5 ways Google+ will boost social marketing

It might be time to believe the hype: Google+ is here to stay, and with nigh on 10 million users, social marketers need to wise up quickly. If you’re panicking about sussing out another social marketing channel after cracking your Facebook and Twitter marketing, here follows a bite size introduction to the quirks and benefits of Google+:

1. The human face of information

Google has stumbled at its previous attempts at social media where it focused on information to the detriment of interaction (remember Google Lively or Google Wave? Anyone?). Proving the nay-sayers wrong, Google’s newest project is ‘scalable’, ‘customisable’ and ‘people-centric’, fulfilling the needs of its users and therefore soon to please the social media industry.

2. Power to the people

Google+ neatly combines the most useful features of all its competitors. Via its Circles feature, users can keep up with friends, Facebook-style, separately from LinkedIn-reminiscent business contact, while also having the choice to follow and post quick thoughts a la Twitter. This is also good news for brands, offering the means to target messages to those interested in particular products or services.

3. No information overload

Perhaps as a response to Facebook’s often-overwhelming News Feed, Google has created Stream. Continuing the user-friendly theme, one can filter inbound updates to keep out irrelevant information, as well as directing one’s own feeds towards just those contacts who wish to read them. The potential for social media marketing via this tool seems a little hazy right now, but it’s bound to be there.

4. Bright ‘Sparks’

According to searchenginejournal.com, Sparks – streams of regularly updated search results designed to match users’ interests – is Google+’s ‘most promising feature’. Content generated from a Spark search is different to a Google search – with highly ranked websites, fresh and visual content ranking highest. The SEO world waits with baited breath to grapple with Spark’s evolving algorithms and link-building opportunities.

5. Distinguishes between people and brands

Nobody appreciates the irritating stream of event invitations and general bumph that seems the price of accepting brands using aggressive Facebook marketing. With brands still waiting offstage in an as yet unidentified place, Google+ is deadly serious about keeping its social experience strictly personal. Still under wraps, the social media marketing opportunities are bound to be sleek and innovative – will company pages be open to being +1’d?

Speculation is rife, but for the meantime, the best you can do is apply for one of the limited company test profiles and start taking Google+ seriously.

Source: adapted from searchenginejournal.com