Chances are, you've only got so much time that you or your staff can devote to social media. Once you've got the first three or four accounts set up, you're going to have to start making some decisions about what sort of priority to give to the other social media services. You can't be on all of them, not unless you've got a lot of money to spend on image management firms.
Today, we'll be taking a look at two of the lesser-used social sites, Google+ and Pinterest, and talking about why you might want to choose one or the other, rather than trying to use both. They've got very different user bases and goals, so you might not need to use both, depending on your business objectives.
Right now, Pinterest is something of a gamble. It's a brand new site, only a few months old, and as of writing it still doesn't have open signups. (You put your name down as wanting an invitation and you generally get one by email a few days later.) It only has something like 10-12 million users at the moment, so it's only just getting off the ground. Also, its focus exclusively on images may limit its appeal.
That said, it has some very unique attributes and could rise to be one of the dominant social sites. For one thing, Pinterest's user base is overwhelmingly female. Males only make up about 17% of its user base. Further, its principle topics are mostly about fashion and home décor, along with design and travel elements. If you're looking to market to women, Pinterest is definitely of interest.
Also, Pinterest has potential as a virtual storefront. One of the most common uses for it at the moment is as advertising space for users of the crafts expo site Etsy, and it seems to be filling the role well. If the appearance of your products is a major selling factor, Pinterest could become a big part of your online marketing.
Google+
Google+ is, of course, Google's attempt to spin off a social media service from their existing search, email, and YouTube services. Despite a huge amount of hype at launch, the service has struggled somewhat to find a market niche. They currently have something over 100 million users, which is nothing to sneeze at, but also rather lacking compared to Facebook's 800+ million subscription base.
Generally, the user base of Google+ is significantly tilted towards men, who make up 63% of their user base, and these men are most often college students and software developers. In other words, in a broad sense, Google+ is popular among intellectual guys who are into technology. If that fits one of your core market demographics, Google+ is the service to pick.
Also, as we've mentioned before, Google+ is continuing to try to use social media to influence their search results. If your brand has a strong social presence and a lot of positive recommendations, it might be worth investing time in Google+ in the hopes it will pay off with better inbound marketing and search screen results later on down the line.
The Decision
This is really an apples-to-oranges comparison, so we aren't going to say one is definitively better than the other. It's mostly a question of reach and demographics. Google+ probably has the edge, just due to its larger user base (and the fact that it's backed by Google), but Pinterest has a lot of potential, especially if you're looking to reach out to female demographics. Fundamentally, the choice revolves around who you're most interested in marketing towards.
Call DeepSky Marketing to find out how you can integrate Social Media into your online marketing efforts. DeepSky Marketing is a company that provides businesses with profitable marketing systems and verifiable return on investment (ROI). To schedule a brief no-cost consultation call 707 823-3888.
