It looks as though Google+ is here to stay, at least for the near future. Specialty food brands have a real opportunity to spread their brand on the web if they dig into it. Don’t believe me? Then keep reading.
Reason 1: Don’t Wait For Your Social Media Followers To Find You.
At The Condiment Marketing Co. we’ll never tell you Facebook is a waste of time. We love Facebook. However, you can’t directly invite strangers to like your page within Facebook…not without an advertisement or looking like a spammer.
Therein lies one of the magical aspects of Google+. You can add potential fans and partners to your circles without invading their personal space. (We’ll talk more about how to use Google+ in a future blog post.)
Reason 2: 500 Million Potential Customers Are Waiting.
Google says there are more than 500 million Google+ users. Who knows how many of those people could fall in love with your specialty food.
Reason 3: Get Google Fame And Glory.
Follow The Condiment Marketing Co. on Google+!
If the same people who control the Google search engine also control the Google+ social networking site, then clearly one Google service would play into the other. Right?
So, if you care about your search engine ranking, you should care about Google+. On top of the possibility of boosting your website’s ranking, there are other Google benefits, including:
- Search engine users can see and follow your Google+ page directly from a search engine results page (SERP).
- If someone is already following your page and they do a search relevant to you, your Google+ page is likely to show up in the search results.
- With Google authorship your photo or logo will show up alongside your articles and blog posts that appear in SERPs, and images increase click-through.
- Google+ activity is tracked and visible through Google Ripples, Analytics, and Adwords. If you weren’t sure how to track the ROI on social media marketing, it’s loud and clear now.
Reason 4: REALLY Connect With Your Customers (In More Ways Than One).
Imagine hosting a Google+ Hangout (video call) that doubles as a cooking class? Think about creating a G+ Community of people who love South American sauces (or whatever food has your heart). The sauce lovers will come and talk amongst themselves. All you’ll need to do is moderate comments and share your thoughts when you’re inspired.
All this on top of the ability to easily comment, +1 (like), and re-post another user’s content.
Reason 5: Sharing, Sharing, Sharing, And Searching.
The Google+ interface makes it easy to share content. You could…
- Drive traffic to your website/blog
- Share recipes and serving suggestions
- Post food pictures to entice your fans
- Ask for feedback
- Support your partners and customers
- Promote an event or sale
- Publish coupons
- And much more
I’ve heard others say Google+ is a hybrid of Twitter and Facebook. I’d agree.
It’s simple to post pictures, videos, and links to articles (like Facebook), all of which are easy to find through the search function (like Twitter). Google+ encourages you to use hashtags and even takes those tags a step further by calling them out for you.
Let’s say you make a specialty seasoning and want to reach consumers who can’t eat enough of fish. With Google+ you can tag your posts using keywords that these folks use. Then you can add those users to your circles to get their attention. Oh, the possibilities.
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If you’d like to see how other specialty food companies use Google+, check out these sauce brands…
Somebody’s Mother Chocolate Sauce
About Sara Lancaster
Sara is The Condiment Marketing Co.’s founder and creative director. She oversees client relationships, strategic marketing plans, as well as a bit of copywriting and social media management.
