Do You Believe?
As you might have heard, Google+ has launched over the past week. You can find me here.
Clients are beginning to ask me is it worth it? My answer is yes. If you believe.
If you believe that the social web moves the needle for your business. If you believe that conversation and relationships are what drive sales. If you believe that interacting with human beings - using social platforms - move people to action.
Most don't believe.
In fact, a majority of small business people still need to be convinced of the value of blogging. Of Twitter. Of using Facebook for business. Of podcasting. Heck, some still need to believe that LinkedIn can drive business opportunity.
So my recommendation is this: if you are still futzin' around with and learning the value of blogging, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc...it probably isn't worth your time diving into Google+. Yet.
How will I use Google+? I will use it as a better way to keep in touch with close friends. I will use it as a way to deepen relationships with people I want to get to know better. And of course, I will use it for prospecting...both for new business and to recruit guests for all my radio shows.
Google+ does two things that change the game, in my opinion. One, they have a feature called Hangouts, where you can have a group video chat with up to ten people. Think of the collaborative opportunities with that... Two-way skyping is so 2010. Ten-way collaboration, learning, sharing...now that's social, and that's powerful...
And two, you can very easily group your connections into small, organized groups, called Circles.
Why does Circles matter? On Twitter, for instance, when I share a news article, my entire following of 5,100+ sees it. On Circles, if I only want my close friends to see something, I can opt for that. If I build a circle for prospects, which I've done, then I can choose to only share content with my prospects.
Circles makes it very easy to target specific content with a specific audience. You can do this on Facebook, but it isn't easy and it is very cumbersome. And you can't do it on Twitter.
For me, I will be very strict in who I let into my Google+ world. I am only connecting with people I know, and very specific people that I want to get to know. I am NOT blindly following anyone who wants to connect. My Twitter and Facebook worlds are too big. With Google+, I will closely monitor who I let into my little world.
So, Google+ is a game changer, in my opinion. But don't join in just to half-ass it. If you believe that social connection matters, if building and cultivating human relationships matter, Google+ might be the best social network yet.
But don't engage anywhere on the social web until you believe...
