This. I've been told by many people that I would benefit from Google+, so I created an account a few days ago to test it out. On one hand, I much prefer the UI over Facebook - it's really slick, and everything makes sense. On the other hand, I can't find anyone to follow or network with (other than business owners like me who are just trying to promote their brand). I'm willing to stick with it though. It certainly can't hurt building up my profile there. Now let's hope Google doesn't pull the plug on Google+ like they do with so many of their products...
I think a lot of those previous post months ago about G+ being a ghost town has many believing G+ doesn't have a lot of activity. I use G+ more than any other platform for my blog. It is my #1 source for referrals. You have to put in your work and build your connections just like any other platform. The main benefit which made G+ my #1 source for referrals is the Communities. You can have 1 follower in your circles but if you join Communities in your niche that have 50,000 followers, when you share your content there, you have tons of potential for driving tons of traffic to your site! Another benefit is that Google is tracking everything that goes on there. I mean it is their platform! This will lead to huge benefits in the future when it comes to Search Engine Optimization. It is better to start to build you presence there now instead of later and trying to play catch up! I recommend everyone gives G+ a serious go!
I don't think anyone seriously claimed that G+ is a ghost town. I have two community pages on G+ related to advertising with 3K+ followers each. The problem is, as a moderator, I have only one right there: pulling flagged posts out of the dump. The thing is G+ mercilessly flags messages their spam filters don't like. I guarantee you, unless you have an unrelated to affiliate marketing URL and make posts unique every time you post in G+ communities - your posts will be automatically flagged. I would say 60% of the posts in my communities get flagged and I have no control over it. So, yes, you can drive traffic to your site IF you can make your posts stick. And IF the moderators like them. And I would respectfully disagree with you regarding G+ being helpful for SEO. The days when the SEs relied on directories, social media sites, etc. to rank sites are long gone, in my opinion. Sure, if someone is extremely popular on G+ (we're talking having millions of follows) they may get some exposure on Google, but for an average Joe it's nothing to worry about.
Hi there, About a year ago there were plenty of post headlined with G+ being Ghost Town. Sure, it was mainly used as link bait but the main point was that compared to other social platforms G+ wasn't in the game due to it's user base or lack there of. I feel that has diluted the value of G+ till this day from many of the points of views from non G+ users. I can't speak on the point of post being flagged since I only own a small niche community that has strict limitations on the amount of shares one can make. It think part of the reason that my post stick is because I post relevant post to that specific community. I always leave a relevant intro and make sure my graphics are on point. I think this should be a goal for anyone using communities. Just posting only a link across plenty of different groups etc are sure to get you flagged. Especially, if it is an affiliate link as you mentioned. Google has been strict on affiliate links for months now. As far as G+ for SEO benefits, I was referring to the future. Only Google knows how far but with recent finds that G+ shares have potential to end up in SERP's. I think it is safe to say that Google wants to know everything about our online activities. This was proven by the efforts set forth with Authorship. I feel they will add shares, +1's etc to their algo's in the future I appreciate your feedback! I enjoy a good discussion.
There are lots of business that are being promoted on G+. More promoters, less "real people". If you need real connections, you go to Facebook.
2014 its one of the core foubdations of a business.. g+, citations and such can add up to any value of a business
I believe G+ is an important social media tool for your business. Having a Google business page also is a big help in your SEO campaign.
G+ is great to use in combination with other social media. But focusing your business campaigns solely on it is not an option - G+ still has fewer users and lacks Facebookâs popularity.
Thank you everyone for the input. I learned a lot from reading your comments along with the thread poster. It is indeed useful to have Google+ for businesses.
I use google + for my business. I think it's important. But why not? You don't lose anything by creating a google+ page for your business. You just improving your business traffic
definately, google+ is also one of the best platforms for business as like twitter, facebook,linked in, etc. for trafic creation. g+ is a large platform to promote your sites,blogs,product,busines at all. google+ leads to a huge public responce towards your product. google+ provides facility to intract client with customer. google+ helps you in improving your knowledge with latest update.
hello dear Hangout and Chat One of the best things about Google Plus is that it is easy and quick to interact with others. This is because they make it easy to directly link to someone. Hangout is a great feature for business owners who want to promote their products. You can share products with your customers and you can also respond to their questions instantly. This will enhance your business and you will get feedback from your network immediately. Searching for Keywords You can also use Google Plus to do research on your keywords and check what others are saying about you through community interactions. When you do a search, you can get results of your search terms that will show you what users had to say about your query in hangouts, posts and pages. Also, you can do a search on your keywords to see how well your pages rank. you need to start adding your great content on Google Plus so that you can rank well on the number one search engine on the planet. This technique will help with your SEO and boost your rankings. Responding to Notifications As a business, you probably check your notifications often but you get busy and forget to respond to them. It is important to respond to all your notifications because it will help you build relationships and keep your Google Plus page active. So, always remember to respond to your notifications. Checking Ripples Ripples is a great method to check and see who does content sharing. With that information, you can now get to work and start building relationships with them. This will help you down the line when you are doing link building and promoting your business. Directly Mention People and Brands Just as you are mentioning your brand and looking for posts, the same thing is being done by other companies. So, take this opportunity to help others by mentioning their brands and in the process you will be building relationships. Mention people who do the same thing as you and make sure to link directly to events, speakers, community members and blog authors. Start utlizing Google Plus for your business using these five techniques and you will see that it will help your business get exposure, build relationships, and build links.
I'm using Google+ even if it is not that helpful for my business. Why? because I believe that in marketing every platform is a possibility. Besides, I can manage to have a page on Google+ aside from Twitter and Facebook. It is free to use anyway.