Many of our clients have had success publishing advertising, acquiring leads, nurturing relationships with current and past customers, and acquiring referrals on social media. And many of our clients and prospects are asking about Google+ (Google Plus.) googleplus

Our philosophy about any marketing tool is this: “Does it help you perform any marketing task, better or more efficiently than the other options available to you?” More specifically, our philosophy about using any specific social media platforms is yes, IF:

Most of your top ten most desired customers are active on this platform.
Most of your top ten competitors are active on this platform.

AND IF you have time and resources to devote to learning it or have a trusted partner to outsource it to, then by all means, do a 90-day evaluation. social media marketing Evaluation Actively connect with friends, fans, and thought leaders in your industry for 90 days. Publish regular updates. After of 90 days, evaluate the following:

Have you acquired any new leads directly from this platform?
Have you acquired traffic to your website from this platform (check Google Analytics or WebTrends for traffic source information.)
Have you had meaningful conversations with current, past or prospective customers using this platform?

If yes, then include Google+ part of your ongoing marketing strategy. Why Google Plus is Worth Evaluating Assuming that some of your customers and competitors are using Google+, we think it’s worth a try. Here’s why:

It’s owned by Google, which controls the majority of the world’s search traffic.
Google also owns YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, and many other products your customers and partners are probably using. The connections between these products are advantageous to people with active Google + profiles.
In our experience, Google+ is an experience in quality over quantity. We have more conversations and interactions on Facebook, but the conversations we have on Google+ are more substantial and more likely to lead to a sale.
There are fewer people on Google+, and the demographics skew older and more educated than other platforms.
Ease of use leaves something to be desired. Google+ has a slightly longer learning curve. (Anybody can use Facebook within a few minutes of logging in. Google+ requires a bit of orientation, even for social-media savvy users.)

	Google+	Facebook	Twitter	Pinterest
Post size limit	100,000 characters	63,206 characters	140 characters	500 characters
Profile	One profile photo,one to five picture photos area displayed at once, multiple text fields	One large profile photo, one smaller inset profile photo, and multiple text fields	One small profile photo and 160 characters	One profile photo, 200 characters, multiple text fields.
Video conferencing	Yes, ten people total, unlimited watch-and- listen only guests	One-on-one only	No	No
Visibility of posts	Any follower as well as the public	“Edgerank” determines which friends and fans can see your posts.	Any follower as well as the public	Any follower as well as the public
After the fact editing of posts	Yes	Sometimes, if you edit within seconds of posting	No	Yes
After the fact editing of comments	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Grouping posts with comments and responses	Yes	Yes	Not really, unless you are willing to search through every @ mention	Yes
Display of photos in posts	Yes	Yes, but smaller in size unless you choose to “feature” it.	No, reader must click on a link	Yes
Display photo albums in posts	Yes	Yes, but probably 80% as good as Google +s	No	No

Table from “What the Plus? Google+ for the Rest of Us” By Guy Kawasaki Aviation-Related Google+ People and Pages If you’re just getting started on Google+ and looking for some industry pages to start your network-building, here are a few we recommend:

And of course,

Aviation Business Consultants International (ABCI)

Of course, there are thousands more pages we could include; we’re compiling a more complete list for a future article. Send us your suggestions! Need some assistance getting started with Google+ or any other social media platform? Wondering if it’s a good opportunity for you? Have concerns? We provide a competitive analysis with our Marketing Flight Plan that includes a social media evaluation of your competitors, and a detailed set of recommendations that you can follow with or without our ongoing involvement and assistance. Or, you can simply find 30 minutes on our calendar for a quick discussion and we’d be happy to discuss the options with you..