Google+ is the rookie that’s almost as good as the veterans. It has the raw talent, but has not fully optimized as a social media platform like its older rivals Facebook and Twitter (see first picture). That being said, Google+ is rapidly growing in users, and the time to invest in this social media platform from a marketing perspective is now, especially with the launch of “personal search” this past week.
With the steady rate of new users entering the Google+ platform, the social media network is transitioning into the Early Majority section of the Technology Adoption Lifecycle. When a technology reaches this point, there is a sharp upward trend of people adopting the technology, which would explain the increasing number of people joining every day. While many businesses seem to have some sort of Twitter and Facebook presence within their business, Google+ remains the outlier of the group, mostly because it has not achieved that star status yet. Through Google Reader, Picasa, and the ability to connect to other social media sites through +, Google is working hard to create an all-encompassing social media juggernaut that stems from Google+. Very recently, it took one very wide step towards becoming that giant force by linking Google+ to normal Google search, which will combine results from both the normal web, and your personal “web” within Google+ (see second picture).
So what does this have to do with your marketing plan? Search engines rank websites based on a multitude of components, one of the major ones being social media links and prowess. If a lot of links for a specific article get tweeted out on Twitter, the ranking for that article in the search engine will increase. Here, it’s important to remember the pact that Bing has with Facebook and Twitter. Bing broadcasts search results in real time with Facebook and Twitter. Google does not have this pact with the two networks, and because of this, results are not impacted as much as they are on Bing.
It makes one wonder…no not just wonder, but wonder when Google’s search algorithm will begin effecting search rankings with the Google +1 button. This may already be happening, but there has been no official word from Google as to whether this is the case. Either way, Google+ has just over 62 million users right now, and expected to grow 372% by the end of 2012 to 293 million users, according to numbers and estimations by analyst Paul Allen (see third picture). However, Allen himself believes that the 625,000 new users a day will increase, and Google+ will have closer to 400 million users by the end of 2012. It looks like the rookie is about to gain a lot of fans.
While this figure still remains a guesstimate, the fact that Google+ is ready for a large increase in users gives marketers a huge potential gain in both overall visibility and search rankings. With Google+, you have the chance to spin the social media wheel one more time. Right now, the really big brands are for the most part passing on Google+ and focusing on Facebook and Twitter (you haven’t seen a Bud Light commercial telling you to +1 on their commercial yet). But for most businesses, this leaves the door pretty much wide open for companies looking to build up a marketing strategy in the near future. Adding the +1 button to your existing social media buttons is a must for small businesses. Even if your business is not yet ready for Google+, get involved right now, and optimize for it as time goes on. Most social media “investments” are like stocks. The majority of them fail, and a few succeed. With the constant upward trend of Google+ users, this may be one of the few that succeed.
In addition to brand and search rank value, Google is now implementing Google+ results within search results if the company has a Google+ profile. With a Google+ account, this provides more brand awareness, and more opportunities for people to get involved with your Google+ profile, and hopefully +1 you. For an example, type in “New York Times” into the Google search box (see fourth picture).
For whatever reason, not everyone is hopping on the Google+ bandwagon just yet. This new update of combining web search with personal search may turn more skeptics into believers. But, it’s important to know that if you want a very large edge in social media within Google, then Google+ is a necessity for your long term strategy. The time is now, because the rookie just made another clutch play, and it’s time to buy him before other people find out his true potential. Not everyone will like this guy, but he’s definitely going to bring fans to the stadium.