How-Tu Tuesday: Do I Need To Be On Google+?

Why should I use Google+?

Google+ is considered somewhat of a failure in social media. Many social networks have been and gone and never made much noise while they were here, but what makes Google+ the most talked about of the “failed” platforms is the simple fact it is Google; the biggest search engine in the world. In other words, Google should be doing better when it comes to being social, and thus far, has not gained the active audience it had hoped for.

Looking at the statistics, Facebook has 1.5 billion users, Twitter has 316 million users, Instagram recently reached 400 million users and Google+ currently stands at 111 million users. However, if you dig a little deeper, like Eric Enge of Stone Temple Consulting who recently published a report on Google+, only 6.7 million users have Google+ profiles with over 50 posts and only 3.5 million have published more than 50 posts within the last 30 days, highlighting very low activity levels.

Google+ may not be the platform for making new friends or posting about the wedding you attended last weekend, but having a Google+ page can be a lot more valuable for businesses than they may initially think.

Whether people are using Google+ or not, all businesses, especially local SME’s, should be keeping Google happy through having a presence on Google+. Below are the top 3 reasons businesses should be on the platform:

SEO

Investing a small amount of time into a page on Google+ (it does not require the same number of regular updates as Twitter or Facebook) can significantly improve a business’s search visibility within the local area and greatly increase their Google ranking. This is extremely important to brands who depend either on online sales or being found on Google before their competitors … so this applies to pretty much every company!

Authorship

Google+ profiles can be linked to webpages, blog posts and articles, again improving Google search rankings, but also proving to be a useful tool when a certain person (most often the founder) is considered to be the face of the company. Creating a Google+ page and linking it to high quality content is extremely beneficial for those working with the medical, law, property, insurance and consulting professions, as it boosts the individual profile, thus boosting the company’s reputation.

Integration

Another way to get exposure via Google+ is to link the company page with other Google owned platforms (that are considerably more popular and well-used), including Gmail and YouTube. Connecting the accounts ensures content posted on YouTube is also simultaneously shared on Google+, meaning the page is being updated and not left stagnant – without the time and effort required for posting on other social channels. Videos are also considered very valuable when it comes to SEO and those who publish content to YouTube are ranked much higher in Google searches than those who don’t.

So, if you don’t have a Google+ account for your business, what are you waiting for?