Google+ really has developed into an essential platform to build your brand and make connections. It has dozens of features and benefits for businesses and websites and is now the second largest social network. Whether you new to Google+, or already quite active, I have created this Slideshare presentation (below) for you with three great reasons to increase your #GooglePlus activity in 2014:

1. Google+ is at the core of Google’s semantic search

It goes without saying that it is important for your business to be easily found on Google. The way Google processes and serves search results has evolved and is known as semantic search. Social signals are now used in semantic search to return results. I’ll give you one guess which social network has the strongest social signals as far as Google is concerned. When your business and website are linked to your Google+ profile(s) your activity on Google Plus has a significant impact how your website is displayed in the search results. For an introduction to semantic search I recommend watching David Amerland‘s excellent video.

2. Google+ has close to a billion registered users

Search Engine Journal recently reported that Google Plus now has close to 1 billion registered users and that the Google +1 button is used 5 million times per day. Google+ has become a hub of activity and the sooner that you (and your business/ website) get involved the better. The audience and potential customer base is simply to great to ignore. The brand building opportunities are better and more accessible than on any other social network and with so many users it is ideal for building important relationships.

3. Google+ is ideal for building important relationships

Google+ makes it very easy to manage and develop relationships with ‘Circles‘. You will quickly find that through regular activity and engagement you will develop excellent relationships from all corners of the globe. Google Translate has been integrated with Google+ so there isn’t even a language barrier. Some of the relationships that you build on Google+ now could lead to business and branding opportunities that you would otherwise miss out on. Remember social media isn’t where you make sales, it’s where you make relationships. Like Scott Stratten says: If you believe business is built on relationships, make building them your business.

Resources

Google Semantic Search – what’s it all about? ~ by Martin Shervington

How Semantic Search Changes The Way You do Business ~ by Ray Hiltz

Managing Google+ Relationships through Circles ~ by Kapil Jekishan

If you found value in this post you might also like:

There are more reasons to join Google Plus than to not
Why You Need to Use Google+ for Business
5 Google Chrome extensions to help improve social media productivity

Image credits [Wikimedia Commons] SlideShare [Social Strategies] Video [David Amerland - YouTube]

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