There has been so much bogus “Google+ is Dead” banter on the Interwebz, and I’m here to tell every savvy social media adopter that Google+ is the place to be.
Here are reasons why:
1. Google doesn’t have to find ways to monetize. Unlike Facebook, the struggling, always creating new monetization paths public company, Google already has a steady, proven method of making money.
2. Google+ is only the tip of the iceberg for companies’ ability to engage with truly innovative tools, storage, file sending, calendaring, free email and much, much, much more.
3. Let’s not forget the number-one reason — search. Yep, Facebook now has Facebook Graph Search that is supposed to change the course more positively for Facebook, but it’s in its infancy. Google has long established itself as the King of Search.
4. So this doesn’t become a Google vs. Facebook post, here’s one — Google+ communities are the game changer (oops, I guess there have been Facebook groups for a very long time that are successful, too). For brands seeking business audiences, Google+ has raised the bar high.
5. Google+ is not the place where high school buddies and families congregate; it’s where business peeps interact with others sharing solid material.
6. Google+ is not competing with a billion users. The early skeptics are MIA or just adopting. What that means for brands is the ability to get serious Plussers who seek savvy companies with a page built for Google+ engagement.
7. Google+ is seriously a happening channel, at the risk of Twitter. As Twitter sometimes feels like a graveyard (I know this for a fact), Google+ has activity all day long — high energy activity with real human engagement and not just a +1 or forward share.
8. Google+ Communities are now available for company pages. Because a person starts a page, that person should join a Community first to see what it’s all about. Then, with that comfort, launch a G+ Community oriented to the company brand, products, services, or subject matter. No better way to uild loyal prospects and customers.
9. Influencers bare engaging on Google+ all day. When was the last time you saw Chris Brogran on Twitter? Enough said.
10. Google+ is not just a passing fad. Just like early adopters to social media, companies getting on board will pave the way for higher levels of engagement. Please don’t miss the boat!
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Love the communities- it is a great tool/resource and the people who figure out how to use it effectively are going to benefit in big way.
@Joshua Wilner/A Writer Writes Every day I get a few invites to very interesting community concepts. I’m being more discerning about which I join. Unlike Triberr (hmm, there’s a blog post), I won’t be joining every tribe/community I’m invited to.
With the communities, you need to be involved, active to get the benefit.
Saw your post; did you find a new pad? Not iPad!! LOL
I have to admit, for the longest time I was against G+. I just saw it as a second-rate social network that was put out to compete with Facebook, and sour grapes because Google couldn’t access Facebook’s communities via search. Ironically, it’s the communities on G+ that have dragged me back in – there finally seems to be a valid reason for anyone that’s not a male tech living in their bedrooms to be on there. 😉
@Danny Brown I bet you’re loving your Influence Marketing community, Danny. The convo there is high level, full of business savvy and one of my favorites for quality of person there (hmm, maybe b/c I’m following and not leading?).
I think that makes a huge difference, too. If you’re a community creator, it’s up to you to make it work, keep it going, infuse energy and insight and there’s an obligation to read the posts more than if you’re a lurker.
I think that’s a post, too…man, I’m gonna not comment the rest of the day; I’m just creating work for myself! Thanks for coming over!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing One of the things the G+ community around the book has given us is “fodder” for some of the additional online components for buyers of the book. We’d already had the extra content laid out, but some of the stuff coming through the community has shown gaps where other content can fill. So it’s been a great for us in many respects, for sure, miss! 🙂
@Danny Brown This is one of the things getting me interested in the possibilities actually. Quite a lot of podcasting talk going on there. I got more discussion after sharing a blog post on G+ than on Twitter or my site.
@jonbuscall @Danny Brown Ahh, so you are seeing benefit in re podcasting…now, let’s take it higher…I’m here to push on you!!
@jonbuscall @Danny Brown I think the reason you get more discussion on G+ than Twitter Jon is that Twitter is essentially real time. if you’re not there when it pops up you miss it. People have more time to see things on G+ and more space to comment.
