From its very beginning, Google+ has been in a steep competition with Facebook. Nonetheless, despite their effort and the millions of users Google+ has gathered since its release last summer, it simply did not manage to diminish Facebook’s market share or impede its growth. Based on this fact alone, many saw Google+ as a failed project and were in a hurry to predict its doom.
However, can you really make a comparison between two social networks that address different target audiences? While Google+ was unsuccessful in stealing regular users from Facebook, the truth is that in less than one year, it became the ultimate tool for any business that wished to enhance its online presence.
Google+’s role in the organizational environment
Even though social connectivity of the enterprise is a crucial aspect in any successful business, statistics indicate that the popularity of the traditional communication services for organizational purposes is in decline. However, this decline should not be interpreted as a fundamental shift of the organizational values, but rather through the perspective that corporations are looking for something else. More precisely, businesses are searching for connectivity solutions that incorporate social collaboration, communication and social network features. In other words, companies are looking for the services that are currently provided by Google+.
It’s all about the easy and fast access!
As Google is well aware of the fact that organization is essential in a large corporation that wants to be efficient, they embedded the concept of circles. Even though the idea behind the Google+ circles is not new, its functional features is what companies will find very useful. Basically, the circles permit companies to create various groups for each department, partners, clients and so on. Besides organizing the enterprise, these groups will save the company a lot of time and allow each department to develop its own approach to sharing content. In addition, because the circles can be shared and new users can be easily added, it will considerably simplify the accommodation period for new employees.
Why are traditional communication services losing ground?
Currently, multinational and national corporations are spending a hefty sum of cash annually on video conferences and phone meetings. However, companies could take advantage of the Hangouts plugin and significantly reduce those costs. The Hangouts plugin was released in March and because it includes word processing, editing and real-time document sharing, it is already perceived positively by employees. Considering its success and its potential in eliminating organizational costs, some users are already suggesting incorporating Google Voice, dial possibilities and video streaming into Hangouts.
Search Plus Your World
While many have condemned Google’s Search Plus Your World feature, the truth is that the function can be very useful for businesses who want to raise awareness and boost their online presence. Essentially, creating Google+ profiles for your employees means that you can brand those pages with your business’s image: each time an employee share content, it could gather numerous good impressions about your business. Consequentially, this practice is not only an excellent marketing tool, but also a means of getting a new sale order or setting up a partnership.
