Is Google+ Worth Your Time? Let's Figure It Out....

Hello Red Parka friends!

We're James and Tamara Peart of Red Coat Studio. Today we're going to share our thoughts on the newest social media profile, Google+.

Is it worth having? 

How should you use it? 

Is it better than Facebook? 

These are the questions we are going to try to answer. If you are running an indie business, either artistic or a blog, or both, almost any form of social media can be worth your time. But G+ has some perks that may make this site a little more worthwhile.

Unlike Facebook, G+ is designed to hold your public posts and your private posts all on one page. We had a public Facebook page, and of course our own personal profiles. We would have loved to post our blog posts and artwork on our page, and leave our personal thoughts on our profile. However, we found that more people responded to our posts on our profiles, which left us posting a lot of things twice. Facebook is pretty cut and dry. Post to all your friends or don't post at all. However, when we created our Google Profile we found out we had options.

Why are Google Circles Awesome?

Google+ allows to create circles, easily. Don't be afraid of the circles! In these circles you can lump together you're blogging colleges, your family, your personal friends, your co-workers and more. This way you can decide who sees your post.

For example, if you're posting something about your blog, make it public, anyone can see it, anyone can comment. Want to share a moment just for your family? Just select your family circle and they will be the only people to see that post. Maybe you've got a friend who means well, but always comments something inappropriate on your status updates. After all, you are running a business and networking your brand, and the comments you receive can effect the over all tone of your page. No worries, add them to their own circle, and exclude them from seeing certain posts. You've protected your business and haven't hurt anyone's feelings. You can choose to share with as many or as few circles as you like. Being able to easily choose who sees what, is our favourite feature of G+.

 

Rise Up in Google Searches

For all of us indie business owners, this is going to the best feature Google+ has to offer. The use of hash-tags. On your public posts you can use hash-tags, and these hashtags allow Google to add your update to their search engine. Google is the worlds most popular search engine. In fact, it's common to hear people say "Google it" instead of "look it up online". By adding these hash-tags to your artwork, and your status updates with a link to our blog, you'll be able to get more SEO traffic. I think it's safe to assume Google is going to be more inclined to use links and images from their own social media platform in their search engine.

Social Media History Lesson

There is a con, but it's nothing compared to the pros. Facebook is more popular. People are scared to change. If you've been online long enough you'll remember when MySpace wasn't just for bands, and when Facebook was just for university students. Now everyone is on Facebook, MySpace is for entertainers, and Google+ is new and scary.

Walk away from your ideal that Facebook is the end all be all, and you'll realise Google+ has much more to offer you. Google is one of the most powerful internet companies, they run Gmail, Youtube, Blogger, and the most popular search engine, so do not underestimate the inevitable migration to G+.

A Couple More Selling Points

Now we know at this point you may be confused, maybe even bored. But if you're serious about promoting your business, G+ is worth learning about.

One a personal note, we love that we can cut down on social media time, and maintain a bit of privacy, by selecting who is seeing what post. We finally feel we have more control over our social media profile.

However, there a couple more fun facts about G+ you should know about.

First is Hangouts. You can take a group of your blogging friends, offer a live Q&A session to your readers, or even have a virtual family reunion. Hangouts lets you have multiple people on webcam all able to chat with one another, at the same time.

For artists, photographers, anyone who really cares how their images are shown online, G+ has great image quality and makes it really easy to move your images around to different albums.

Do you get annoyed by all the Facebook games? Now I love a little Farmville, James hates it. Most people are quite annoyed. Google may have a game here and there, but I never see anyone playing. In fact the quality of people I see on G+ are more professional, more serious about the content they read and share. So, yeah, you get 50 likes on Facebook status, but how many are coming to your blog?

Sometimes, it's about quality not quantity. We aren't telling you to exchange one social media platform for another. We still have Facebook. What we are saying is Google+ is worth checking out. Don't be afraid!

We'd like to thank Jen for asking us to share our thoughts with you today. Usually we don't spend much time blogging about social media, but we feel the word of G+ needs to get out there more!

You can add Jen on Google here, you can add us on Google here.

Thanks Jen and to all your lovely readers!