When it comes to promoting your business via social media, we recommend you select three platforms that suit your business and then maintain them effectively. It is far more advantageous to fuel three platforms successfully than attempt to maintain all of them half-heartedly.
In assessing which platforms to invest your precious time and/or marketing dollars, we’d like to say a few words on behalf of Google+. Some of the buzz surrounding the fledgling platform is that it is not yet worthy of integration into a legitimate strategy. Perhaps you see it as just another virtual creature clamoring for attention. But we say there are very solid reasons why it should be considered. Although comparatively new, Google+ has filled its own niche in the scheme of online marketing, and when incorporated into a plan that counts Facebook and YouTube as members of a social media triumvirate — you’ll basically be packing some serious SEO power. Here are two very good reasons why Google+ is the place to be:
1. Google+ is Google – Call it nepotism, but despite the ever-evolving algorithms that keep SEO experts on their toes, Google: The Search Engine is basically going to reward Google+: The Subscriber. In the most straightforward, non-techy terms, if you use Google+ to share solid information and fresh content it will ultimately pass that information along to those zillions of Googlers out there. That’s because among other things, links shared on Google+ contribute to page rank.
2. Flexibility – Its icon isn’t burned into our consciousness like those of Facebook and Twitter, but Google+ is a workhorse that can make a solid contribution to your company’s Internet presence. It actually delivers robust features that put renowned platforms to shame. Three phenomenal benefits in the flexibility category alone are: Circles, Hangouts, and what we call Freedom of Expression!
- Google+ Circles is probably the most well-known element of the platform, and justifiably so. It allows you to customize your cyber-world easily and effectively. Your circles (groups) can be given any name; while clients, friends, relatives, acquaintances can be members of multiple groups. What’s key is that you can provide updates directly to a specific target market about anything from wedding plans to a new product or service depending on the hand-crafted audience you’ve designed.
- Google+ Hangouts is not quite as mellow as the name would imply! You can use this feature to host everything from online workshops to live streaming video chats via participants’ webcams. What’s particularly flexible is the capability to host these chats either from your own website or on YouTube; a true tri-partisan platform so to speak.
- We made up the Freedom of Expression handle, but that is how we view the ability to use an unlimited number of characters in your posts, which can be accompanied by whatever images complement the copy; all formatted as you see fit. Google+ goes on to top this freedom with the latitude to manage comments on a post by post basis instead of via a global setting. While Twitter is distinguished by its character count and Facebook marches to its own band, Google+ serves up a healthy dose of genuine interpersonal communication.
Overall, our assessment of Google+ is that it is probably the most adaptable and accommodating social media tool out there. For that reason, along with its association with Google Almighty, this platform has legs.
Follow us on Google+ and we’ll give you a follow back, too!
