Why to Switch from Facebook or Twitter to Google Plus?

August 14, 2011

By Zia Ul Aein

If you are one of those folks who are making use of social media for 2-3 years now then most probably you are having a set of both professional and personal accounts divided between Facebook and Twitter. It is possible that you need both Twitter and Facebook to monitor and manage your social media activities because both of the social media websites provide different options for social media marketing.

What if there is a solution which has the properties of both Facebook and Twitter?

That solution is known as Google Plus. Google Plus was released by Google a few months ago and many people didn’t pay much attention to it just like Buzz. I was myself not so moved by Google Plus but recently I decided to sign up for it and see if it’s worth using as a social media website. At the moment, Google Plus is the first website I open when I turn on my laptop in the morning and it is also in my bookmarks. I found it very useful to switch from Facebook or Twitter to Google Plus and here is why:

  1. Google Plus proved itself to be an exclusive social media platform by introducing the concept of invite-only sign ups. Those people who were always attached to the network of social media jumped right in. The system of invites created a hassle and there are so many threads over different forums with at least 2000 replies where people are only asking for invites to sign up for a Google Plus account as fast as possible.
  2. You can easily set up your profile with Google Plus once you are in the account. There are five tabs named Posts, About, Photos, Videos and +1’s. Posts will be activated automatically after the creation of your Google Plus account and in +1’s tab you will be able to see the websites, photos, videos, posts or anything you did Google Plus to. Google Plus ProfileGoogle Plus 4 Tabs
  3. There is no need to create multiple accounts at Google Plus for personal or professional use because Google Plus Circles are there. You can write anything you want to and it will only be exposed to those people to whom you want it to. There is no need to spend hours in creating lists and adding people to those lists in Facebook when you can simply drag the people in Google Plus to specific circles. I have created around 7 circles named Friends, Family, People I Sort of Know, Following, Co-workers and my Business Relationships.google-plus-circles
  4. Video Hangouts in Google Plus, in my opinion, can present a great amount of competition to Skype. The video quality is actually better than in Skype and without paying any extra money you can start a video group session. Google Plus would simply inform the people in your circle that you are hosting a video stream and you should expect anyone to join in (and maybe make some new friends).Google Plus Hangout
  5. There is one last reason but definitely not the least which made me switch my social media efforts from Facebook or Twitter to Google and that is the availability of Gmail, Google Buzz and Search at one place. I can switch between all of those services without the need of logging into multiple accounts or opening multiple tabs. I can save both time and efforts with Google Plus and you can do the same.

There is no doubt that Facebook would make use of counter marketing strategies and Twitter would keep on acting as the gold mine for people with 140 character messages but Google Plus has its own place and people are slowly realizing that. It was unbearable for Google to see Google Buzz failing but now I see their efforts proving with Google Plus.

14 Comments | Google Plus, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
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Why Your Business Needs Google Plus

July 18, 2011

Zia Ul Aein Google Plus Profile
Would you like to join another social network? Most probably not because your life is already too occupied with Facebook. What if you are told that there is a new dimension of social network which can prove to be really helpful for the promotion and marketing of your business?

It’s no other than Google Plus.

The objective of this article is not regarding the fact if Google Plus is going to be something better or worse than other marketing techniques over the internet. The objective here is to describe how you can effectively use Google Plus to provide benefit to your business.

Sooner or later, Google Plus would be able to gain position in the list of best marketing techniques therefore it is better to implement things right now instead of waiting. At the moment, Google plus is not offering profiles for businesses but it is just temporary because many things are in the beta mode. Still you can benefit from Google Plus by following simple and straight forward steps:

Sign Up

If you already have a Google Plus account or profile then thumbs up because you are good to go. In case you don’t, there are two things you need in order to get a Google Plus profile.

–    Gmail address
–    Invitation for Google Plus

Without a Gmail address, it is not possible to create a Google Plus account.

Momentarily, you have to have an invitation from someone who already has a Google Plus account in order to create a profile for yourself. Soon this requirement will be taken off and everyone will freely be able to make accounts. You can also mention your Gmail address in the comments section and I will send you the invitation so that you don’t have to wait.

