Why you should get on the Google+ bandwagon

If till this day you’re still not convinced of Google+’s value to your social media strategy, then I’ll tell you why you should be.  In fact, it’s a good idea to get ahead of the game and set your page up now. Why? Well here are a few of the benefits:

• Google+ pages for your business will simply be a necessity for search ranking optimization thanks to what we know already as Social Search

• What is Social Search? To really understand Social Search I strongly suggest going through this presentation. In a nutshell though, Search and Social are now very much linked: Google’s search engine takes into account social signals: “likes” and “+1s” as well as being linked to Google+ pages.

• Google+ is a fast growing social network inhabited by tech savvy individuals, and while the demographic is mainly male, this should change (sooner rather than later) as Google ‘push’ the network onto users who enjoy other Google services like Gmail and YouTube

• Google+ also sees a natural integration with Google Maps and verifying your business page allows for listings under Google Places – another SEO benefit

• YouTube already has the option to link your account with your Google+ profile, and you’ll soon be able to link your page to your YouTube channel as well, allowing for greater integration.

• You can stream live Hangout sessions on YouTube and the platform has entered the Live Streaming market.

• It’s as if Google are planning for a future they know will revolve around the Google+ page as their page manager allowance has been increased to 50+ people per account.

• YouTube already has a partnership system to encourage ad revenue that businesses can utilise with excellent video content

All of these existing and future benefits should be a “no brainer”. Google’s policy couldn’t be any more transparent – they’ll do everything in their power to push Google+ as much as possible as they realise the importance of social in their long term strategy.

So what are you waiting for? Get on!