I’ve been interested in joining Google+ for some time now. I’ve even received a few invites from fellow writers to join this new social networking site. However, I’ve been sitting on the fence, wondering if Google+ would be a better place than Facebook to build my name and create buzz for my books? Curiosity finally got the best of me, so I asked my friend, Mike Barcroft–CEO of Sprightly Software, a computer programming company–how Google+ is working for him.
Here is what he had to say.
Deanna: When did you sign up to Google+?
Mike: We signed up on November 7th, the first day business pages became available on Google+. For some time before that, we had been eagerly anticipating its release.
Deanna: How do you compare it with Facebook?
Mike: Google+ has many of the features Facebook has, including an easy method to share ideas, videos, links, and photos. It improves on Facebook in a number of ways, introducing the concept of circles. A circle is a group of friends you’d like to communicate to in a certain way. For instance, you might have one circle that includes your work colleagues, another that includes your bowling team, and another circle that includes your family. You can make posts that are only visible to certain circles, so your work colleagues don’t see pictures from your last bowling tournament and your friends don’t get bored with posts about your work.
For businesses, Google+ makes a great alternative or compliment to Facebook. One downside with Google+ is that you can’t create a friendly URL, as you can with Facebook. So, instead of being able to tell users to visit us at http://facebook.com/sprightlysoft, we need to tell them to visit http://plus.google.com/100318870564147305477. I suspect Google will add a feature to get a shorter URL in the future, but for now, that’s one sore spot.
Deanna: Do you think Google+ is a better marketing tool than Facebook?
Mike: We’ve certainly seen a faster uptick in new followers than we’ve seen on Facebook. Part of this may be due to the industry we’re in, and it may be that Google+ appeals more to technically savvy users. Whatever the reason, we’ve been very happy with the results thus far. It remains to be seen whether Google+ or Facebook make better marketing tools for business, but it will ultimately depend on how well of a job Google does attracting users, and how well of a job Facebook does retaining existing users.
Deanna: Will Google+ stimulate sales?
Mike: I think every marketing effort bares some fruit and Google+ is no exception. Technically oriented businesses will benefit the most initially, as most of Google+’s existing users are early adopters. But as time moves on, Google+ will have a larger and more broad audience.
Deanna: Do you think that it will one day overtake Facebook?
Mike: This will largely depend on which company can build the biggest and best ecosystem. Facebook has the first-starter advantage. Google has some advantages because of its cell phone operating system and search capabilities. But will they be able to leverage their existing technology to build a better social network? It’s still too early to tell.
Well, that answers my questions. Google+ and Facebook are both good equally good social networking sites for business owners. Since Google+ is still very new, it can only get bigger and better with the passage of time. Now would be a good time to jump on board. After all, it won’t hurt to be involved on two social networking sites. Many people are already doing it.
To learn more about Mike’s business, visit Sprightly.ca.