Google Plus and the Internet E-entrepreneur

The internet fraternity is abuzz with news on Google Plus and its many new and unique features. This self-proclaimed Facebook competitor and social media alternative is being eyed upon by marketing strategists worldwide because of its immense online marketing potential. A great deal has been said and written about the importance of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter for social media marketing. Much if not most of the theoretical framework which has evolved around social media marketing so far also applies to Google Plus. We will share some of these pointers with you but first some good news.

The Google Plus Business Pages Calendar

For once, none of us have missed the boat on social media marketing based on a brand new platform that is literally guaranteed to become popular. Google plans to launch its Google plus Business Pages by Christmas this year or sooner. The official position from Google, according to Christian Oestlien, a senior project manager at Google, is "Q-3" or the third quarter of this year. We don’t expect Google to meet this deadline since no firm announcement has been forthcoming yet. Many companies such as www.Mashable.com, for instance, chose not to wait for the launch and set up their own unofficial Google Plus business page on the existing Google Plus platform. We obviously don't want you to be doing this because Google went ahead and deleted these preemptive strikes by the boatload.

Google Plus comes with many innovative features with marketing potential. They include.

Circles

Circles are based on a friend's list concept where you can easily categorize your friends in different 'Circles.' This feature was originally designed to regulate what posts or updates one wants to share with which group of friends, family or business associates. But this feature can easily be deployed to serve business purposes where you can easily create different lists of your clients or customers and engage with them freely. Sending them regular updates about things you believe will interest them is an excellent idea. You can also post updates to your customer group with similar needs and interests. Since your customer community will have to belong to Google Plus, they can even interact with one another.

Huddles

Huddles are the group chat feature on Google Plus which uses only text. It currently has limited functionality. However, it lets you interact with an entire group of customers at a time. If you wish to interact with your customers using group video chat, also known as video conferencing, use the Hangouts feature.

Google Plus 1

We have kept the best for the last. If you have a website with a commercial intent, you need the Google plus 1 Button. Visit the Official Google plus 1 Page to learn more about the Google plus 1 button and to get the code.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/webmasters/+1/button/index.html

The Official Google plus 1 Button Page also features a wealth of resources including videos, FAQs and other ways in which the button can be used to its full potential. When your Facebook customers "Like" your business web page with the Facebook Like button, the vote filters down only to the customer's Facebook Group. With Google Plus, however, it is a whole different story. Google aggregates this cumulative data and uses it to rank web pages on its search engine results. Hence the more votes you receive, the higher the statistical possibility of your Internet property being rewarded with a higher rank in Google's search engine results pages.

Google is undoubtedly the most sought after search engine on the Internet today. It aims to provide its users with more accurate and relevant results. With Google Plus, it will be easier for Google to gather intelligence about its users, their interests, their preferred websites, images, blogs and videos. Armed with this arsenal of data at its disposal, Google can easily rate websites on its results pages. It goes without saying that the more votes you will receive with the Plus 1 Button, the more traffic you will receive and the higher your ranking of Google's search results

In spite of the fact that Google Plus is in beta and is available by invitation only, the incredible response it has received has not only turned out to be viral, it has impressed the most skeptical of skeptics. According to Andrew Lipsman, vice president of industry analysis at the Internet research and consulting company, ComScore, Google Plus received 20 million unique visitors within a few days of its launch. You already have live chat service on your website and if you don't, we can surely help you get set up. The magic button from Google is yet another way Google helps you to stand out in the crowd and enhance your visibility in the online space.