Google+ Pages: Has your business got one?
A couple of days ago Google announced that it was finally allowing businesses to create a Google+ page which immediately opened the floodgates for business trying to get in on the action. Like us, you may have been slightly disappointed with what you found.
The thing that struck us first was really the lack of verification needed to set up the page and considering the emphasis that Google has been putting on the validity of data within their products its quite surprising. One way they have done this is within Google Places they have recently made it possible for users to comment on the locations of listed businesses, provide phone numbers and even URLs to the company’s website which is a really engaging way for the online community to ensure that all the information on Google’s searches are correct. For example, when users search for ‘web designers Birmingham’ and get a list of local web design businesses, they are able to personally update any contact information that they know which can be very helpful. However, it seems that Google+ pages may seem slightly open to spammers and we could well see a lot of false accounts making news soon enough!
Another mild annoyance is that within Google’s terms and conditions it forbids Google+ page owners to run competitions, coupons or any direct promotions on the page itself which is a substantial limitation in itself and could play a fairly large role in its competition with Facebook pages.
These points aside, there are obvious huge benefits to having a Google+ page, one of those being primarily that everything Google touches at the moment turns to gold! Google+ is still up for debate as to whether it can become a success in the long run or whether it will take the same path as Google Wave, however, increasing your brand’s social media presence is a must and simply ignoring Google+ as a valuable marketing tool could leave you with regrets in the long-term.
Our advice would be to get a Google+ page as soon as possible to simply have a presence and then try to integrate your existing social networks into this so that you don’t get left in your competitors dust! Why not check our page out while your at it 🙂
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