I joined Google+ exactly one month ago. I started out with my curiosity piqued and then I got a vision for how nonprofits could benefit from Google+. I was even interviewed about Google+ last week.
Here are three reasons I’m impressed with Google+.
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In just 1 month, Google+ is one of my top 10 referring sites
In the last 30 days, Google+ is the #17 driver of traffic to FundraisingCoach.com. That includes traffic I myself refer, search engines, FeedBurner traffic, and traffic from a site that was only up through June 30.
When you drill down to what Google Analytics calls “reffering sites,” Google+ is the #10 refer of traffic!
The best part? I haven’t consciously been using Google+ to drive traffic to my site! I’m using Google+ to connect with new people and try out features (like creating an opt-in circle for folks interested in news from 501 Mission Place.
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In one month, more people are following me than in years of Twitter & Facebook
I’ve currently got around 7500 people following me on Twitter and just under 3000 on Facebook between my profile and page (oddly, not many of my friends “like” my page…not sure what that means!).
After just one month on Google+, 1367 people have “circled” me–Google+’s version of following. It took me years to get there on the other platforms!
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People on Google+ are incredibly engaging
Now, any social media person worth their salt will tell you that it’s really not about how many followers you have. It’s about how interactive and engaging these folks are. But let’s be honest, follower count is a metric most of us keep an eye on.
Fortunately, Google+ folks are incredibly responsive! I’m not sure if it’s due to Google’s clean design or having Google+ notifications visible in our Gmail and other Google services, but people on Google+ are much more engaging. Twitter is great, but it limits you to 140 characters. Facebook folks seem to limit their comments to “me too” type responses.
But on Google+, it’s quite common to get lengthier, more detailed comments, akin to blog posts. I’ve learned so much from the folks in there.
And that’s not including cool things like Google Hangouts or Huddles. I’ve used hangouts publicly (that’s a pic of me on one below) and privately for teams like 501MissionPlace.com, #smNPchat, and some other things I can’t quite tell you about yet. 🙂
Sure, it’s now important to consider what I’m going to wear and how my office looks, but it’s worth it for interacting with people in a much more personal way than email, Twitter, or Facebook.
Those are three of the reasons I like Google+.
I invite you to consider coming over. No, Google+ isn’t going to replace Facebook or Twiter for me. But I sure am please personally and professionally with the things going on over there. Nonprofits and businesses aren’t welcome there yet, so don’t try that.
Just be a person. Play around. Connect. And get comfortable with the format because when nonprofit and business pages are released in a few months, you will want to claim one!
If you come to Google+, I’d love if we could connect. I’m at http://bit.ly/MarconGoogleplus.
