If NOT, grab the book “What the Plus!” by Guy Kawasaki and start reading it today!
This book will change your mindset about marketing your business on Facebook or Twitter this year, TRUST ME 😉
I bought the physical book from Amazon as I like to have my books in hand when I read but he ebook is really handy to have on your computer because it has all the links built right into it to just click on, explore and learn.
Personally, I’ve been using Google+ quite a bit lately for my social marketing. So far I am finding that Google+ has umpteen more benefits for business marketing than Facebook which up until now was the main social network I’d been focusing on to market my Virtual Assistant business.
Off the top of my head here’s just a few of the benefits of using Google+:
- Did you know your Facebook page posts only get seen by a few of your friends and not all of them whereas in Google+ all your circled friends see your posts? Just look at your Facebook insights to see proof of that.
- Did you know that you can circle/follow anyone you want to follow activities of someone you are interested in? On Facebook you have to be accepted as a friend first.
- Did you know that when you post a bunch of pics in a row that Facebook will group them together as only one post whereas Google+ does them each separately? Sometimes I may post a bunch of pictures but don’t want them all grouped together as they may be on different topics and it ticks me off when Facebook groups them all as one topic.
- Did you know that with Google+ you can post up to 100,000 characters versus Facebook that only allows 65,000? It’s nice to be able to express my long winded opinion at times.
- Did you know that Google+ allows you to be able to edit your posts forever and ever AMEN? Facebook sometimes only gives you seconds to edit your post if you do a spelling error or want to revise your post.
- Did you know that Facebook is focused more on what’s going on with people like your friends and family who never seem to buy anything from you anyhow? Twitter on the other hand is focused on witnessing news and events going on at the moment and typically doesn’t include people that are wanting to buy something at the moment either. Google+ however allows you to zone in on your target market and pursue your passions and interests with like minded people in your circles that you may or may not know. Circles of people that you strategically put together to promote your interests to!
In my opinion, Google+ is much more advanced with their features and far outboasts Facebook as a social network for business. Google+ has more sophisticated and powerful features and it is just a matter of time before people realize this and move towards it.
I personally think the reason Google+ is just not that popular yet is because they missed the ship by getting into the social media realm too late. Facebook and Twitter have had a 5 year jump on them getting you used to using them as your preferred social network. (Albeit with many frustrating learning curves to their system that we’ve had to relearn time and time again).
If Facebook, Twitter and Google+ had just all premiered as a new social network yesterday guess what??? EVERYONE in business would have chosen Google+ as their preferred social network to use because of its advanced marketing features.
AND It’s just a matter of time before they do start using Google+
Google+ is here to stay so you may as well jump on the boat and enjoy the smooth sailing! Face it Google has the best tech people working for them, they OWN the search world. Heck, Google even places +1s up higher in search engine results pages which means if you aren’t using Google+ and getting some ‘lovin+plusins’ you may not even get found in the Google search results pages someday.
Personally I’m sticking with Google+ and I am going to learn as much as I can about putting it into my marketing plan as the forerunner social network for my business.
Virtual Assistants need to learn all about marketing with Google+ today!
Google has the money (and the best talent working for them) to make Google+ better too not to mention they basically own the WWW! Proof of this is their successful search engine, Chrome, Samsung phones and tablets (which now even come with Google plus preinstalled). Go Google!
If you choose one thing to do this year set up your Google+ account today. If you are already using Gmail you are halfway there 😉
I also recommend checking out all these bonus resources surrounding Google+
Guy Kawasaki’s Google book “What The Plus!” by clicking here
Follow our Google+ Community for Virtual Assistants
Here is VAnetworking’s Google+ Page to follow
Oh and add me to your circles on Google+ too!
If you are a Virtual Assistant join our VAinsiders Club for more training on Google+ plus other monthly marketing workshops.
Are you going to be using Google+ in your social marketing plan this year? If so how? If not why not?
Thanks for your post. I have been reading more and more about the advantages of G+, but haven’t gotten very far with it yet. I do use Facebook pages as well as Twitter and Pinterest, and use Hootsuite to manage my different accounts. I’m slightly confused on the difference between the personal and business pages in G+, but I’m working on that.
John I was very confused at first with profiles, business pages and communities in G+ too and which I should utilize. I decided to use my profile for business and personal and then create a Page for my business and a community surrounding my niche, Virtual Assistants. I chose my profile to have a bit of both in it so I could get more personal with my circles.
You have to make a decision if you want your profile to be personal or business at G+ or both and just go with that. I recommend having a page for your website too to share news and events at.
Here’s a few differences between Google+ profiles and pages:
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2848323?hl=en
My G+ Profile (personal & business):
https://plus.google.com/+TawnyaSutherland/
My G+ Page (business):
https://plus.google.com/+VanetworkingVirtualAssistants/
My G+ Community (business): https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/101037274760089475540
Communities are groups like-minded people that share a similar interest like I started one up for Virtual Assistants.
Since Google+ first launched I’ve liked it more than the other networks but the people weren’t there, it’s great that more people are using it now.
Sheila I’m loving it too and finding more business oriented people on it whereas Facebook is more family and friends.
I just purchased this book the other day and received it today from Amazon. It cost me about $12 including shipping, well worth it. I am already halfway through the book and am learning a ton of great information. I highly recommend everyone read it whether you get the free version, the ebook or the physical copy.
Thanks for the recommendation, as always VAnetworking is on top of the latest technologies and training programs for VAs. I have now revamped my Google+ profiles and plan to use them more than I did in the past.
Danielle, glad to see you using it more for 2014. It was a great book wasn’t it? It sure opened up my mind to the marketing potentials at G+.
Make sure you watch Lynn Terry’s module on G+ too in our Social Media Marketing Results Program we are both taking as I learned a ton from that too. Think it was module 5. Anyhow, watch it if you get the chance. This is Lynn’s program if anyone is interested in learning more. It has been invaluable to my 2014 SM marketing plan and not sure what I’d do without it and the Facebook group members receive access to. I’m forever asking questions in it LOL! http://www.vajot.com/lynnterry
Here’s my blog post on Lynn Terry’s Social Media Marketing Results Program too if you want to learn more about it: https://www.vanetworking.com/vatraining/social-media-marketing/
So many things to learn, so little time.
Danielle’s point is near and dear to me…”so many things to learn, so little time”. It’s great to have so many options, and great to see people using them. I am just getting back to Google, and am happy to see others are too. It was quite desolate for a while there!
I’m still in the research phase and a little overwhelmed from information overload. My computer skills are not that great but I’m a fast learner. I look forward to joining the VA team.
I’ve read quite a number of books written by Guy Kawasaki and I really like his insights in the industry though I haven’t ordered this one yet. I think I missed its launch despite subscribing to his FaceBook account. Judging from your recommendation, I better check this out soon. Thanks for sharing. I think this is a great investment for us in the industry.