@AnnHawkins @jonbuscall @Danny Brown Excellent point, Ann! What’s your thought on LinkedIn company pages v. Google Brand Pages? Any insight you might share about your opinion?
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @jonbuscall @Danny Brown LinkedIn Company pages have a different purpose to G+ Brand Pages and this reflects the LinkedIn pedigree and original purpose which was / is for high flyers in the corporate world to keep track of who is moving and where the talent is. If you’re looking for you’re next career move or head hunting the next addition to your team they’re invaluable. If you want to market to those companies they’re also useful to find the right people in the power positions but its just the start of a subtle networking process and certainly not the place to start pushing marketing messages.
@AnnHawkins @jonbuscall @Danny Brown Thank you so much for taking time to share your insight. Jon, you done good bringing Ann here!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @jonbuscall @Danny Brown I should add that I think I made a mistake in starting a G+ Business Page and a G+ Community (I made the same mistake on Facebook). On reflection I should have stuck to the community but don’t think it has the same SEO benefits.
@AnnHawkins @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @jonbuscall The real-time discussion angle is an interesting one. I’ve used Livefyre before to host live Q&A sessions directly on my blog, and they’ve been a huge success, with people saying they were even better than tweetchats. ginidietrich even stole my idea, *cough cough* 😉
The live streaming of G+ Hangouts is pretty cool too. We’re definitely moving toward a more instantaneous feed future, and Twitter is going to have to work out how to combat this.
@Danny Brown @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @jonbuscall ginidietrich I really like Livefyre – you’ve just reminded me I haven’t got it on The Social Media Show blog yet! *scurries off to install plugin*
@AnnHawkins @Danny Brown @jonbuscall ginidietrich And, if I may make it very easy for this community to find your Social Media Show blog, Ann…please do share your url…we’ll come by to visit, absolute.
@AnnHawkins @Danny Brown Part of the reason I love Twitter is the immediacy of it all. My heart sank when I started hearing all this SEO benefits about G+ recently.
For me the bottom line is engagement and building relationships. RIght now it works on Twitter and through talking to people on my podcast.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @AnnHawkins @Danny Brown No problem! You should definitely follow Ann on Twitter and join her LInkedIn group. She’s got wonderfully analytical eye. Do check out the podcast interview I did with Ann if you haven’t heard it. It’s one of my favourites. https://jontusmedia.com/why-linkedin-is-the-most-important-social-site-for-your-business/
@AnnHawkins @Danny Brown @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing ginidietrich It’s funny, Ann. I’ve been a Disqus kind of chap but I really like the way this Lifefyre conversation is working.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @Danny Brown @jonbuscall ginidietrich Thanks Jayme. Its a weekly radio show www.thesocialmediashow.co.uk . We’re more interested in how people do business in the social era than in the platforms so if there are any good stories that people would like to share please let us know!
@jonbuscall @AnnHawkins @Danny Brown https://annhawkins.com/2013/01/you-cant-grow-a-business-by-yourself/
And, here is Ann’s url and a blog post as easy reference.
@Danny Brown @AnnHawkins @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @jonbuscall I totally did steal it. It’s a monthly thing with us and it is super popular!
Part of what impedes my progression on G+ is that I switch back and forth between Gaccounts all day, and having two browser windows open just aggravates me.
What keeps Twitter feeling like, um, not a graveyard, is that I pretty much pay attention to only one list these days. Keeps me sane.
@jennwhinnem Right there with you. I MUST make time to combine my two accounts. People keep finding me through my business email address, but since it was available through Gmail first, that account is far more established. I wish Google would make it easier to combine profiles so there’s not so much confusion.
@lauraclick @jennwhinnem I also think we solopreneurs have it harder with all these identities. At the very end of the day YOU are your brand. For the peeps/prospects who don’t know you, they may arrive to your profile via a company hit, but eventually they will engage with you vs. the company.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @jennwhinnem Totally. And the two profiles I mentioned are my two PERSONAL ones. Remember how they didn’t allow Google Apps accounts until much later? If you count my business page too, that makes three. Yikes!
