Back in December, I published a post called the Ultimate Facebook Post Checklist. And it got 140 +1’s on Google Plus. 144 to be exact. Don’t believe me? Go check for yourself.

I thought no way! How is this possible? I’m a relatively unknown blogger. I don’t have a huge audience and this blog hasn’t been around long enough to get that much attention.

Was it all a coincidence? Did this post just happen to grab the attention of 20 times the people who normally engage with my content?

The answer is no. Because even though I didn’t necessarily expect the results I got, I can tell you exactly why this particular post was so successful on Google Plus.

1) Usefulness

The post I wrote was useful. I offered four quick and simple tips that everyone can and should follow when creating and publishing a Facebook post.

You may be thinking don’t most people already know how to post on a Facebook page? I hope the answer is yes, but sometimes we forget a step in the system and we end up missing out on engagement because of this.

Bottom line. This post was helpful and offered a little reminder people could refer to during their daily routine.

2) Powerful Visuals

This is likely the most important factor that caused this post to go slightly viral. If you review the post you’ll notice I created a graphic that outlines each step that I wrote about.

When I shared the article on Google+ I didn’t just include a link back to my website, I actually uploaded and attached the blog image as well.

I wouldn’t call what I created a full-blown infographic… mostly because it was far too basic with a little text and a few fun images. Basically if I can do it, so can you.

Having good visuals with your content changes how users view and interact with your message. It provides context. It gets their attention. Best of all visuals are highly sharable.

3) Google+ Communities

Don't have a big audience? Google+ Communities allows you to share content with people who don't necessarily follow you.

You can join communities based on your personal or professional interests and get involved by posting content for the entire community to enjoy.

A lot of communities have posting guidelines so be careful about the rules of self promotion. Make sure that whatever you're sharing is actually useful (going back to the first part of this post) and always include content in your post message.

Google+ isn't like Twitter. There is no 140 character limit so use what you've got and share a brief summary of your blog post and tell people why they should care about reading it.

Now It's Your Turn

If I had only shared this post with my own audience, I would have NEVER gotten even close to the same amount of reach I got through Google+ Communities.

If my post wasn't useful or if it didn't solve a problem that a lot of people deal with on a daily basis, people wouldn't have related to it in a way they felt like sharing.

And finally, if I didn't create a compelling visual that caught people's attention and gave them something worth sharing with their peers... I would have missed out on all of this completely.

So, now let's talk about you. What's your next post going to be that makes it big on Google Plus? You don't have to have a well-known blog or a huge following to create valuable content that gets appreciated.

You just need a little creativity!

Sign up for our free Creative Visuals webinar by clicking here and comment below with your biggest struggle when creating engaging images for your website.