All too often marketers overlook the power of Google+. Social media marketing often zeroes-in on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest, but for some reason Google+ is treated like the black sheep of the family. It’s time to start paying attention to and utilizing the social platform. Here are 7 things you need to know about Google+:

1. Google+ will benefit your search placement

Perhaps the biggest benefit Google plus holds over any other social platform is the search element. Isn’t it crazy that social marketers are willing to spend time searching for good keywords, catering SEO tactics to improve their content for Google, but then neglect Google+? By doing so, they’re ignoring the search power that Google has built into its social network. Be sure to populate your Google+ page with relevant content and appropriate keywords. Be sure to engage with other interest groups or users within your industry. Staying active on Google+ will help drive people to your page and website, supporting your SEO goals.

2. Google+ is not Facebook

Social media managers and marketers often use Google+ the same way they use Facebook. This is a mistake. As Google+ creators and developers have told us, the platform is not meant for friend-only visibility, but catered to industries, brands and interested based groups. Posting content like you do on Facebook will help increase your search results, but it won’t improve your engagement. Using Google+ merely to repurpose your Facebook content is like choosing to eat the off-brand cereal when you can have the tastier expensive kind for free.

3. Google+ Circles allow you to segment your target audience and influencers

Sometimes I log-in to Twitter and the feed overwhelms me. I know you can sort people into lists and groups on various platforms, but Google+ circles allow me to place people in a specific circle and then share content catered to a specific circle. When you share on Facebook or Twitter, everyone sees your posts, but with Circles, you can send only relevant content to specific people. As a user, you can also join certain Circles, which is akin to joining a certain type of group. This helps you narrow down influencers and communities online.

4. Google Communities let you join groups as a company or brand

In Facebook, you can only join groups as individuals but Google plus lets you do that as a brand, making interaction with others a little easier.

5. Google Hangout offers free, high quality video chatting with an unlimited amount of people.

Google+ Hangouts get labeled as a similar tool to video calling but the tool holds so much more power than that. You can launch hangouts right from your Gmail account without having to download anything. Additionally, Hangout enables you to slide share, broadcast events or meetings, share files, and collaborate with business colleagues in a way that most video conferencing does not. One of my favorite features of Hangout is that it makes producing video content easy because you can use the tool to record tutorials, or presentations then easily post them to YouTube. Which brings me to my next point…

6. Google+ integrates with YouTube and Blogger

YouTube, Blogger, Google Search and Gmail can all integrate effortlessly with Google+. Sometimes it feels like Google owns the world. They’ve integrated the major tools you need to maintain an online presence with ease. This type of integration makes content sharing much easier, and again, supports your SEO goals and objectives.

7. The Google+ mobile app outshines other social networking apps

So much of our social networking and Internet browsing takes places using smartphones. Google+ has figured out how to integrate all their tools into a mobile friendly app, which means that people accessing the network from their phones will have a better experience with your content.

In Conclusion

The bottom line is, Google+ is underutilized, but its user base is growing. Make your brand, company or interest group more searchable and take advantage of the open market by building your social presence on Google+.

If you’re looking to implement social media strategy into your business, we’d love to help. Contact us for a free consultation.