The advantages of Google+ for digital marketers

With almost eight months having passed since Google launched Google+ – its latest and most ambitious attempt at delivering the social network it always threatened to develop but never could – now seems as good a time as any to take stock of how it has stacked up so far.

Social media platforms are in such a constant state of flux that usage stats are notoriously difficult to validate. That said, recent figures from tech blogs and media measurement groups give Google+ upwards of 60 million users with over 600,000 new signups per day. These figures, if true, are hugely impressive when you consider that Facebook, with over 800 million users, took more than two years to reach the same figure.

Despite such accelerated growth, Google+ still doesn't feel as if it's penetrated the consciousness of the public. Where are the posters, billboards and display ads with "Add us on Google+" proudly displayed? Where are the news stories proclaiming "Major brand X launches innovative Google+ campaign"?

Moreover, if fame can also be found in notoriety, where are the tales of horror that other major social networks have all had to endure – the house parties arranged on Facebook that got out of hand; the never-meant-to-be-seen tweets that went viral; the LinkedIn profiles that were found out to be lies when people took jobs?

Google+ hasn't had any of these, and it doesn't feel as though it's truly arrived beyond the early adopters and the wider tech community. A community that appears to be completely polarised on its benefits, uses and position within the social media space.

So for marketing professionals considering whether or not to develop a Google+ presence, it's a tough call. On the one hand, having a presence in a land grab exercise can't do any harm. It isn't exactly going to lose you visitors or users, and any campaign that does catch fire and go viral could give the associated brand huge kudos and positive PR.

But having a presence and not knowing exactly what to do with it gives the appearance of a poorly planned marketing strategy. The lack of case studies and benchmarks make measurement of return on investment on any activity difficult, and the constant evolution of the platform in these (still) early days means that today's tactics and implementation models could become obsolete tomorrow.

Amid all the confusion, hearsay and lack of coherent thought and strategy, however, there are specific features and benefits you can already take advantage of that make Google+ worth considering. And if you find the people you're looking to reach are active on the platform, then these features will really help you connect with them and gain significant value.

Audience segmentation

Google+ allows you to segment your connections into Circles – you define and organise those circles as you wish. Visually, the interface is interactive but it's also enjoyable to use and provides excellent functionality. Segmenting your customers before marketing to them is one of the most basic fundamentals of marketing, and Google+ makes this easy.

And with Google's Ripples feature you also get a stunning visual representation of who within your connections are the most influential, allowing you to reach out to those contacts with targeted messaging – a marketer's dream.

Sharing of media & content

Google+'s activity stream is ideal for sharing rich media content such as photos, video and audio. Seamless integration with Picasa for photos and YouTube for videos means the way Google+ displays this content is pleasing on the eye and makes browsing through it is a uniquely enjoyable experience.

Hangouts

Google has also developed a video calling/conferencing interface that allows multi-way conversations between users across multiple screens. And as of mid-January, this developed to include the sharing of desktops. With obvious collaboration potential, the initial thought was that this would be a great way for brands to have video conversations with customers.

Whether that's practical or indeed desirable remains to be seen, but the technology is there waiting for a truly innovative application of it. Perhaps unsurprisingly, celebrities have become their early exponents and a Google Hangout with David Beckham planned for the end of January is expected to bring huge exposure.

The +1

Lazily described as the Google equivalent of the Facebook "like" or the Twitter "retweet", Google's endorsement mechanism is actually a combination of those and more. The +1 is your endorsement of a piece of content you've seen anywhere on the web. Though initially shared within Google+, the announcement that it will also be included in Google's search results has huge implications for brands.

For the marketing community the +1 is starting to look like the glue that binds a brand's Google+ activity together with their paid and natural search activity and wider social recommendations. Consumer behaviour theory advises that peer recommendations are always more powerful than sales messages, and to have voluntary endorsements from members of the public that are then shown to their friends is hugely significant for a brand.

Leveraging these recommendations by posting content designed to gather +1 endorsements appears to be the main tactic for now, but this will be one to watch, as the procedures Google uses to rank and display content constantly evolves.

Google+ could really use a groundbreaking event or application of its functionality to break free from the realm of the early adopters and launch it into the minds of the mainstream. That said, the basic fundamentals are in place, and if Google's vast army of engineers continue to roll out developments at the pace they have been doing, we may very well see Google's desire to create a mainstream social network of its own come true.

Mazher Abidi is a digital marketing strategist with a passion for social media, marketing and advertising – follow him on Twitter @mazherabidi or visit his personal website

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