How You Can Effectively Use Google My Business

The most recent offering from the folks at Google is directly relevant to small and local business. Google My Business is a one-stop page for merchants to manage their presence on various Google products, from search, maps and Google+, Google Analytics, and even Hangouts. This is Google’s attempt to take some of Facebook’s thunder, by allowing its users to post and share news, events and images once, and see them populate over the entirety of their Google services.

Google says it’s working on transitioning all business accounts that are on Google+ or Places for Business, and you should see this in the near future. There’s also an Android app now, and the iPhone app will follow soon.

The one clear advantage this platform will have is that all of your information will be centrally located, and can be populated to your Google properties with no more effort on your part. In fact the first thing you see when you log into Google My Business is your company’s information that’s been taken from Google+, Places and Maps. You can easily edit to update or change any information you find there.

Next up is the heart of the operation. On one simple screen you can access the following:

• Google+ Shares
• Google Insights
• Customer Reviews
• Google Analytics
• Google Hangouts

It’s easy to access these form here, and you can do anything you’d normally be able to do, even start a Hangout. You can reach those functions from this screen and add content, manage review and also start a Hangout.

Is this the end of Google+?

It might be too soon to tell what this all means for Google+. For now, just think of this as a change of address. At this point there doesn’t appear to be any loss of functions for Google+ and it may actually benefit from the automated atmosphere and better organization this provides.

Is Google+ Worth the Time and Effort?

Has Google+ turned into an afterthought in your social media marketing plan? When was the last time you took a look over there? You may also be wondering if Google+ is now or ever will be a viable tool for your business. You’re not alone as many are still divided as to whether to even spend any time or effort on Google+.

Why we think it’s worthwhile now and in the future!

It’s being shared that Google+ is now outpacing Twitter. Although this in no way “feels” true, it probably is. Just the proliferation of Gmail and the convenience of having Google’s entire suite of web services displayed the same time has probably sealed the deal. Not just that, but since Google Plus Local Listings already features such small business services as Zagat, StreetView and Google+ User ratings, it has effectively replaced Yelp.

The development of Google Hangouts, for example, has a direct effect on where Google+ is headed as well. The cabability to use a Hangout, as an alternative to say Skype, to do any sort of video conferencing, is a tremendous advantage. While it’s true that in its beginnings Hangouts is a little clunky and difficult to grasp, once you do, it’s miles ahead of the competition. Merely the ability to have your Hangout automatically recorded and uploaded to YouTube is enough to swing the scales in their favor.

So how are businesses using Google+?

There are scads of ways to apply Google+ in your small business. A few would include:

• Build networks of like-minded people with Google+ Circles
• Use #hashtags to help posts appear in Google search
• Be sure and Link Google+ to your blog or site, and obtain the Google Authorship benefit in the search pages
• Use Google Hangouts for webinars, meetings, launches, interviews or you name it!
• Use tags to reach out to people directly

To check out a wonderfully comprehensive selection of strategies and infographic for Google+, see this informative article on Copyblogger. Google+ might not seem like it’s worthy of effort just yet, but we feel as though it is both in the present and long-term!