Creation of a Profile

It doesn’t matter if your profile is supposed to describe all about you, it can still be used for the purposes of promotion and marketing of your business. But, how to create an effective Google Plus account which can serve the purpose of a business promotion?

Profile Picture – This is actually the very first thing you should be doing in your profile. A profile without any profile picture is an element of zero attraction. If you already have a picture of yourself or your business then excellent otherwise get up, take or fetch a picture and upload it.

Profile Content – Do not get overwhelmed with the contents of ”About” section in your Google Plus profile. Instead, be happy that you can provide so much information about yourself. Fill in as much as you can especially your occupations, educations and links to the website of your company.

Adding Videos – If you made some videos regarding your business then do not hesitate to upload them in the video section. Such things fuel your credibility in the online world.

Friends, Friends and More Friends

Social networking is all about friends. Your business can spread farther if you are having tons of friends.

Basically there are two types of friends. You can either add only those people whom you know but this will formulate a very small circle of friends or you can simply add anyone.

Adding people you don’t know is not called as spamming. You can simply add your target audience to your business profile and it can be possible that many out of those people would turn out to be your clients. This is also termed as one of the best marketing techniques.

Keep Track of the Conversations and Take Part in Them

Having a great number of friends would actually make it difficult for you to follow each and every conversation but still you can do your best. Give a Google Plus to a conversation you like, comment on it or share it with other people. It will allow more people to get connected to you if you share stuff around Google Plus.

Start Conversations

It is very important to create conversations in Google Plus. If you want to achieve the purpose of best marketing techniques then you should know that it is not enough to simply contribute in the conversation but also create them. Simply post stuff on your profile so that everyone in your list can see it on their own stream.

It is also important to keep track of those people who are engaging with your conversations so that you can also do that with theirs once in a while.

Promote! Day and Night!

You now have the amount of people you need to keep them posted about your business. Never stop promoting. Link everything about your business with Google Plus. In my opinion, soon Google Plus will be considered as an essential part of top marketing techniques and it will become impossible for businesses to promote well without it.

Also, do not forget to add the Google Plus button to your website. Your traffic is highly dependent on the number of Google Plus you will get from the visitors with the help of the Google Plus button. If you have a Google Webmaster Tools Account then you can easily track the affect of Google Plus button on the traffic of your website.

Conclusion

Forget about the fact if Google Plus is going to be something small or big. Simply utilize a promotion tool, from wherever and however you can.

Note: If you want an invite of Google Plus then do not hesitate to leave your Gmail address in the comment section.

Click here to add me in your circles of friends on Google Plus.

Posted By: Zia Ul Aein

6 Comments | Google Plus, Internet Marketing | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Best Marketing Techniques

Google Plus (Google +1) – Does ”Facebook Like” Got A Competitor?

July 17, 2011

Google recently announced its newest service and it is called as Google +1 (Google Plus). A number of questions are arising now regarding the competition between Google +1 and Facebook Like.

Can it be that Google +1 would achieve the top place in the list of best marketing techniques?

The functionality of Google +1 is not much different from Facebook Like. Google +1 is not like many other social networks over the internet. It is something different and worth using. At the moment, it is not open for businesses but that doesn’t mean that a business is not going to benefit from it. It is possible that soon Google +1 will be on the top of all promotional and marketing tools and social websites.

Google has a huge advantage of being the largest search engines and using this, a strong and immediate integration of Google plus one can be achieved. At the moment, more than 50% of traffic over the internet and on most of sites comes from Google. Facebook is trying its best to reach that level but Google +1 is already there.

best marketing techniques Google +1

best marketing techniques facebook likeWe all can agree to this fact that social networking is an essential part of online marketing. Tweets of Twitter, Likes of Facebook and now +1 of Google. Google has also the advantage of making Google Adwords more like a social networking panel by placing the Google plus one button next to every advertisement.

There is no doubt that this is going to be a great step from Google towards the trends of internet marketing but the question which needs to be answered is the intensity of competition Facebook is going to face.

The integration of Buzz was a failure on the part of Google and even though many internet users are already rushing into the scene, we still have to wait and see as how successful Google would prove to be in the case of Google plus.

Posted By: Zia Ul Aein

Comments Off on Google Plus (Google +1) – Does ”Facebook Like” Got A Competitor? | Google Plus, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
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