tiles spelling out google
Enplug

Although you’ve probably heard of Google+, it’s very likely you haven’t considered using it for your social media marketing strategy. Believe it or not, Google+ is quickly taking over social media.

With more than 300 million active users, Google+ is quickly becoming a giant in digital marketing. Not only that, but Google+ is also the second largest social network. Clearly, if you aren’t using Google+ as a part of your digital marketing strategy, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to reach more people.

Google+ is changing the way brands interact with their niche and target customers. If you’re curious about why Google+ is an essential tool for businesses, here are four ways Google+ is becoming a giant in digital marketing:

1. Boosts engagement

Google+ is an excellent social media network for building engagement for your brand. Google+ enables brands to connect their blog to Google+, encourage commenting, host Google Hangouts, and even promote Google+ content throughout the Internet with Google+ Post Ads. Research shows brands that advertise their Google+ post content receives 50 percent more engagement than traditional advertising.

Google+ posts that receive the most engagement include strong call-to-actions, appealing visuals, provide valuable content, and include lots of links. It’s also important to use hashtags that will get noticed by your target audience and help you contribute to industry conversations.

2. Creates online communities

Another way Google+ is becoming a giant in digital marketing is that it enables brands to create online communities for their business. Through Google+ Circles, you can invite people to join exclusive communities for your business and build relationships with members of your communities.

When you create an online community through Google+, it’s important to create useful content your audience will find valuable. Provide them with exclusive resources, product tutorials, and promotions that will help you build a relationship with your members of your Google+ Circle.

3. Improves customer service

Do you have a product or service that attracts a large community of customers? If so, Google+ can be a great tool for creating a hub for customer service.

Use Google+ to answer customer questions and engage with them on a daily basis. You can host webinars through Google Hangouts and even set of meeting with customers to answer their questions or teach them about your product. Google+ can also be used to create discussions regarding your product and give customers the opportunity to troubleshoot any issues they might have.

4. Creates brand exposure

Research shows 70 percent of businesses are already using Google+ to build awareness of their brand online. Google+ isn’t just another social network for your digital marketing strategy; it’s also a powerful tool for creating exposure for your brand. Google+ is a powerful tool because it improves SEO for businesses. You can create a unique URL for your Google+ page and create a meta description to describe your business.

Another way Google+ helps you build brand exposure is that you can use Google+ Authorship. Google+ Authorship is an important tool for increasing your ranking on Google because you can claim your content, which will let Google know what content you’ve published online.

Over the upcoming years, Google+ will continue to grow into a giant in digital marketing. As you continue to optimize your Google+ page, updating your profile, and sharing engaging content with your audience, you’ll begin to notice more engagement from your audience. By using Google+ has a part of your digital marketing strategy, you’ll be able to build stronger relationships with your target audience and drive more traffic to your website.

Do you plan to use Google+ as a part of your digital marketing strategy in 2015?

Ivan Serrano is a social media and business journalist from San Jose, California.