I am asked, nearly daily, some sort of question about Google Plus. They range from mind numbing questions like.. Do you call it Google Plus or Google+ or G+? …to can I use HootSuite to post to G+? All of them are good questions..well almost all of them. There is one question I get asked over and over that really comes in the form of a statement or remark but forms into a question related to..Why should I use G+?
WHY?
The statement I hear the most usually comes from an acquaintance asking me why they don’t see me on Twitter or Facebook anymore. The conversation then goes to me replying that I find G+ more beneficial to both professionally and socially. Then that brings on the remarks that usually go like this…
“..Really!?!, I used Google+ and just don’t get the interaction I get from Facebook or Twitter. I hear there just are not that many people on G+ for it to be taken seriously as a place to get a message out on a cause.”
Then here comes the question that follows…so why should I waste my time on G+?
Reason
What I find out, from the countless times I have drilled down to the root reason these people have with feeling G+ does not have the interaction as other social spaces, has to do with how they are using G+..or the lack of using G+ maybe more accurate. As I stand there listening to their rant on how lame G+ is for any business endeavor I make a quick search on my phone of their G+ profile to find they have nearly nothing in their profile and 90% of the time post only links to their Facebook posts. This generally shows me they are trying to use G+ as Facebook and not as what G+ is to be used for.
Lack of Understanding
Obviously, there are still a large number of people who want G+ to be Facebook. Why? The answer to WHY usually has to do with how people deal with the need to Change.
Lack of understanding of how G+ really works and knowing it’s underlying benefits rank very high as another reason why people are not grabbing what G+ does the other spaces can touch. Maybe this is the fault of Google and how they are marketing the platform..or lack of marketing on how the platform is to be used.
Peer Pressure
Peer pressure plays a large part with why many people shun away from finding out how G+ works. There is a fear many people have with losing whatever influence they feel they have on other spaces.
The fear of being looked down at as a trader to others who are influential to so many people offline also keeps many people from venturing over to G+ with an open mind to finding the value of G+.
Of course, many people do not like the thought of starting over which everyone who enters G+ in the right mindset has to do. For many, starting over would be a good thing, but that requires positive thinking which leads to why most people who make these statements on their not being any interaction on G+ tend to not be very positive thinkers.
Social is Interacting
I have always said to those who seem to think their is no interaction on G+ that there will not be any interaction until there is some interaction. You have to use G+ to get anything out of it and what I am finding is people are not using G+. If they would spend half the time they spend on other spaces on G+ I am for certain they would not get telling they don’t see any interaction on G+.
Whether you call it Google Plus, Google+ or G+ makes no difference, but makes for the first question you should post from G+..I’ll be there to answer it..as will millions of others.
Bottomline: Social networking and social media is changing to Social Search. To be part of the new dirction social is moving you will have to be on G+. The sooner you get on G+ the sooner you will gain traction. To benefit from Google Plus you have to be interactive. You have got to use G+ to get anything out of it, so Use It, will ya?
Let me know how I can help.
