I had this post all set out in my mind, and then I read “Why Google Has the Hammer to Make Businesses Use Google Plus” by Jay Baer, and realized he said all I was going to say and so much more.
Here’s one of many killer quotes from this must-read post:
Here’s the scenario I see unfolding before the end of 2011, and possibly before Labor Day. Google opens up business pages on Plus to Adwords customers. Any clicks and +1 (Google’s version of Facebook “like”) your business content receives on Plus has a direct impact on your organic search engine rankings, while your Facebook activity continues to have no impact.
Many have mocked the +1 button saying it has no useful function, but they way underestimated Google’s intentions. The unveiling of Google+, along with the new social media reports available in Google Analytics if you have a +1 button on your site, signal that Google is poised to make +1 a major player in how its search results are formulated. Ready Jay’s post linked above for more on this.
As I said this weekend (“Should Your Brand Be on Google+? (Yes, But Not Quite Yet)“), you should do everything you can to learn about Google+ and be ready for when Google introduces Google+ pages for brands (which they say they will soon). But above all, learn to be social, not just “do” social.
