Thursday, July 14, 2011

Google+... Why does it matter to marketing professionals?

Google+ means duopoly.  Facebook's honeymoon is over.  It has a real competitor now.  The "social media" industry took another step to its maturity.  It is now Google+ vs. Facebook.  Just like Microsoft vs. Apple.  Or Toyota vs. Honda.  USA vs. USSR.

Google+ can put an end to the fragmentation in social networks.  Until now, we had Facebook for personal connections and LinkedIn for professional ones.  And most people have been separating personal and business contacts.

Google+ allows combining all your contacts in one place, organized in various "circles", like family, friends, soccer teammates, fraternity buddies, security community, blog audiences, etc.  Then you can communicate with all these circles from one command and control center.

Google+ gives us a new way to simplify and unite connections, social networking, as well as conducting business, e.g. creating user communities, doing research, managing forums, blogs, etc.  It also becomes another way to market - reach target markets, customers, partners, communicate with remote teams, generate leads / demand.

Given Google+ adoption rate stays high, it would be critical for business and marketing professionals  embracing and using it.  The exciting part is that it gives new and creative ways of reaching our audiences, which can turn into a competitive advantage for early adopters.

3 comments:

  1. Interesting points. While Google+ is the hype of the day, I don't see a lot of people abandoning Facebook.

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  2. I think it will follow the typical technology bell curve. I see a lot of innovators joining Google+. The question is when the early majority is going to join. In 2 years, I see 2-3 social networks: Google, Microsoft (which probably will acquire Twitter, maybe LinkedIn) and Facebook.

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  3. I agree that if Google+ is able to generate popularity, it will become a useful tool for marketing, reaching target audiences, communities, creating awareness for your product. However, it is not clear if it will be able to crack the competition in the social networking area. Though it has been done by Facebook when they completely took over MySpace.

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