The digital development talk is currently focused on G+ and Google Plus Search Your World. However, in the UK is this a commercial viable thing to focus lots of energy on?
In 2011, Google and Bing made it publicly known that social signals would influence / multiply search engine rankings. Simplistically, G+ like any other social media platform should be a consideration for comments / sharing. Last year, UK research showed that there was ambiguity in what Google+ was. This year, in US search circles Google Plus Search Your World is creating a lot of noise. Sure, technically it is awesome but again, as a UK Marketing Director or a small business Company Director what should you be doing about it?
As ever with the enfant like digital world, lots of questions. Tactically I believe that +1 sharing buttons should take up as much real estate as Facebook or Twitter. This answers part of the question in terms of how you want your website users to operate in terms of sharing your content.
G+ in the UK? According to Hitwise UK, G+ isn’t in the top 10 social media sites but then they have 91% of the search engine market share. However LinkedIn’s market share of 0.96% puts them 8th in the UK but due to the nature of their core application there is much business to be done through this B2B / recruitment channel. When you develop a Facebook page you then have brand, email marketing, community management and promotional activity to get any traction. I see G+ in a similar way but then Google can and will put their foot on the gas by pumping traffic through from their almost monopolistic search engine results pages.
Yep, you should get a company page if you have a constant stream of decent content going into your website / other existing social channels. Keep a close eye on the US brands such as the NFL teams to see what tactics work in terms of circle development and experiment with ‘hang outs’.
What will Google Plus Search Your World mean in the UK this year? Well, you have to remember that Google’s pedigree in mass market social media is poor to say the least – wave / buzz – need I say more. The power of the tech might be wasted on people that merely want a central hub that everyone thinks of as ‘cool’. However, don’t under estimate the power of companies following suit. Today when playing around on Google Search Plus Your World I noticed that you get the National Lottery results on G+ (obviously easy to set up) – couple this with the high rankings and you have a formidable new proposition.
Is this time for a new search engine to clean up?