Google+ created a lot of excitement when it was first released and invite only, but that excitement quickly disappeared. Now the buzz is back, but for different reasons. Rather than focusing how the social media platform is similar to Facebook, users and brands are looking at what it does different and better.

2012 is said to be the year of Google+, but why?  There are currently 62 million Google+ users, which is nowhere near Facebook’s staggering 800 million users, so why should your brand create a page?

SEO Benefits

One of the reasons Google+ hype has become re-energized is because of the natural SEO benefits. Having your website organically show up on the first page of Google search results is incredibly valuable. The number of +1 clicks and simply a presence on Google+ is slowly being incorporated into Google’s search algorithm and thus early adopters will benefit. Other aspects of the platform that could also be included are the number of shares a pages content has and the size of the pages circles which will encourage brands to continue to use the platform. Facebook currently limits a lot of information from showing up in Google search results, so having a Google+ page can help your brand receive more awareness.

Putting Social Back into Social Media
The other reason is a Google+ feature called Hangouts. Google+ differs from Facebook because it offers more ways to talk directly with individual consumers. For example, hangouts could provide a great place to host targeted focus groups to conduct research. They could also serve as a great way to introduce a new product to fans of your brand or host live video chats to demo new products and services.

While Google+ may not be the most talked about social platform right now, it will quickly  become more relevant for marketing applications and we’ll begin to see smart marketers making full use of this unique toolset.

For Our Clients

We’ll be recommending that our clients have a presence on Google+ for the SEO benefits. In the future, we hope to run promotions using the platform.

Other Resources

Brands Embrace Google +

Google+ Brand Pages is a Must-Have for Businesses

Optimising Your Google Plus Pages

Brands Using Google+

Macy’s

Dell

H&M

What are your thoughts? Will you be creating a page for your business?

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