The Google+ Business Blueprint – Part 1 – Duane Brumitt
Posted by Member Solutions on Thu, Jan 19, 2012 @ 07:00 AM
If you're using social media to market your business online (and if you’re not, you should be!), then you are aware of the power of social media marketing to build your visibility, establish your brand, and draw visitors to your website. You may have heard about Google's new product, Google+, but you may not know much about it.
In my first installment here, I’ll provide some background on Google+ then show you how Google+ can help your business. Future blog posts will cover how to set up a Google+ business page and promote your Google+ business page.
Background
Launched in June 2011, Google+ is a new social network that is attracting some serious attention of marketers.
In just a few months, the platform has amassed 40 million+ users, nearly one third of LinkedIn’s 135 million membership base. Despite this impressive growth, the adoption of Google+ doesn’t yet compare to that of Facebook, which has more than 800 million users. But who knows what’s going to happen next and can you afford to ignore it?
Ever since its launch, Google+ has been open to individuals to share stories with their Circles, get involved in discussions, post photos, and participate in video conference calls (called Hangouts).
However, the social network didn’t provide businesses with much value, and many marketers were left wondering how to truly benefit from Google+.
In early November 2011, Google+ finally rolled out business pages. The platform not only enables companies to create pages, but also encourages businesses to grow their following. “I expect brands will notice this and will build marketing plans around it,” said Bradley Horowitz, vice president for products at Google+ in an article for The New York Times. His statement definitely reinforces the potential of the social network for marketing purposes.
Why Does It Matter?
Google’s equivalent to Facebook’s “Like” button, the “+1”, is about so much more than just social networking. It’s about enhancing your visibility on Google, the biggest search engine in the world.
The business page concept will be very familiar to those who use Facebook pages. Even the way you switch between personal and business profiles with a drop down menu is straight from Facebook.
Google+ allows businesses to create pages and develop relationships with prospects and customers on multiple levels. Individuals can add a brand to a specific Google+ Circle, share a Google+ page with their network, and interact with the content posted by that company.
For instance, users can +1 (or in other words, endorse) the updates a company publishes, leave comments, upload photos, and tag the brand in them. An interesting aspect of this platform is that its Hangouts feature enables companies to engage with fans, prospects, and customers through video conference calls.
And how about this …
When one of my contacts +1’s one of your site’s pages, I see their endorsement in my search results when I search for products and services like yours. That provides a huge boost in terms of credibility AND visibility — +1’d pages leap right out of the search results with a trusted face attached.
No doubt, Google will keep investing effort into improving both the functionality and usability of its social platform. It has to if it wants to compete with Facebook’s dominance in that space.
Stay tuned for my next installment where I’ll walk you through how to set up a Google+ Business Page.
Happy Marketing,
Duane Brumitt
Tri-Star Martial Arts Academy
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Duane Brumitt is the co-founder and owner of Duane Brumitt’s Tri-Star Martial Arts Academy in Bradley, Illinois. Duane is also a member of the Member Solutions Martial Arts Business Advisory Team.
