Google+ Marketing for Small Businesses

Google+ Marketing for Small Businesses

Is Google+ really a social media platform? Some have described it as a medium where people can share/follow people rather than as a purely social site like Facebook.

It's too complicated to go into the history of Google+ but I would suggest it has not really been put together to provide a customer-focused service, but rather it is a direct attack on the dominance of Facebook given that Google is unaccustomed to being in 2nd/3rd/4th place! The problem with that approach has been that Google have shoe-horned in a ton of (what I consider) unnecessary technical add-ons to try and be the best. The end result - bit of a dog's breakfast.

Which is why we wrote a couple of blog posts:

• Set up Google Authorship & Publishership – forget about the rest of Google+ for now, and
• Google Authorship & Publishership – How to set up for your own business website.

If it's a social media platform, you and your friends must be using it if it is to work. Well Google+ is so convoluted that generally speaking, only those technically-driven individuals are actually using it. On the basis you are a small business owner you must ask yourself "Is it likely my customers will be using Google+ ?". Probably not. So, do not waste time attempting to exploit a system that is not likely to give you a return.

The only exception is - Google Authorship and Google Publishership. These can help your rankings in Google search, so go ahead and set them up asap.

If you want to exploit social media, concentrate on Facebook, Twitter and the rest!

Please give us a call to see how social media marketing can be incorporated into your marketing strategy.