There has been a lot of debate over what, if anything, Google+ brings to the table in terms of small business marketing. Opinions tend to be highly polarized, with some saying that G+ is the absolute way forward, and others claiming that it’s nothing but a lesser Facebook clone. If you’re wondering whether to push forward with your G+ marketing or abandon it altogether, you should consider these four points.
1. Search ranking benefits are important. Having an active G+ account will make you more likely to rank higher in Google searches. Considering that ranking high is of great importance for most growing companies, this amounts to getting a free marketing boost from Google.
2. You have so much more control over organizing your contacts. Although Facebook does now have some facilities for grouping people, with G+ it’s heavily integrated into the product, to the point where Circles are one of the main features of the network. This means it’s easy for you to categorize your audience and learn from their activity, or communicate with the right people in the right way. Tailoring your messages appropriately is a great way to create lasting relationships with your customers.
3. Hangouts are your friend. Hangouts is probably the most underused and misunderstood feature of the entire G+ network, but with the ability to share live video with your entire network and allow users to video chat with you at the same time, the possibilities are endless. It’s about as close as you can get to a bricks-and-mortar experience in an online environment.
4. Integration and ease of use. If you’ve ever tried to use the Facebook mobile app, you’re already aware of its limitations. The G+ app, across various mobile platforms, runs smoothly and intuitively by comparison. Add in the Gmail and Google Docs integration, along with Hangouts on your phone, and you’ve got a powerful mobile business tool as well as a social media marketing powerhouse.
In short, whether or not you can make Google+ work for you business comes down to your willingness to learn the ins and outs of its power features. People like Facebook because they’re already used to how it works, but with so many great ways to use G+ and so many small businesses starting to get on board with it, it may be a good idea to ride the learning curve and let your business reap the benefits. How have you found G+ to be helpful to your business?
