Google Plus - I Drank The Kool Aid

Anyone who has spent some time with me lately, or is a friend with me on Facebook, knows that I’ve taken the 30 day challenge with Google Plus.  What is the challenge you ask?  Stay off of Facebook for 30 days, and put those efforts and time into building your Google Plus network.  For the month of January, I did just that.

What did I learn from those 30 days without Facebook?  First, that it’s possible!  I didn’t have the shakes or sweats. No withdrawal symptoms associated with my “vacation”.  Second, I learned the differences between the two social media platforms.  Google Plus is about content, new connections with people that have similar interests, and is much better organized.  Facebook is about friends, family, and what your high school buddy from 20 years ago ate for dinner that night (sorry, I hate seeing pictures of people’s food).

From a business point of view, Google Plus is a very powerful networking tool.  The introduction of Google Communities is huge!  What are Google Communities?  Google Communities basically allows people with similar interests to connect easily in a single location.  Do you like golf?  There’s a Google Plus Community (GPC) for that.  Are you into Android or Apple?  There’s many GPC’s for you.  Are you a Magento developer or designer?  Guess what, there’s GPC’s for you as well.

Let’s say you are a business sells high end clothing accessories and shoe polish (Kirby Allison Hanger Project)?  Well guess what, there is a GPC about mens fashion and accessories that has 14,000 members.  You get where I’m going with this don’t you?  The point is, you can connect and network with people that are in your “sphere of influence” easily.  And what’s even more powerful about all of this…Google crawls Google Plus.  Does Google crawl Facebook and Twitter?  NO!  To better explain this, I was enlightened by Mark Traphagen’s article, “Your Google Plus Network Is More Powerful Than You Know”.

Over the next few weeks, I will update you on my Google progress and all the cool new things that I’m learning.  One thing’s for certain, I drank the Google Kool Aid!  If you are interested in joining your first Google Community, please check out our E-Commerce Success Group and follow Razoyo on Google Plus.