As of this week, social media for business just got a little more confused! The announcement of the release of Google Plus Business Pages this week just blurred a whole lot of lines in regards to social media in business and social recruiting.

So, now you can have a Facebook Page, a LinkedIn Company page and a Google Plus Business Page………. and of course you already have your website as well. The question is, what should you do - one, two or all of them?

My response is probably a little obvious - you have to do all of them for different reasons. The primary reason is that you need to keep growing your social media footprint. The social sites are all indexed and will appear in searches on Google, Bing, Yahoo etc - so if you want to be found by candidates and clients alike in organic search, you need to give yourself the biggest footprint you can get. That means setting up all these pages (properly) and learning how best to place the right engaging content on them, relevent to the audience on that platform.

So what does each type of page give you?

Facebook Pages

• Facebook is a huge content management platform. 
• It is the biggest social network in the world, so there is immediate access to scale and recognition. With 800 million + people having Facebook profiles and being active, having a Facebook page for your business makes absolute sense, as many people know how to use and interact with Facebook already. They know what the 'Like' is and what to do with them!
• There are loads of superb products/apps etc for recruitment that can sit within Facebook pages such as Work4Us and Facetime, and there are some clever Facebook content management systems being embedded now, such as the brilliant one from NetNatives. 
• People can subscribe to status updates without becoming a Fan of the page. 
• The recent F8 changes are going to bring engagement, interaction and powerful referral actions to a whole new level when they are added to Facebook changes in the near future.

LinkedIn Company Pages

• If you are on LinkedIn you WILL have a Company page……. even if you haven't even set one up. LinkedIn automatically create a page for you when you set a profile up, if your company name doesn't already exist. 
• This is the 'default' business network with over 131 million people now using it. It is THE PLACE people go to check you and your company out, so it is essential you take control of your company profile here. 
• You can add a wide range of content about your company, including listing all the services you provide. You can add blogs, video's, jobs etc and you can even get recommendations for these individual areas from people - a very powerful referral indeed on the quality of your service.
• People can follow your company (for a number of reasons) and by doing so get company updates from you - allowing you to share the latest news and opportunities with them in real time.

Google + Business Pages

• Google search 'owns' the online search industry! They have the number one (by miles) and number two search engines in the world - Google and YouTube, respectively. They can control and alter algorithms to benefit their own products, and don't think Google+ Business Pages will be any different. I have no doubt that Google will give more credence to content on their business pages, in their main search results. For that reason alone (and it is a HUGE reason) you must have a Google + business page.
• Google are slowly integrating their products into their fastest growing social network in the world - Google+. At 40 million people in 8 weeks, the growth has been huge - faster than any other social network before it. As there are 100's of millions of people that use Google products, more and more people will gravitate to Google+ ……. candidates and clients alike. 
• Like Facebook, the concept of sharing and recognition is a major part of Google+, and Fans can recommend your business page with a +1 (similar to the 'Like' action).
• Fans will be able to add your page to one of their Google Circles (in Google+), which will enable them to subscribe to your page's updates, like Facebook and LinkedIn.
• With the option of video chat/interviews and live streaming functionality in Google+ Hangouts, the whole experience for fans of  Google+ Business page is only limited by imagination!

[To create a Google+ Page this walk through will help]

This is by no means an exhaustive list of features and benefits, it is just a few reasons why you as a business will have to have ALL of them for your business. Sorry all  you Marketing Managers out there!

So soon you have to worry about……. Facebook Page status updates, Twitter updates, LinkedIn company statues updates, LinkedIn personal updates, Google+ updates………… AY CARUMBA!!!! 

If you like reading this blog, then click on the orange RSS icon here and get the latest Sirona Says posts delivered to your RSS reader or your inbox the moment they come out.