Can Google+ Be A Business Asset?

by Sharon Shapiro

Google+ a relative newcomer offers features that are specifically designed to enhance your business’ communication and collaboration with customers.

 

With social media marketing on the rise, an increasingly important question that businesses need to answer is which social networks are going to prove the most beneficial. The number of social networks seems to increase daily, and choosing the appropriate one for your business can be a daunting task. But there is one social network, a relative newcomer to the scene, that has already proven what an asset it can be to businesses of all kinds.

Launched in summer 2011, and made available through Google Apps as recently as November 2011, Google+ has quickly made a name for itself in the business world as a go-to social network. Despite its youth, Google+ offers features that are specifically designed to enhance your business’ communication and collaboration with customers. In order to get started on this social media outlet, you can create a page for your business. A Google+ business page will provide you with access to promotional tools and sharing capabilities.

One of the reasons why Google+ is an especially great social network for businesses is its promotional features. With a Google+ page, not only will you be promoting your business, but so will your customers. The first step to promoting through Google+ is making your presence on this social network known. This is easy to do by way of the Google+ badge and/or the Google+ icon, both of which can be added to your business’ website. The badge enables anyone who clicks on it to add your business’ page to their Google+ circles without ever leaving your website. On the other hand, the icon takes anyone who clicks on it directly to your business’ Google+ page. Customers can easily find your page on their own with Google direct connect, as well. Once people know that your business is on Google+, they too can begin to help with your business’ promotion with the +1 tool. When someone likes what your business is doing or had a good experience, they can let everyone know by giving you a +1. The +1’s that you accumulate serve as an excellent word-of-mouth recommendation for your business.

In order to use the +1’s to your best advantage, you’ll want to link all of the +1’s your business receives. This includes +1’s for your Google+ page as well as +1’s for your website and online advertisements. If your +1’s are linked together, when someone conducts a basic Google search for your business (or when your business shows up as a search result for a general query), they will be able to see the number of +1’s you have received and who has given them to you. Seeing these +1’s for your business is a great way for people to visualize your customer satisfaction.