Google implemented a fantastic business marketing venue when Google+ Communities were created. Businesses can now join communities that discuss aspects of their industry, or are comprised of target customers. Businesses can also create communities of their own to generate new conversations and stories. Participating in communities and groups is in integral part of a successful content marketing strategy. However, when a business produces some great content on their blog site and wants to share it with multiple Google+ Communities, what happens? That post shows up each and every time on your Google+ profile. If you share the post with 5 communities, you get all 5 of those posts on your profile, plus one more if you shared it publicly first, directly to your profile.
That’s crazy!
Even if you take the time to craft a personal message before each post link, giving thought to how this post might benefit or generate discussion for each specific group, you’re still spamming your own profile with the same link multiple times.
Google+ and Google+ Communities aren’t perfect, and there are many areas that could be improved. Fortunately, Google recognized this issue fairly early on and has now provided an option to correct it.
Log into your Google+ account and click the cog in the upper right corner to access your Settings. Scroll down almost all the way to the bottom and you will see the option to turn off Google+ Communities posting to your profile.
And that’s it! 60 seconds later, and you will have freed your Google+ profile from all that clutter.
Now, this is not to suggest that you should feel free to spam a ton of Google+ Communities with your blog posts and content. Google+ Communities, like Facebook Groups and LinkedIn Groups, are designed to stimulate discussion and share ideas within a social network framework. Spamming links does not accomplish that and will generally result in your posts being ignored and you getting yourself removed from the community. Make sure that you’re sharing posts with communities and groups that are appropriate, and do everything you can to introduce your post with some background information or discussion questions. You should also review the posting guidelines for each community you join and abide by their rules. Some groups may not tolerate links at all.
Regardless, take the time to check this setting and make sure that you’re keeping your Google+ profile clear of multiple posts.
