Is there life on Google+?
After announcing the long-awaited integration of Google+ with Postpickr, we could not avoid dealing with this matter, which is still a subject of discussion and – in a sense – mockery by the community of marketers and media professionals on social media.
Let’s make an admission of guilt. Our past problems with Google disappointed us in Postpickr so much that we got uninterested on the progress and the new – but also old – opportunities that this communication and marketing channel offers.
But the unexpected possibility to integrate Google+ with PostPickr led us to make an investigation on the field, in order to evaluate the state of the art and figure out if it’s worth spending time and effort for this platform.
Did you know? Google+ is not a Social Network (anymore)
It’s obvious that over time some mistakes were made in designing Google+ platform.
The initial insistence on integrating Google+ with any app looked as if Google was attempting to acquire as many users as possible rather than focusing on the product improvement.
Some features like Circles turned out to be too much complicated and perhaps the possibility to “classify” people seemed strange to most users..
Besides, unlike Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, Google restricted the access to API service to most external developers in an attempt to safeguard the technological and conceptual “purity” of Google+. Of course, we in Postpickr witnessed and suffered for it.
At a certain point, in Google they realized they were not succeeding in attracting users from Facebook, Twitter and other social media. They also realized that Google+ needed to be more than a simple Social Network.
So, they turned Google+ in a container of high-quality content that bring people together and encourage them to discover and inquire.
What has changed?
From 2015 on, Google started redesigning Google+ by improving and making user experience simpler.
By empowering Communities and introducing Collections, Google+ tried to reposition itself clearly and differently with respect to other social media by focusing on users’ passion for content.
Therefore, Google+ stopped chasing its competitors to grow the number of its users. At the same time, it focused instead on its active base by trying to make concrete improvements aimed at satisfying the user experience for most users of the platform.
“With this latest round of updates, we believe the new Google+ is really your Google+ – designed around your suggestions, requests and needs.
So, the real change lies in the way people use Google+. On Facebook users share all kinds of content, from news to daily-life updates, whereas Google+ posts are always focused on specific topics and interests.
Market data that matter
It is widely known that Google+ holds a lower market share than most of its competitors. But it is interesting to note that Google+ active users rate it as better than other platforms.
A recent survey conducted by the American Consumer Satisfaction on 180.000 users highlighted that Google+ got 81/100, the highest satisfaction rating ever. Just so you understand, Facebook got only 68/100.
With such a little market share and a high percentage of satisfied customers, Google+ represents an important niche that may offer opportunities to specific developer segments and a competitive advantage that other platforms do not offer yet.
Once again, the keyword is quality, not quantity.
Local SEO and Google My Business
The community of experts has been debating for a long time on the organic positioning of G+ posts in Google searches. Even though most of experts tend to say yes, there is no clear and final answer yet.
But the rules of the game are about to change in the field of Local Marketing.
After the recent rearrangement of My Business pages within G+ environment, Google has created a really good and free tool for local enterprises and businesses.
You certainly chanced upon the “Local Listings” that appear in the search results when you search for something linked to a brand:
Listings contain photos, descriptions and feedback of local businesses that match search criteria. Admins can publish posts containing photos, videos, call-to-action text, offers and events, but they can also answer to users’ feedback, view statistics etc.
As you can guess, the content generated or shared through Google My Business take precedence on the content of other websites, guaranteeing a great competitive advantage to the businesses that have an active and nice profile.
But there is one more good news: now, you can connect your Google My Business locations to PostPickr, and schedule your Post in advance, exactly as you already do with your social profiles!
PostPickr’s integration with Google My Business makes it extremely easy to schedule, publish and manage Posts for multiple clients at once. This feature is available on all plans, Free included: start posting now!
New Features
Google+ platform has always been particularly loved by photographers and today it boasts a substantial number of active photographic communities.
Not by chance, pictures represent most of the content organized through Collections. Moreover, Google worked to integrate Google+ with Google Photo platform introducing, for instance, the RAISR technology and features like “Image Zoom” and “Image Compression” that improve the picture quality by consuming less bandwidth.
So, it is worth spending time and effort on Google+?
In light of the above, it would seem so, at least to specific segments of businesses and professionals.
Besides, the growing disaffection of users with Facebook – further fueled by Cambridge Analytica scandal – could lead to reconsider Google+ as an alternative/supplementary channel to produce content through.
But if you are afraid of not having time to manage your Google+ profile, well… We remind you that you can always rely on your Social Media Assistant that will save for you up to 70% of the time needed.
Connect today your G+ accounts to Postpickr, create your Collections and go back to communicating through Google+ trying to outline an editorial strategy according to the characteristics and strengths of the platform.
It could be really worth it ;)
