Is Google Plus Worth Your Time?

google-plus-marketing

Very few people these days would dismiss social media as a fad. Anyone who is serious about ranking well and getting traffic to their web sites will tell you that having a presence on social networks is crucial, since so many people go there.

This used to mean having a Twitter account and a Facebook page. But last year Google came up with their own social networking site, Google Plus. Early on, people predicted it would fail just like Google Buzz did, and indeed the numbers, while growing quickly at first, seemed to have reached a peak.

However, the company is putting a lot of energies into Google Plus and claims that more and more people are signing up. So as an online marketer, should you spend time and money on Google Plus?

The first thing you need to figure out is how much your site is benefiting from social media. It can be clear that if your site is only getting a very small amount of traction from Facebook or Twitter already, the chances that going to Google Plus will suddenly change that figure is extremely remote.

If you do not already have a great strategy on the existing social networking sites, there is no question that you should focus on that first. But if you already are getting great results from these sites, then maybe Google Plus would be a worthwhile addition.

Unlike Facebook, it does appear that Google Plus has a very specific type of audience. For example, photographers and artists have flocked to the site in great numbers. Also, techies seem to be liking the social network as well. So if your niche is in one of those categories, then it may well be worthwhile.

There is another thing to keep in mind about Google Plus. The company recently made some changes to the way its search engine works so that this social network would rank prominently. For example, if you search for a particular keyword and one of your Google Plus friend recommended a product, then that product will come up on top of search rankings.

This means that a strong Google Plus presence actually influences your search rankings far more than Facebook or Twitter does. So this is an extra incentive for you to embrace Google’s very own social network.

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