This is a guest post by Jeff Gross. Jeff is a consultant and content contributor for new Queens homes community.
Social networking has become a treasure trove of new clientele for the companies that know how to do it the right way – doing it right involves creating natural conversations and targeting an audience that is interested in your product. However I’m sure the “how” of social networking will be covered at another time. For now, which is better, the new Google social network adventure or the tried and tested Facebook?
Google+
You may not have heard of it yet, but chances are you will. Yes the end-all be-all of internet, Google, has created a social network platform with the somewhat lofty goal of rivaling Facebook. For those who track what’s going on in the online world, this is not Google’s first attempt at this. The last was remarkable only in its utter lack of success in comparison to everything else Google tries. Will this time be better?
As with most consumer based products—and it is a product despite their insistence that it be called a “project”—it is nearly impossible to tell at this point, but it has potential. Here are some positives to creating a Google+ page for your company:
- It is backed by the most powerful company on the internet, and they seem committed to making it work this time.
- They claim much of their software is better than Facebook. Is it possible for a multibillion dollar internet corporation to create code better than a few college kids living in a dorm? We’ll see.
- They do have a lot (we’ve been notified) of new free stuff not available on Facebook. That might be worth checking out at least.
The real victim no matter what happens is MySpace. Whatever happened to that site? Facebook has become the most popular social network, exponentially out performing other social networks. It is second in overall visits to any site, only Google gets more visits… and a bunch of people visiting Google are probably looking for one Facebook page or another. Here are the somewhat obvious benefits:
- Tons of users
- People are used to it, they’re not used to Google+
- Proven natural traffic
- Simple to setup and to use
- Well-known and used worldwide
Conclusion
You need a Facebook page, and you need to learn how to market your product or service the right way using social networks. There is a right and wrong way, and a series of ads and hard sells aren’t going to get the traffic you need. There are tons of helpful articles that can show you how to promote your Facebook page the right way. In addition, though not mentioned here, Twitter is a great “gateway” to both your Facebook and website, and there are a number of programs that allow you to make simultaneous updates to both your Facebook and Google pages so this may be something to look into.
As for Google+, right now it is too early to say. It is not harmful, so if you have the time making a page is a good idea. How much time you spend on updates etc. is up to you, but right now Facebook should still be the priority.
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