Why Your Business Should Be On Google Plus in 2013
It’s true – Google Plus is no Facebook. In fact, few forget the belly flop of a debut Google Plus made in 2011 and many deny ever predicting that Google’s new social media site would beget a modern clash of the titans. Simply put, Facebook won. This, however, does not mean you and your business should not bother having a Google Plus page. If you want to access to over 100 million potential clients and want to beef up your SEO, you should absolutely include Google Plus in your business’s social media strategy. Guest blogger Sonia Jackson outlines the top reasons your business should get on the Google Plus bandwagon today.
Let me start by saying you should not be bullied into joining Google Plus or any type of social media. If you do not have the time to dedicate to maintaining the website then simply do not bother - there’s nothing sadder than a social media page with two posts updated two years ago. Also, be wary of those trying to bully you into joining Google Plus and Facebook just so they can sell you metric services and reputation management services. If you decide to join Google Plus, it should be because you want to wield the power of social media to drive business, create buzz for your brand, and take advantage of the many other perks listed below that Google Plus has to offer.
You gain access to a large pool of potential customers
Google Plus may not be as big as Facebook, but a lot of people have profiles on there and will visit quite frequently. It is yet another portal where you can have access to the attentions of your potential customers. How you engage them, converse with them and turn them into customers is your task. But, the fact is that they are all there waiting just like goldfish waiting to be fed.
Their tools allow you to converse with more than one user at a time
Google Plus does have a talent for allowing businesses and single users a few ways of communicating. People can type out chunks of text that can be sent to other users. They are able to post information that multiple users can see, and they can communicate with multiple people at the same time too.
The profile may give people access to your previous online conversations
Just like Facebook and Twitter, Google Plus will allow its users to access past conversations and chunks of posted text. This means that the occasions where you were particularly convincing can still be seen by others in the future, so that the positive effects of your PR skills may continue onwards into the near future.
Google+ is less restrictive about allowing you to meet new people
Facebook does have a larger pool of users for you to try to contact (or to try to make them “Like” your fan page), but Google Plus is better optimized to allow you to get out there and meet new customers. Facebook does allow one profile to send a message to another, but marketing messages are not allowed. The Facebook fan pages are good places to post information, but are not very penetrative dissemination devices. A user on Facebook must attend a Fan page in order to stay updated. Google Plus is a little more penetrative and dynamic than Facebook in this respect.
Google Plus was built with business in mind
The likes of Facebook were built with being sociable in mind. It was built for people to contact people, not for businesses to promote things to users. There are tools on the site for helping businesses both on and off of the website. Google Plus is a little less lean in the favor of social users.
Google Plus is a social media website so any social media markers will count towards your SEO
SEO is the acronym for Search Engine Optimization. Google have made it clear that they are now taking social media markers into account. This means that if your website has Facebook and Google Plus “Like” buttons, and a lot of people are clicking them, your website will rise up through the search engine results. It also means that things such as mentions about your website or company on social media will also have a positive effect on your websites SEO.
Although it has not be proven yet, some people contend that Google would pay more attention to social media markers from Google Plus because it would encourage more people to join Google Plus.
