10 Things to know about Google+

While Google+ pages continue to thrive, here is a list of 10 things you should know when considering whether to create a Google+ page for your brand or business.

1. There are already about 100 million users, so since its launch just a few short months ago, it is already ⅙ the size of Facebook, which has 600 million users.

2. The default privacy settings are set to public, so keep this in mind when creating your profile or business page.

3. Pages have the option to show your business’s location on Google maps.

4. If you are going to set up a business page, link it to an email address that can be accessed by all of your team members because you do not have the option to “add admins” as you do on Facebook. You will most likely not want several admins or team members signing in to your personal Gmail account.

5. Googles Direct Connect Feature allows you to enter a “+” before a search query and be taken to a company’s Google+ page.

6. Google intelligence is pretty skilled in finding and stopping spammers by watching how they try to influence search results.

7. Websites using Google’s +1 button get 3.5 times more traffic

8. At the moment, a Google+ page’s circles are defined as ‘following’, ‘customers’, ‘VIPs’, and ‘team members’. This allows you to target specific groups and create posts that will capture their attention specifically.

9. The primary age group of Google+ users among males and females is between the ages of 25 and 34 with 13% female users and 22% male users. This number drops dramatically in other age brackets, around 5-8%.

10. “Hangouts” is a feature that allows you to start live group video chats with anyone, up to 10 people at once. This is a unique feature not offered on Facebook or Twitter and could definitely be useful for businesses (small webinars, conference calls, etc.).

I have already found Google+ pages to be very beneficial, as there is only relevant, useful information in the posts. It’s a refreshing way to avoid the meaningless chatter on other social networks. Let us know if you have created a Google+ page and what you think of it!