By now everyone has heard of Google+. You may have tried it and found it difficult to figure out, compared to Facebook and others. If you use Social Media to market your law firm then you probably already have a Facebook Business Page, but have you setup your Google+ Page? If we are managing social media in your marketing campaign, we are using both Facebook and Google+ business pages. We recommend everyone marketing a business online do so. But that’s just the beginning.
Up until recently, all social media outlets had limited value when it came to marketing. You setup the profiles and business pages, you made friends, and you posted away. You share links to your website and blog posts and hopefully you were involved in commenting on other posts. All of this to promote your business. Some even use Facebook’s paid advertising. Most have seen very little value in terms of actually driving new clients to their their door. We do all this to give organic Search Engine rankings a slight boost – it’s all a part of Internet marketing. Its value has been limited, but it was a small piece of the puzzle. But now, that is changing.
New Value in Google+ for your Law Firm Page
Recently Google pushed the Search Plus Your World update. The update allows organic search results to reflect your preference in websites through Google+. If you plus a site, it will move to the top of the search results the next time you search for a related keyword. This makes Google+ the only social media that has a direct connection to organic rankings. However, it doesn’t stop there.
The word is that not only your search results can be customized, but also those in your Google+ social network. What does this mean? Well, it means when you have someone in your Google+ circle, and they are connected to others through their circle, and so on, when you plus a website not only will it be pushed up when you search for related keywords, but also customized for all those in your circle and possibly in their circles. This is huge!
Now the question is, who and how many do you have in your circles? If all this is true, then you want as many friends in your circles as you can get. You are connected to them and their friends now. So having friends that have a large number of friends and followers of their own is highly valuable. I would even go so far as to suggest finding other business pages not necessarily related to the legal industry and get those in your circles.
Just having a large number of friends in your circle isn’t enough however. You need them to put you in your circle and follow your business page. That is where the connection is made both ways and the potential exists for customizing their search rankings with your website preferences. Sometimes when you add them to your circle, they return the favor. Sometimes that is not the case. Being active is key. Post often, share, participate and comment. Do these things often but don’t over do it. Posting too much will get you removed from some circles.
So it’s obviously becoming more and more important to use Google+. Setup your business page. Grow your friends and circles. Be active. And most of all, be sure to plus websites you want to promote with your Google+ profile!
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