@lauraclick @jennwhinnem Why do yo have two personal G+ profiles?
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @jennwhinnem Because when G+ first came out, you could only use a Gmail account with it. So, that’s what I did. But, later, they allowed you to set up G+ accounts through Google Apps emails, which is what my business email runs off of. Because all of my business connections know THAT address, I kept getting invites there…and still do. Now, I just need to combine them or delete one. But, Google doesn’t make it really easy.
@jennwhinnem I think everyone has to manage the channels as they can. I’ve just hooked up a second screen; running windows and Mac so I can have more open channels instead of logging in all the time.
I know the next Q is why 2 OS? Simple, b/c one can’t do the trick all alone!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @jennwhinnem Amen, Sista! (Me too)
@jennwhinnem I second that emotion Jenn. I find that even combining accounts is super buggy. In the end I settled on using different browsers for different accounts. Lame, I know.
I’ve not really got into G+ yet but I’m beginning to see more and more conversations going on there that interest me. But what business value these have, I am not sure.
@jonbuscall @jennwhinnem Jon, it’s all about branding! Your brand is solid; yet, few people know of you. With your podcasting book, this should be an absolute NO BRAINER for you to engage. You have a product to sell; can’t you see that podcasting is still in its infancy for 85% of social media marketers?
C’mon…I’ll help you.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @jonbuscall I can’t agree that people don’t know Jon and that’s the essential difference between Twitter and G+ . We know Jon on Twitter as himself and that’s fun and interesting but on G+ its a different story. I think the two work well together and Twitter certainly suits people who are more prepared to stop marketing and start engaging.
@AnnHawkins @jonbuscall You’re correct. I blanketed a statement too broadly. We do know Jon on Twitter; that’s where we have a very solid relationship. The point I made poorly is that I’d like to see Jon’s solid smarts all over G+ esp with his book and amazing podcasting skills.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @AnnHawkins Thanks Ann, and Thanks Jayme. I guess I’ve not really embraced G+ enough. I feel duly chastised @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing :=) Any help would be gratefully appreciated.
@jonbuscall @AnnHawkins And, my tail is wagging low to ground meekly…no chastisement here, Jon…just know you, your product, your smarts and want to see you succeed where I know it can be done. Let’s Skype tomorrow or Thursday?
Well, I can’t keep up with how much more there is to learn that I am finding on G+ so it must be the place to be! Now, if I could just figure out why the G+Hangout wont apply the download that I have downloaded 5 (FIVE) times!
@AlaskaChickBlog I wish upon you a day fraught without tech snafu. #ThatIsAll.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Meaner.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing OBVIOUSLY you cannot help me. Meaner.
I really like the Google+ communities too but I just keep forgetting about them.
There’s so many things to remember and I take your point about Twitter being a graveyard sometimes.
Maybe I’ll try and give Google+ a higher importance in my day. I enjoy the interaction there much more than I do on Twitter in any case!
@timbo1973 Please join our Bloggers Unite! community where I founded/moderate and have invited the always effervescent @AlaskaChickBlog to comoderate. It’s loose as per how serious we get about who we are…I have no desire to be snobbish but to create some ‘raderie.
I think this is an interesting and timely post Jayme, not in part because I’ve been sucked into various discussions on G+ in the last few days.
My question to you though is in what way do you see G+ of value to companies, as the title of your post suggest. Do you see it having something more than LinkedIn or Twitter ?
@jonbuscall When the audience is so full of business people sharing pretty high-level material, companies that have such things to share can put a marketer in a community, can create a community, itself, and folks within the community can promote the brand page.
I don’t think I have ever thought of LinkedIn company pages as places to follow…in fact, they’re pretty dead zone.
On G+, the energy and activity makes it appealing for savvy companies that want a higher connection with communities, prospect, customers.
As for companies’ engagement on Twitter…I’d like to see one really doing it well where negative tweets aren’t the majority of stream content.
