When you think of social media, you think of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. When was the last time you saw anybody checking their Google+ account during their lunchbreak or the commute to work?

Most people don’t even know Google+ exists. Does this mean Google+ is dead? Not exactly.

In this article, I’ll explain what Google+ is and is not useful for.

Google+ is dead for promoting content and social media

If you want to build a social media presence, you should join Facebook, Twitter or Instagram depending on your industry and customer profile. All three have a much larger user base, are accessed more often by consumers and will almost always yield a better ROI in terms of time spent against engagement received.

Consumer engagement on Google+ is pretty poor in comparison to the big three I listed above. A RJMetrics study found that:

  • The average Google+ post receives less than 1 reply
  • 30% of all Google+ users never make a second post
  • The average user posts one update every 12 days

Okay, so Google+ is dead for building a social media presence, but what is it useful for?

Google+ is a must for local businesses

While Google+ may not be the best platform to increase your social media presence, it does have one thing going for it – it’s owned by Google!

Google+ allows businesses to create Google+ Pages where they can pinpoint their business on Google Maps and add themselves to business related categories. Google uses this information to then rank their Google+ accounts on their search engine for local results.
This means you can rank on the first page of Google for key search terms without implementing any SEO – almost instantly.

For example, I searched Gyms in Brisbane on Google and here are the results:

Google returns all organic search results, Google has listed all local gyms in Brisbane who own a Google+ account. It provides the searcher with the business’s website address, telephone number, directions, opening times and reviews.

If you don’t have the marketing budget to spend thousands on SEO or lack social proofing, Google+ can aid you in both. Once a Google+ Page receives 5 organic reviews, stars are allocated under their name increasing your business’s credibility.

Latest studies reveal that 88% of consumers trust an online review just as much as a personal recommendation, these reviews can be a powerful factor when prospects are deciding who to use.

Summary

Anybody who says that Google+ is dead is using it for the wrong reasons. While I’m not saying Google+ can’t be used to build a social media presence, there are platforms that do a better job at reaching that goal than Google+.

Google+ is most effective for small and local businesses who have a physical premises. Without much effort they can create a Google+ account for free and see their business listed on the first page of Google for local search results.

Click here to create your own Google+ profile for free.