Google+ Fights Back Against Facebook

Published: 08/09/2013 by directory of oakville

The Date... June 28th 2011

The Place... Eastside Internet Town

The young ‘Baby Boy’ Business walks alone down the cyber streets. As he turns into Hyperlink Alley, he hears a noise behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he sees Jimmy the ‘Face’ Book, swinging a ‘Like’ in his direction.

Panicked, he quickens his pace down the alley. It’s dark, and the inexperienced business man doesn’t see the danger until it comes looming at him from the shadows... Tommy ‘Chirping Bird’ Twitter, who can cut businesses down in a few words, and with him are the twins, ‘Sharp Boy’ Pin T’rest and Joey ‘The Link’ D’In, the moonlight glinting off his networking chain. Over their shoulders, Baby Business can see hoards of henchmen streaming at him from all directions - U Tube, Mr Insta Gram...he is surrounded. Is this the end for Baby?

Suddenly, out of the sky, something is heading into the mass of Social Media chaos... Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Business is on his knees, praying ‘Please, don’t let it be ANOTHER Social Media’. With one fell swoop, the newcomer grasps Baby Business and pulls him out of harm’s way, putting him back down on safe ground.

Who is this caped crusader? It’s none other than GOOGLE PLUS.

You might be forgiven for thinking that Google Plus (G+) is just like any other social media out there on the web - something to take-take-take of your time and give back little in return except confusion and frustration - but how wrong you are.

Google+ isn’t just another social media network, it has become a social network force to be reckoned with.

Google timed the release of G+ perfectly. Having watched and learned from the rise and development of Facebook, which was launched 6 years earlier, and other networks such as Twitter, Google could use its vast resources to make Google+ much more current, user-friendly and take advantage of the recent developments in technology.

For example, when Facebook was launched, there were no such things as Smartphones or Tablets. Google could incorporate mobile platforms right from the start, instead of having to try and adapt, as Facebook would have to.

Even after investing over $550 million in creating the Google+ platform and technology to support it, people were still suspicious of this newcomer.

Determined not to be left behind, Facebook responded by acquiring other apps like Instagram, updating its technology and expanding onto the mobile platform.

After going head to head for 2 years, Google+ has proved itself more than a worthy adversary for Facebook.

It now has over 602 million registered users and growing. In the ten months from June 2012 to March 2013, active users grew by 33%.

Facebook may have the No1 slot for being a name people recognise, many businesses are missing out on a great opportunity to add to their social media marketing by using Google+ alongside Facebook to create a great superhero partnership to work for the forces of good in their business.


Why should YOU be using Google Plus?

Take a look at some of the superhero qualities it can bring to bear on your marketing campaigns and make your own mind up.


1. SUPER SIZED

G+ is now the second largest social media network. At the current count, over 600 MILLION registered users. That’s a lot of people - and you can be sure some of those users are already one of your customers! So ask yourself ‘why you are not using Google+ again?’


2. SUPER VISIBILITY

Once you start using Google+ and have secured your brand name there, you will be raising the visibility of your brand’s profile in search results. You want to appear at the top of the search rankings and Google+ has a significant part to play in making that happen, and in building your brand identity on the internet.

You don’t need to worry either about not everybody seeing your updates. Unlike some social networks that limit your update visibility to your followers only, EVERYONE can see your updates. Much better!


3. SUPER INTEGRATION

Ever heard of a search engine named GOOGLE? How about YouTube? Gmail? Picasa? Or the browser CHROME?

Google+ has connections to, and has been incorporated throughout, these parts of the Google network. Great news for you. It means you have a much greater potential to produce more effective marketing campaigns.

The added bonus of all this integration is that you get credited for all the times someone uses the Google +1 vote to show they like some content of yours. And it is reflected in Google’s search result. Win-Win!


4. SUPER LOCAL MARKETING

Speaking of marketing, Google has converted Google Places into a Google+ Places page in your Google+ account.

So now, if customers want to review your local business, they can do so here. And guess where this turns up? Yup - in Google search results. How great is that. And, there is an added incentive for you, should you need one, that visitors to your Google+ Places page can then easily access other information about your business from inside your Google+ account information.


5. SUPER HANGOUTS

Ever wished you could talk to a small group of your customers face to face, but what are the chances of getting everyone in one room at the same time? Now, you can.

Google+ Hangouts, (which incidentally Google included from day one of Google+), allows you to hold an online meeting with up to 10 people so your customers don’t even need to leave the comfort of their own homes to give you live feedback. How incredibly invaluable!

And because of the integration with other Google services, you can also stream videos from YouTube on Hangouts to an unlimited number of viewers. Think of the possibilities for educating customers, marketing and information gathering to your business.


6. SUPER PRICED

Businesses often complain that in order to be more visible within some social networks, they have to pay to advertize their presence to others. Not here.

Google doesn’t need to raise money from the members of its Google+ social network - it already gets more than $30 BILLION from its Adwords and Search advertizing. So keep your money in the pocket of your business!


7. SUPER ‘SALES-FREE’ ZONE

No ads = nothing trying to distract the attention of your visitors away from YOU! So on Google+, never again will you be bothered by something flashing away, promising to show you how to ‘Bust That Belly Fat’!

So Google+ may be a relative newcomer to the world of social media, but it is definitely nobody’s sidekick. It truly is a superhero among marketing!