On Google, there are so many many tools we don’t even know of that companies can try and share about experiences. The G+ HangOut with an influencer or company VIP/guest is wonderful; taping that and sharing later also provides excellent fodder and SEO juice.
I hope I answered that appropriately, Jon…reports about G+ being dead (there will always be someone saying that) are so far from the truth, but we need company marketers to engage for themselves to ensure they get it.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Thanks for sharing your perspective in more detail. I’m not so sure about how you see LinkedIn. My pal @annhawkins is a very successful consultant and uses a LinkeIn group to great effect. I see the same kind of energy there and engagement.
I’m only just beginning to explore what G+ has to offer so posts like this encourage me to delve deeper.
Exciting stuff.
@jonbuscall @annhawkins Absolutely! LinkedIn Groups rock! I was thinking merely of company pages! Those are dead zones. When you compare the opportunity for company pages on Google+ v. LinkedIn, I believe that would make it Apples to Apples, I see a huge expanse of negative comparison.
I hope someone else might weigh in to see if that makes any sense.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @jonbuscall Interesting comparison between LinkedIn Groups and G+ Communities. When I started The Social Media Show I decided not to start a LinkedIn Group and chose a G+ Community instead. This is because its a different product and has a different audience.
I find this whole discussion slightly disturbing because there is no ‘best’ platform. There is only what works for you, your service or product and the aims you have.
As far as I’m concerned anything that is just pushing marketing messages on whatever platform is bad. Its great to see Lego and Coke doing interesting things on Facebook but if small companies are encouraged to do “social media marketing” on G+ instead of creating innovative, original content, in the long run, it won’t be any different to tragic Facebook Pages and spammed out LinkedIn Groups.
@AnnHawkins @jonbuscall Thank you again for your intelligence. Very much appreciate what you’ve offered up here.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @jonbuscall Thank you Jayme – I’m a great fan of Jon’s podcasts!
@AnnHawkins @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Awesome comment Ann. I agree there’s no one best platform for any aspect of digital marketing / communications. I think you have to identify your goals and then look at the tactics / channels you can use. And then evaluate, of course and reposition if necessary. I dropped Facebook after a year for my business because it didn’t feel right. I’ve found Twitter and podcasting to work best for me.
@jonbuscall @AnnHawkins I would really like to learn of examples of businesses that have seen good ROI from Facebook pages; especially smaller businesses. Can this happen with PPC to support a page?
I like it! You make great points but what I like most is point #5. So true and so good.
@rdopping I know, right? Just friended a few folks from grade school in Iran on FB yesterday…
Jayme, I am in 😉 20, 30, 40 people add me to their circles daily on G Plus AND many of these folks engage.
I use the big boy social networks but spend more time on G Plus these days. Google has engaging down pat on the network and they do not tolerate spam in groups. Love it.
Thanks!
Ryan
@RyanKBiddulph Hey, Ryan! Great having you over for a visit today! I’m also thankful you agree with the quality of engagement, as well. B/c I’m such a social media freak and dive in a bit deeper, I was hoping my thoughts were also being seen by others. Thanks for corroborating!
Jayme, I agree with point number 5 but not point number 7. Facebook is more about social and friends and Google+ can be more about business minded people. Twitter is not a graveyard to me. Most of my activity still comes from them and Pinterest.
I do love the communities on Google+. I just had to limit how many I am in 🙂
@lisabuben290 Hi, Lisa…so glad you’re still feeling positive about Twitter. I am a self-professed Twitterholic and back in the day, like 4 years ago, the Twitter experience was very different. I’m not sure when you joined, but comparing the golden days to now, I see 85% RTs and shares and not enough real conversation.
I’m intrigued about your activity on Pinterest. Care to elaborate?
And, just so everyone knows…we have a Bloggers Unite community on G+…join in and at least ensure your post is seen by a friendly community. I know, there are tons of communities and ours is quite small with more personality. Heh…I think Wilner and Danny may object to that!!
