As anyone can tell from Google’s stock on the trade market, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Google+ is a testament to the new technology in search engine features, which Google continues to improve upon. This awesome Google software enables social media to reach new heights from either your smartphone or your computer. It’s a combo of Facebook, Facetime and Skype all rolled into one.
There was a brief hullabaloo after the launch of Google+ at the lack of Business Pages, an innovation that had showed itself on Facebook and even Youtube, the world’s second most popular search engine that also happens to be owned by Google. However, the problem was soon addressed and companies were given a separate space and set of rules to create entities on Google+.
Like any other social media, Google+ must be utilized correctly to see any real movement from you audience, and though G+ has many elements culled from other social media all-stars, it manages to be its own beast. In my experience, I’ve noticed tech companies (see: popular cloud computing company Rackspace) have been better at pulling together the most significant parts of their business into a + page.
The use of Google+ can accomplish a great deal. Initially, businesses need to sign up for a Google account, and then they are able to access and sign up for and into Google Plus. Businesses can create sharing circles, a feature which allows them to connect immediately with several clients all at once to let them know about important and upcoming dates and events. The sharing circles can have as few as one client to as many as you would like, and one click connects you to them.
Another handy feature for businesses is the Hangout. Although frequently used for live, face-to-face web chats with friends, this feature enables business meetings anywhere in the world with up to nine people in attendance, essentially approximating a conference call without the high connection fees. If a business needs to connect to their branches in foreign countries for board meetings, staff/employee trainings, or whatever other group activity needed, Hangout is a viable option.
With regard to meetings, companies can also use Google Plus for its IM technology. This is lightening fast, and much more efficient than trying to use Facebook or coordinating meeting times with others that don’t have texting on their phones. It eliminates the hassle of trying to reach people by phone as well, as some people just don’t have the time or appropriate place to answer phone calls during the workday.
For any business to be taken seriously, the additional features of Google Plus should probably remain outside the office and for personal use only. Unless you happen to be close friends with everyone you do business with, sending out jokes, personal emails or irrelevant and non-business updates just isn’t a good idea. It shows a lack of professionalism and how the company approaches its consumers and clientele, and nobody wants to do business with jokers. Well, most of the time.
All told, Google+ is an open book when it comes to utility. It certainly can be used for personal interactions, but its structure is such that, you could incorporate its use into a business atmosphere to gain the functionality of Google’s other products (Docs, Gmail, etc.), while not having to remember logins to services like Yammer and Chatter that basically do that same thing as Facebook albeit in a business atmosphere.
