Google plus when started, everybody was crazy about this new social network from Google but over the time its popularity decreased. And now Google will soon shut it down as it did with Orkut, Google admitted that Google+ is a failure again. So till the time it’s live why not use this social network to increase the popularity of your brand. And since it’s a google product, there are some search engine ranking benefits too. The popularity of your links and posts in google plus acts as a ranking signal and thus, will help you rank better in Google search against your competitors who do not use Google+ for expanding their organic reach-out.
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So if you are a blogger or a local brand or even a global brand, Google plus should definitely be in your online marketing plan. Here are some tips that will help you to stand out from your competitors on Google plus:
1. Use HashTags and Stand Out
Hashtags are always important whether it comes to google plus, Facebook or twitter. Hashtags help you reach a specific audience who are interested in what you are sharing.
2. Take Advantages of Google Plus Communities and Get an Ocean of Traffic
Google+ communities are pool of people sharing a common interest just like any other social media groups. So if your post relates to the interest of any community, sharing a link on that community is a no-brainer.
3. Promote Your Brand Via Google+ Page and Grow
Using your brand via a unique identity is important, because it all adds up to your brand’s digital foot-prints, you can do that via google plus page for your brand.
4. Promote Your Local Brand Via Google+ Local Page and Increase Your Presence in Google Local Search
Users are now days searching local keywords like ‘best pizza in manhattan’ to ‘beauty parlors in LA’ so it is very important for you to optimize your local brand for those new opportunities and that can be done by starting as a local brand page on Google plus. 
5. Use Gif Images to Grab Attention
Gifs are very popular these days and help you convey your message easily to your targeted viewers without wasting time in video buffering, and with Google+ you can easily take advantages via gifs as they play by default.
6. Use Trending Related Hashtags
Like twitter and Facebook, Google plus also update popular hashtags time to time so that you can use them in your update next time and create a big splash.
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7. Use Google Hangouts and Create Engagement with Your Audience
Google hangouts allows you to do a video chat with anyone. That’s a really useful feature of google plus. What’s even better is, you can save that video chat to YouTube for users to view later or for users who could not attend your hangouts for some reason.
8. Email Your Updates to People in Your Circle
Next time you are sharing an update check the box that says: ‘Also send email from you to Your circles’. This allows you to email your status updates to people in your circles. While people may miss the notifications in between many notifications, it’s always safer to send an email into their inbox.
9. Ask Your Friends to +1 and Share Your Updates
Ask your friends and people in your circle to +1 and reshare your updates. From my experience on Google+, reaching from +1 to +10 is tougher than reaching from there to +50.
10. Don’t Over USE These Strategies
Google is very strict regarding its community sharing policies, so if you overdo anything, it can lead to ban of your account for short-term and if repeated over time, even permanently so be careful.
Let’s create opportunities to grow.
Have a Google+ Question? Start a discussion in the comments.
Google never said G+ was a failure and there’s no evidence that they’re shutting it down.
Here’s why I think the editor said so http://www.businessinsider.in/Why-Google-failed-according-to-Google-insiders/articleshow/48243914.cms. Agreed it’s a bit exaggerated but hope you get the point.