Google is the king of the mobile world that a lot of Apple fans love to hate. But in the social media world, more people can agree that the company’s efforts are a laughingstock. Google Wave was an interesting concept that never had the chance to shine and Google Buzz was a catastrophic failure. Google+, on the other hand, looked like something that can take on Facebook and even offered some avenues where marketers can apply the usual social media marketing strategies.
But after 4 years of operation, Google+ failed to steal people away from Facebook and Google started to slowly chop it down by splitting it away from YouTube, shutting down abandoned local pages and spinning off Google+ Photos to its own independent service. Despite all that, Google+ can still be considered a viable marketing platform for these reasons:
Niche Targeting is Still Possible
Although Facebook has more than a billion active users. Google Plus still has a bunch of vibrant communities full of active folks. The Android community has more than a million users and app developers still like using Google+ to gather beta testers. If you are targeting a specific niche, you might be able to find some quality people in Google+.
Having a Google+ Presence Adds Credibility
People tend to trust companies more if they have an established presence in Facebook. But Facebook pages are pretty easy to make these days and there are places where you can just “buy” likes. Showing to your audience that you have a Google+ page as well just shows that you are spending extra effort on social media marketing. Having a wide presence across different social media platforms makes your business more believable.
Larry Page Still Loves Google+
Outgoing Google CEO Larry Page said he still loves G+ even as he shifts his responsibilities to Alphabet – Google’s parent company. The fact that the top executives still have faith in the company shows that creating a presence in Google+ won’t be a waste of time. There are people growing tired of Facebook and Google+ can capitalize especially if it starts innovating and adding new features.