plus

Business owners and individual users have been asking themselves this question for the past year and a bit, “why should I be using Google Plus?”

 

If you’re currently using social media as a business tool, the last thing you need is another social media platform to be dealing with.  But before you discount Google Plus, let me tell you some reasons that you may want to stick around.

 

1. Growth 

During the year of 2013, Google Plus grew from 290 million active users to 540 million active users.  Google Plus is the most visited social network online, generating 1.203 billion visits per month; compare that to Facebook and Twitter which each receive 809 million visits and 416 million visits, respectively.  That alone should be enough to entice you to stick around!

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Now, those numbers may be slightly exaggerated because “Google Plus users” includes anyone with a Google account, which could include Gmail users.  Many of us have Google Plus accounts and just don’t know it; which means it’s just a matter of time before everyone realizes that they’re on Google Plus and start using it on a daily basis.

 

2.  Cross Platform Integration

I briefly touched on this in the last paragraph, but allow me to elaborate…  Google, being the internet superpower that it is, is much more than just a really good search engine.  They own Blogger, YouTube, Picasa, Gmail, Android, and many more.  Whether you’re posting a video onto YouTube, or downloading a game from the Play Store, all of this can be done with one Google Plus account.  Having one main account eliminates the hassle of signing up for a new account every time you want to perform an action on a Google-owned website (like I said, Google owns many websites!).

 

 

3. SEO

If you are a business owner trying to make the most of your business through social media, then you definitely want to be on Google Plus!  After all, it is owned by Google.  People often fight to get the top spot in Google search rankings, and one quick shortcut to getting there is to put your business on Google Plus!  Google wants to promote their own social network, so they will give a higher ranking to businesses that use Google Plus versus those who do not.

 

So if search engine optimization is important to you (which I think it would be), get a Google Plus page!

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4. Hangouts

Google Plus allows you host live video conversation with up to 10 participants who can not only see/talk with one another, but can also share their desktop.  This is a feature that is going to hurt communication companies who specialize in video-to-desktop technology, as Google is offering a similar service for free.

 

Another great feature of Hangouts is that you may record the video call and have it published to YouTube, if you wish.

 

Even Obama is getting in on the fun of Google Hangouts!
Even Obama is getting in on the fun of Google Hangouts!

 

5. Ability to Create, Publish, and Share

Google Pus is a platform that has basically conglomerated other social media platforms out there.  You can post updates in text, simply add video/pictures, comment/share posts from other users, and use hashtags to find relevant topics.

It truly is a creative paradise, and allows for users to share their creativity with the world.

 

6. Global reach

One of my favourite features of Google Plus is that users have the ability to connect with anyone in the world.  Unlike Facebook, where users need to send one another friend requests and must be granted permissions to view each others’ profiles, Google Plus allows users to search and connect with anyone in the world, providing that they’re on Google Plus.  This is a similar concept to Twitter, how one can follow/unfollow anyone.  Except in Google Plus, users may add other users into specific social “circles”.  I’ll add my brother to my “Family” circle, my employees to my “Work” circle, and friends to my “Friends” circle.  You don’t have to do this, it’s just a helpful way of organizing who you choose to follow.

 

 

Overall, I believe that Google Plus still needs some tweaking in order for it to dominate the social media world, but they’re not far off.  If you’re in business and have web presence, you MUST have some activity on Google Plus.  Even if you’re not in business, Google Plus is the next big thing, get on it now while it’s still in the growth stage!

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