Google+ is the “new” social media and social networking platform for Google, which is purportedly the new rival to Facebook. No question, Facebook has more users, and there is incredible loyalty despite the variable security issues that Facebook has been struggling with.
Whether you like it or not, the world has change to a place where ‘social’ is the new ‘business’ platform. Social media, including Facebook and Google+ are important for business marketers for many reasons:
- Your customers are using it
- Your competitors are using it
- Your customers expect you to be using it.
In the marketing battle for awareness and band identity, social media has become an important tool.
The relationship between search and social has become fuzzier and fuzzier. Google, which is recognized as the premier search engine, only recently became a power player in the social media and social networking arenas. As Google+ grows in popularity, the interrelationship between search and social has become more and more evident. Now, if you are logged into Google and you search for a term the recommendations of your social network will appear next to the results. Whether it impacts the ranking of the results is still a question, however there potentially is a tendency for people to click on the result that a friend or peer has recommended.
With Facebook business pages, Facebook has upped their stake in the social media marketing wars by enabling business pages to be indexed by Google. Originally, personal pages were not indexed. Business pages are subject to terms of use that govern the way contests or giveaways can be conducted, however, since so many people are already on Facebook, there is the expectation that businesses will also be there, and will be sharing information and engaging with their customers.
Google+ business pages are relatively new, and the rules to add people to business page circles are not as easy as the rules to add people to personal Google+ pages. To circle people as a business, the person must circle the business page first.
How you intend to use Google+ business pages or Facebook business pages will enter into your decision regarding where you feel you need to invest your time. Currently, Google+ is more business and tech heavy with regard to the audience, and Facebook is much more social. Dependent upon who your target audience is, and what your message is, and how you want to engage, you may chose to be on both platforms or concentrate on one or the other.
With regard to which is best, the answer is – it depends upon your business, who you intend to reach, what your message is, and what your goals are for your marketing program. Establishing your marketing plan first and determining what your goals are would be the first step to determining where you should spend your time and your marketing investment.
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