ways to engage included:

• Respond to Comments: Whenever people left comments on your posts, responding to them in a timely manner demonstrated that you valued their input and were open to discussions. It created a more personal connection and deepened engagement.
• Ask Questions: Occasionally, asking your followers for their opinions on industry-related topics or trends encouraged interaction and helped you understand your audience’s thoughts.
• Host Google+ Hangouts: Google+ Hangouts (a video conferencing feature) was a great way to host live Q&A sessions, workshops, or industry discussions with your followers. It allowed for real-time engagement and showed you were approachable and willing to share your knowledge.

The more you engaged with your audience, the more followers began to trust you as a thought leader.

7. Collaborate with Influencers

Another effective way to grow your thought leadership and personal brand was by collaborating with other experts and influencers in your field. On Google+, this could have been done through:

• Joint Content Creation: Collaborating with other thought leaders in your industry to create joint content, such as co-authored articles or video interviews, could expose your profile to their audience.
• Influencer Engagement: By interacting with influencers in your niche, sharing their content, and contributing to their discussions, you positioned yourself within their network. If they recognized your expertise, they might engage with your content in return, helping you gain more visibility.
• Hosting Events or Discussions Together: Co-hosting webinars, Google+ Hangouts, or panel discussions with other thought leaders was an excellent way to demonstrate your expertise while reaching a broader audience.

Collaborating with influencers expanded your reach and boosted your credibility in the industry.

8. Track and Analyze Your Content’s Performance

To grow your personal brand and thought leadership over time, it was important to track and analyze how your content was performing on Google+. Using the platform’s built-in insights, you could:

• Monitor Engagement: Look at how many people engaged with your posts, including likes, shares, and comments. This helped identify which types of content resonated most with your audience.
• Analyze Growth: Monitor the growth of your followers over time and understand which types of content or engagement strategies were most effective in growing your audience.
• Refine Your Strategy: Based on your insights, you could refine your content creation and engagement strategy to better suit your audience’s preferences and needs.

Regular analysis ensured that you continued improving your thought leadership efforts.

Conclusion

Though Google+ is no longer available, it once served as a robust platform for building thought leadership and personal branding. Through a combination of sharing high-quality original content, curating valuable third-party information, engaging with communities, and collaborating with influencers, users could have built a strong professional identity. The key was consistency, engagement, and creating value for your audience. While Google+ is gone, many of these principles are applicable to modern platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Medium. Thought leadership and personal branding are about building trust, sharing knowledge, and engaging with a community in a meaningful way.