Google+ is, by all accounts, a most viable and valuable social media outlet and marketing tool. However, it seems, in some small business circles, that this burgeoning site may be falling victim to its own novelty. In fact, it’s just possible that many small business owners don’t even know what it is.
A recent Reply.com small business survey included, among numerous other topics, a few questions about social media marketing – namely, “What FREE social media platforms do you use to promote your business?” and “Which social media platforms do you PAY for promotion services?”
Oddly enough, a good many of those surveyed (12.6%) placed Google+ – a FREE service – in the second category of compensated promoters.
The 49.2% of Question 1 – in comparison to Facebook’s 68.7% and Twitter’s 32.8% speaks highly of the services rendered by Google+. Of this, the corporation should be duly proud. However, it is that 12.6% that must give them pause.
It is true that some Google services (such as AdWords and AdWords Express) are pay services, so perhaps this is the point from which the confusion stems. Maybe the small businesses surveyed here thought “Google+” meant Google plus all other services offered under the banner of the Google name.
If that is the case – which it certainly seems to be – Google has much leg-work left to do so that it can educate its small business customers about Google+ and the helpful benefits it offers. Without such education in place, both Google itself and the small businesses which could be making valuable use of Google+ are missing out.
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