Google+: plus one ranking for jewellery businesses

Posted October 09, 2012 |

Google+ arrived on the social media scene last year declaring it would challenge Facebook’s dominance. So far that hasn’t eventuated. But with around 100 million profiles created, it is still the gate-keeper to a substantial database of potential customers. Here are some of the positives and negatives.

Plus: Integration with Google search results
Much like the “tweet” and “share” buttons on most web pages that enable readers to share their findings with online communities, Google+ has a ‘+1’ button. The great benefit of Google’s social media platform, though, is that this +1 button can contribute to the rankings of Google’s regular search results, meaning web pages that are popular with Google+ users can appear higher up the list.

In fact, a recent study by Hubspot.com showed that websites with a ‘+1’ button generated 3.5 times more traffic from Google+ than websites without one, and that’s reason enough to install it even if a business doesn’t have a Google+ presence.

Plus: Google hates spammers
Where there is internet, there is spam. Fake Twitter accounts and Facebook viruses pop up endlessly to try and trick users into endorsing
or visiting a particular website, product or service. Google’s +1 rating system also seems like it could be easily manipulated by automated bots; however, Google monitors profiles that only share and vote for content on one website, then works to remove them.

Plus: Know the influencers
Public relations has long been focused on finding the key media influencers who have the greatest reach to spread the word about a company. With the advent of blogging and other social media, amateur writers and full-time networkers have gained prominence and power, and their approval is highly sought.

Google+ makes it easier to find out who those key influencers are. With ‘Ripples’, Google collates all the users who have publicly shared PR material and the spread of a message can be tracked in a simple infographic. This allows businesses to better identify the right targets when looking to spread a message as quickly as possible, be it a promotion, announcement or perhaps just a blog post.

Minus: Is anyone really using it?
Just like Twitter, a business should consider whether its target markets are really using Google+ before investing time and energy into a page there. Socialrabbit.net reports that there are currently 1.4 million Google+ users, and that they are predominantly male (67 per cent) and aged 18-24 (44.9 per cent).

A good indicator is to investigate whether your competition is using Google+ and whether there is much discussion related to jewellery. Jeweller’s research suggests there isn’t but this doesn’t mean that there isn’t a demand for it. Ultimately, it could come down to someone bold enough to lead the way.

Minus: apps aren’t up to scratch
Facebook may have been late in making its mobile app truly engrossing – it wasn’t seen as a priority because of the difficulty in serving
advertisements – but the world’s largest website eventually realised the importance of the increased traffic and dependency that a great app could bring.

Perhaps as a strategic move against mobile-technology competitor Apple, Google+ hasn’t made all of the platform’s features available through the iPhone app. This could easily discourage mobile browsers from joining Google+ .

Minus: It’s not particularly pretty
Facebook’s new Timeline page design can look spectacular, especially when loaded with a panoramic cover photo, pictorial history and HTML integration. On the flipside, Google+ is fairly bland by comparison, and jewellery retailers may find that the format fails to reflect the beauty of their products.