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Technology-Oriented Consumers and Companies

Google Plus is used by eclectic mixture of organizations for varying reasons. In terms of consumer usage, it has a reputation for being highly popular with young males who are very interested in technology, and adopters of new technological innovations. Evidence of the appeal of Google Plus to this consumer segment is illustrated through Google Plus user demographics. Google Plus users tend to be young, with 29% of its users being from generation Z and 28% of users being members of Generation Y. Additionally, 25% of Google Plus users work in IT (Mims, 2013), a statistic which demonstrates the popularity of Google Plus among those interested in technology. Consumers with this demographic and psychographic profile enjoy Google Plus because it is less noisy, and offers more opportunities for compelling dialogue then other social networks (Mims, 2013). The type of consumers drawn to Google Plus prompts companies such as Android and Samsung use Google + to share new technological innovations and products with their customers.

Products with Significant Visual Appeal

Google Plus is very popular with organizations where aesthetic appeal is an important element of its product offerings. A wide variety of automotive companies, including Toyota, BMW, and Ferrari use it to highlight new products and innovation. Clothing companies such as H&M also use Google Plus to exhibit their latest fashion designs. These brands can host video chats and events to engage customers and

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provide information on new products, a tactic often used by Ferrari and H&M. Furthermore, Google Plus encourages high-quality visual imagery through Auto Enhance, where minor adjustments are automatically made to improve photo quality, and Google Plus Creative Kit, an online photo editor. Organizations can also post links as photos using standard sized or larger photographs, which draw more attention and traffic to links and posts, while additionally offering opportunities to visually display product offerings.

Small, localized businesses

Google Plus is also widely used by small, highly localized businesses. Through Google Plus usage, organizations can improve their online presence and drive consumer traffic by building a Google + My Business Page or having their company featured on Google Plus Local. Google Plus Local recommends local businesses to customers in the same geographic area using a five star rating system, while Google + My Business Page provide businesses with a variety of options for building a page to create local awareness of their organization. Brick and mortar companies with a physical location can create a Storefront My Business page, which will shows the physical location of the company and provides directions using Google Maps. These organizations can also create interior virtual tours using Google Business Photos, which is available through Google Plus local. Companies that service a specific location by going to the customer can create a Service Area My Business Page, which will allow them to display the area they service using Google Maps. In both cases, Google Plus provides small business with search engine optimization by having their business information appear on local Google searches. With these features, Google Plus allows local businesses to create band awareness and assist potential customers in finding their business both online and geographically.

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Integration with Other Google Products

Google Plus provides a variety of marketing and business benefits. Many of its services are available free of charge, which his particularly for small businesses or new businesses with relatively small marketing budgets. As a component of the “Google ecosystem” Google Plus integrates with a variety of Google products, including YouTube, AdWords and Google Docs. This integration is especially advantageous with Google being the world’s largest search engine, since Google’s search algorithms favour content created in Google Plus (Ochman, 2014). Use of Google Plus leads to search engine optimization for Google Plus pages and an enhanced online presence. Google Plus Reviews also appear in search engine results, giving organizations that provide a high level of service an opportunity to enhance SEO by encouraging customers to write Google Plus reviews.

Customer Engagement and Acquisition

Google plus is renowned for ease in interacting with and engaging in two-way conversations with customers. One way Google Plus encourages customer engagement is through Google Hangouts, which is a video and instant messaging platform that fosters and enables conversation. Using Hangouts on Air, organizations can host live events and create broadcasts to engage consumers. This application can be utilized in a number of beneficial ways, including providing online demonstrations, streaming live events and for presentations. Furthermore, organizations can also use Google Hangouts to engage in one on

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one conversations with customers through online chat and video conferencing. An added benefit of Hangouts is increased convenience and efficiency for businesses, which may also use Hangouts for video conferencing and real-time collaboration. Additionally, online communities are available through Google Plus on a variety of topics. They function as an online forum where like-minded people or people with similar interests can connect and share information. Organizations can create and participate in communities about their organization or industry. Communities also provide businesses with opportunities to network with peers, influencers, and potential customers. Organizations may use communities for social listening and uncover relevant information about their competitors, industry, customers, and brand sentiment.

Market Segmentation

Google Circles allows businesses to organize their customers into circles, or groups for information sharing using a drag and drop interface. Users can choose to share specific content with chosen circles, or make information publically available. Using Google Circles a business could segment its customers into groups with commonalities for sharing relevant content. By segmenting their customers using Circles, they are only sharing the content that is relevant and interesting to that particular segment, instead of spamming customers with content they may find uninteresting or irrelevant. Additionally, segmentation metrics are available through Google Analytics, which allow organizations to segment website visitors based on certain demographics (for example, country) and keep statistics on these segments. Google Analytics is also beneficial in conducting market research. It allows organizations to obtain information about visitors, such as where they are coming from and why they are visiting the company’s website.

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+ 1 Button

The Google +1 button is Similar to Facebook’s Like button. It allows customers to endorse online content, providing organizations with a way of measuring customer engagement. Additional +1 endorsements result in improved search engine optimization, thereby improving the website’s rankings in search engine results. Through the resulting search engine optimization and improved rankings can become another method of measuring the long-term success of the Google Plus platform.

Google Ripples

Google Ripples provides a real-time data visualization of public re-shares of a Google Plus post. The re-sharing sequence is illustrated by circles located within larger circles, and the size of any given circle indicates the number of re-shares originating from that share. The size of the circles allows an organization to find potential influencers and brand advocates who are supplying an organization with earned media by frequently re re-sharing company posts.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics gathers information by using "page tags", which is a Google Analytics tracking code. The tracking code runs in the client browser when the client browses the page, collects visitor data, and sends it to a Google data collection server (Google Analytics, 2014). The collection of this information

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allows Google Analytics users to create custom dashboards with the metrics most relevant to the objectives of the organization, and provides real time data on these metrics. A wide range of metrics available for businesses to use, including number of website visits, where traffic is coming from, how long they stay on the website, how long or often users perform specific actions. Additionally, organizations can use Google Analytics to create customized data reports, which provide more in- depth information and analysis on the metrics used by the organization. Google Analytics also allow organizations to measure the success of specific marketing campaigns by utilizing metrics that the email opens and advertising clicks.

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