And I would add one more: Google now requires you to use Google+ if you have a Gmail account or want to use their other products (docs, analytics, webmaster tools, alerts, etc.). They know we are the product (not the buyer) so they are constantly looking for ways to get us to always use their tools. I finally got my Mailbox app and was disappointed to learn it only works with Gmail. If I want its help in managing my email, I’ll slowly migrate from my business email to Gmail. So yeah…Google+ will rule the world. Partly because we’re forced to use it and partly because it’s superior to anything else.
@ginidietrich Good Morning, Twin! I see you!! Thanks for that!
Great point and why didn’t I think of it? You are absolutely correct; when I knew you needed Gmail to log into Google+ and YouTube, all bets for anyone else turned off. Even Facebook’s paltry attempt at using FB email failed; I don’t even know what mine is!
Like any big gun, Google will misstep along the way, but that’s totally part of growth and innovation.
P.S. An aside for a related post…I see on your current post “Four Ways to Keep Content Fresh” you have 2 lines of “This post appeared on Spin Sucks Feb. 27 and This post first appeared on Spin Sucks on Feb. 27 or some such.”
Is this your way of protection of authorship, Gini? I’ll be using that as I continue to explore Google Authorship in posts. Thanks!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing That’s so weird. I don’t see that anywhere on the current post … and I certainly didn’t write it. Where do you see it?
@ginidietrich Really? Hold on!!!
@ginidietrich Just emailed a screen shot to you! It’s what appears on email subscribe.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @ginidietrich I’m guessing it’s similar to what I use, a little script that puts a Copyright on the feed to deter scrapers.
@Danny Brown @ginidietrich I love this feature; I’ll be adding this to a future post…even though you didn’t know it, Gini; smart!! And, Neal Schaffer of Windmill Networking always adds an archived post to his writings in the event he’s scraped (which just happened and deterred the scraper).
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @ginidietrich One of the cool things Feedblitz does is allow you to customize what your feed looks like. So, you can add Related Articles, Latest Articles, and HTML for call-to-actions (something I’m messing with currently), so there can be no doubt who the post belonged to and where it originated. 🙂
@Danny Brown @ginidietrich I think I’m practically done trying to figure out the complexity that is Feedblitz. They have no intuitive nothing; very challenging for someone who knows enough about backend to be dangerous. That’s no good. Tutorials leave something to be desired too.
Like when someone wants to be on Oprah and then they are; the prep for that wasn’t there…feedburner to feedblitz migration.
They try to be helpful and probably offer YOU a ton with all your subscribers. Meanwhile, the small fry well, uhh, we’re just pan drippings.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @ginidietrich Sorry to hear you’re having issues, miss (though I disagree on the “help because of numbers” thing, seen lots of people be helped personally by them). :/
@Danny Brown @ginidietrich I’m sure that was VERY sour grapes on my part, right? I was making whine.
They usually are helpful; they have helped me, too. You are right.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @Danny Brown I don’t mind having it on there. I just don’t want it on there TWICE!
I have probably taught 1,000 students over the past year. In each class i ask, “How many are using Google Plus?” About 1/3 raise their hand. Then I ask, how many have been active in the past month? Every hand goes down. Every time. Problem is, for the general population, G+ is a “meh.” They don;t care about SEO.
@markwschaefer I hear you! The only ones truly reaping the big bennies on G+ is our gang of curious leaders. It’s my favorite channel right now and as more peeps become engaged, it will continue to grow.
The students I teach seem to frequent good ol’ Facebook. The other day I consulted with one after class, and unfortunately she wanted to start a business without a revenue stream…never mind social media. I told her to do first things first and brand herself via LinkedIn profile and claim her name on G+, at least.
Just learned my client (also my cousin) now has 3 women with her same name floating around the ether. The latest addition just earned her G+ profile ahead of the two older same-name ladies. Where this young pup came from is beyond me; I thought our family was the only “Soulati” in the book.
Point is, because the first two were asleep at the wheel and didn’t claim their brand on these channels, someone else is going to swoop in. I know this happens a ton with others, but I just keep plugging away about the “personal brand.”
Thanks for coming over, Mark!