Why It’s Important to Use Google+ for Your Business

Why is Google+ Important?

It’s easy to categorize Google+ as “just another social media platform.” However, most people don’t consider the power of Google’s search engine and how it connects with Google+.  You’ve undoubtedly heard about the importance of staying at the top of search engines, especially Google.  Google+ gives you the platform to combine your social media presence with your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy.  Once you see the potential in how people search for your brand, you will begin to understand the vast importance of having a Google+ page for your business.

How Can Businesses Use Google+ Effectively?

1.  Business Pages Increase Searchability

Google+ unveiled their business pages in November 2011, which allows businesses to position themselves on the social media platform as an entity, rather than as an individual.  By creating a Google+ page for your business, it will be easier for consumers to search and find your business because it will actually boost your search engine rankings in Google.

When people search for your company on Google, they will see the search results on the left hand side and they can see information from your Google+ page on the right hand side of the search results.  What’s more, when consumers follow your business’ page, Google will favor content from your business in their search results.

2.  Share Valuable Content for Higher Rankings

It is important to actively post relevant and valuable information on your Google+ profile, rather than just creating it and leaving it inactive.  Every time someone hits the +1 (like) button on your posts or interacts with your page, your search engine ranking on Google will be boosted.

3.  Design Circles for Target Marketing

Circles are a somewhat new concept to most people.  Essentially, circles are a way to group or segment the people you are connected to.  This will allow you to better target different audiences and give them more relevant content.  You will basically be creating specific target markets, which you can then market to.

4.  Hangouts Enable You to Interact with Consumers

The hangout feature on Google+ allows you to interact with anyone else who is on Google+.  It can be used creatively, as well. Promote new products or simply just to interact with your customers.  It has endless potential.  It is also integrated with YouTube, which can be used to post the hangouts after you record them for later viewing.

On Tuesday, Google+ added “restricted communities” so that conversations on the social network could have strict, new privacy controls.  Businesses can either open conversations up to the community or open only on an invite basis.

5.  Social Extensions Help You Gain Visibility

Social extensions, also known as Page Endorsements or +1 Annotations, help your business gain more visibility by featuring customer recommendations on your Google AdWords campaigns.  By doing so, you could increase your ads’ average click-through rate by 5%-10% according to Google.  Every +1 that you receive on your Google+ page is applied to your AdWords ads.

Google+ is definitely worth a second look, even if it is just for the boost in rankings.  If you take full advantage of the resources that Google has put in place, it could result in a significant increase in traffic to your ecommerce website.