Huge brands are already doing it. Burberry, Pepsi, O2 and Cadbury have already created their Google+ pages.
Google+ Pages for business. Jump in now and count the cost later? How much time should be invested in it at this stage?
Google Pages is the answer to Facebook pages. It is being widely heralded across the internet as a long awaited and much needed alternative to Facebook pages.
I’m not buying it! ……. yet.
A huge rush is taking place to be an early adopter. Get in there first! Be one of the leaders! I don’t get it quite frankly. Google+ has been a bit of a damp squib so far. After an early rush to get onto it helped by the clever tactic of only allowing invited people to sign up, activity has been less than breathtaking.
In an article on mashable not so long ago I was reading how most of Google’s own management team have not managed to start using it properly. If the people in the company who make it aren’t using it why is anybody else?
Social Media Burnout
We are inundated with social media. People have become anti-Facebook because it is taking up more of their lives than they feel it probably should. Twitter is creating an alternate universe where people can no longer watch a simple tv programme without checking up what other people think about the same programme. Add in instant messaging, RSS feeds, aggregators and specialist industry news sites that spit out content like a gatling gun and it is no wonder that many among us are suffering from social media burnout.
We simply don’t want another social media site that is going to take up even more of our precious time. We use facebook because all of our friends do. In Ireland it is THE social media site. People have been fired because of using it too much, and other companies have blocked it on their office networks. People may have a problem with lots of aspects of facebook, but the truth is that a huge number of people use it as their primary tool for staying in touch.
Why Google won’t oust Facebook
When Google introduced their search engine it caught on and got accepted, even lauded. Why? Because it offered better search results than any other search engine on the market. Less spammy results meant that it was easier to find what you were actually looking for.
Google+ is doing nothing particularly new. There are already complaints that a business page can’t have assigned admins like Facebook pages can. That said, assigning admins is a relatively new phenomenon on facebook too. I have not heard anybody say one single thing that Google+ is doing better than facebook.
If I open a florists beside another florists, I’d better be sure that I have a unique competitive advantage. Without it I’m not likely to last all that long as a flower shop. Show me the Google competitive advantage here and I will be sold.
Why listening to hype does more harm than good
The internet is really good at one thing in particular. Hype. Look at social media in general. In fact, look back before that. Business advice was “you must have a website”. Then it was “you must be on social media”. Now it appears that this weeks message is “you must be on Google+”.
Those messages are not necessarily wrong. What is wrong about it is that there is no understanding behind why you should do any of it. If somebody tells me to jump off a bridge, then there had better be a good reason. Yes a business needs a website, but just having a website is no good. It must serve a function for the business. It must be marketed. The bottom line is it must bring in business and just having a website does not do that. Things like SEO have to be taken into consideration. Who is your website targeting? Will it reach your target market and if not how can you make it do so? This is online marketing, the forgotten piece in the “you must have a website” statement. The lack of clarification in this regard made it possible for the market to be openly abused. Quick buck merchants were happy to take money for a website that was not worth the proverbial paper it was printed on.
Likewise, we saw so called guru’s proclaiming that anybody without a facebook page was living in the dark ages and that they were getting left behind.
There was precious little talk about how to successfully utilise facebook. How to make it work for your business. The fact is that facebook simply does not serve a purpose for many business’s. Lot’s more business’s put up a page, but had no idea what to do next. A comparative handful made it work for them. Some through luck, but mostly through planning and strategy.
Planning and Strategy
Planning and Strategy do not mix with jumping in feet first in order to be “one of the first”. There is a time and a place for that. Getting a domain name is a land grab, act first, think later time. Launching an app that nobody else has yet is a time for action. Google+ is not.
There are an estimated 40million users on Google+ now. How many of those are in Ireland? Nobody knows. How many of those in Ireland are active? Nobody knows. How many of those active Irish users are in your target demographic group? Your guess is as good as mine. How much money / time / energy would you put into a print publication on the basis of information like that? That’s what I thought.
Hang back, see what happens, let others make the mistakes and use their energy. Then, if it seems that Google+ is here to stay and gaining ground, then and only then, make your move and do it well.
If you want help with your online marketing strategy call Ian at Webshed on 086 3817149. Initial Consultation is free.
