Many businesses have a complicated relationship with social media. Platforms are often neglected, used inappropriately or expected to succeed with a blanket strategy. Today every business should have a presence on all the major platforms, but especially for small businesses this can be difficult to maintain. So which should you concentrate on?
For most businesses Facebook and Twitter are the focus, with figures from 2013 showing that of the Fortune 500 companies quizzed, 77 percent had Twitter and 70 percent had Facebook. Both are an important way of conveying information to customers and followers. Google+, on the other hand, lags behind, with only 30 percent of the 500 businesses using Google’s platform. Why is this? Here are four reasons why any business should be using Google+ and the businesses that are using it to its full ability.
1. Your activity on Google+ can have an effect on your search ranking
Google uses information from companies’ Google+ pages to help determine their search rankings. It makes sense to use the platform if even just for this. Jeff Sauer, a digital marketing consultant, conducted an experiment and discovered that sharing on Google+ can have an immediate effect on your search engine ranking and therefore your visibility. Unsurprisingly Google’s Google+ account is a pretty good example to start with:
2. It integrates with other platforms seamlessly
BMW’s business is built around imagery, with slick and stylish campaigns that transfer to its social media presence. Google+ is perfect for sharing image and videos, and BMW regularly gets thousands of +1s (shares) of its videos. Youtube integration is more effective than other platforms because of the relationship Google has with YouTube. You can even share GIFs, which isn’t possible on Facebook.
3. The user demographic is wealthier than other social media platforms
Now this isn’t an exact science, but there is evidence to suggest that Google+ users have generally higher incomes than those who are more active on other social media platforms. It makes sense that high-end businesses should take an advantage of this. Smaller brands like British company Destinology, which specializes in luxury bespoke holidays, has made full use of this fact, promoting holidays with high quality images and amassing over a million followers, making it one of the most followed businesses in the UK.
4. It’s interactive
Put simply, Google Hangouts is a great feature. As much as other platforms are useful, there is no better way of connecting with your customers than in a Hangout. It gives a personal face to your brand and you can get immediate feedback. The feature has also been used in innovative ways. Penguin, the publishing house, recently used it as a tool to allow parents and children to share story time online with interactive stories. Other companies should take note.
Google+ provides a rich platform to share imagery and videos, two content mediums that have a record of encouraging greater engagement. Use of the platform can help boost your search engine ranking and its users have high incomes. Google+ has never really taken off with personal accounts, and the numbers are still low compared to Facebook and Twitter, but for businesses there are rewards to be had that should be grasped with both hands.
This post written by Dan Yeo
Content Manager, Search Laboratory
