Despite its reputation as a ' ghost town' social media outlet, Google+ has gained traction in the social media space, with Google+ marketing on a steady incline. In fact, Adweek reports that the site now has the same number of users in the United States as Twitter.
These findings were revealed in a new study released by Forrester Research. According to the report, 22 percent of the 60,000 people surveyed said they use Google+ each month. This falls right in line with the percentage that visits Twitter every month. However, there is a large gap between these sites and Facebook, with 72 percent of those surveyed reporting they visit the site each month. However, Google+ did receive more visitors than several other social media websites, including Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
A highlight from the study, however, is the level of brand engagement Google+ can create. According to Nate Elliott, a Forrester researcher, the site is working for the top brands, which have collected 90 percent as many fans on Google+ as on Twitter.
'Google+ can deliver bigger audiences and deeper engagement than you think-and even offers marketers clear advantages over Twitter,' Elliott writes in the report.
This goes to show that while Google+ marketing isn't going to knock Facebook out of the water anytime soon, it is still a force to be reckoned with. Leading brands also tend to have more followers on Google+ than on YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram combined, according to Elliott.
Engagement level is another consideration. The Forrester Research survey also shows that of the 2,500 branded posts they studied across all the popular social networks, Google+ posts saw nearly twice as much engagement via '+1,' comments, and shares than through tweets.
In terms of content marketing, maintaining a presence on the site and actively participating in Google+ marketing is essential. Not only does posting there foster more engagement, but it also has a direct effect on how content is ranked in Google search engine results.
According to Search Engine Land, now that Google Authorship is fully established, it is essential to at least create a Google+ profile and use the 'rel=author' link on content. This ensures articles appear optimized with a photo of the author in the search results. And, from all indications, being active on Google+ helps to further boost site position in the search engine results pages.
Brenda Barron is a writer and social media strategist from southern California. She primarily writes about the convergence of technology and business, with an emphasis on social media and content marketing. Outside of The Content Standard, her work appears on sites like Brandxten, The Motley Fool, and the Intuit Small Business Blog.
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