I know, everyone's really excited that Google+ now has pages for businesses. I was among the first to run to the site and establish my page. I had a few issues, but all in all it's definitely a cool experience. (If anyone is having issues switching between page and profile this article will help).
But now it's time to chill a little... Google Plus isn't killing Facebook Fan Pages just yet...
Facebook Needn't Worry For Now
As nifty as it is that Google is getting into the social game, I don't think Facebook needs to shake in their boots. Not for a little while yet. Why?
My Dad isn't on Google plus, and my guess is, neither is yours.
Or, for that matter, very many "average" people over the age of 40. I say average in the sense of "not particularly social media savvy." You know, the ones who use Facebook to connect with friends, look at pictures of their family, and get news from some of their favorite brands. These are the people that lots of companies are trying to market to. And they can't market to people who aren't on a platform...
Currently, there's really just four types of businesses who will get viable leads from having a Google Plus business page:
1. You sell something to Social Media enthusiasts
2. You are a B2B (business to business) company
3. You sell something to tech geeks
4. You're a news source
I'm not saying this will be that way forever, but if I were running the marketing of a company, I would focus more of my dollars on developing a Facebook presence for the "everyone else" and a Twitter presence for the customer support experience.
Even my Dad is starting to realize that he can get a quicker answer from @askamex than he can from waiting on the phone for 25 minutes.
Google Plus has a lot of potential, but they have yet to open their API properly, get third party apps like MarketMeSuite and Hootsuite to include them as part of the mix. It's not even part of Klout yet. There's still a ways to go...
Create a presence, but don't expect leads...
There will come a time that Gplus is integrated into all the tools you use, I think it's a good idea to grab your Gplus page, post on it, and get comfortable with it, sure. But as someone who has run a couple of small businesses, the only thing that matters in the end is can you convert leads? Just focus on places that you can improve your bottom line for now and think about it. Is your customer savvy enough to be on Google Plus yet?