Goodbye Google Plus!

When Google launched its social network, Google Plus, in 2011, many predicted it to be “the next big thing”. As digital marketers and SEO geeks, we all ran screaming for joy into the arms of Google Plus when it launched in 2011. Finally, after years of flirting, there was a marriage between search engines and social media.

Move aside, Facebook; Google, the entity that rules the modern day digital landscape could not and would not fail.

But fail it did.

Admittedly, it is true; Google Plus has over 500 million members. Each day, millions of users move around the margins of Google Plus through tools such as Google Local, Hangouts, Picasa and Social Search.

While there are many advocates for Google Plus and its many features, it is important to note that the core of Google Plus, its social network, is barely touched by users. You could find more people at a pre-season WNBA game (Go Lynx!). As the New York Times stated, it’s essentially a social networking ghost town.

Today, we want to explain to you why we think Google Plus is, in fact, a waste of time using two simple indicators: Engagement and Traffic rates.

Engagement

It has become blaringly apparent that users don’t sign up for the social networking, they sign up for the countless other features such as Maps, Gmail, YouTube, etc.

Google says Plus has 540 million monthly active users, but almost half do not visit the social network at all after signing up in the first place. The engagement on Google Plus can’t compare to powerhouse social network Facebook.

In a 2014 study done by Forrester, the social profiles of 50 global brands on Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube and Twitter were monitored and compared for engagement rates. Forrester observed around 3 million user interactions with more than 2,500 brand posts during the first quarter of 2014. This is what they found:

This proved that while Google Plus is in the running, it is still way behind powerhouse social network, Facebook, in both number of users and amount of engagement.

Traffic

The inarguable difference between Google Plus and its competition is the number of users who frequent the site.

I’m going to let the visual explain this one.

The proof is in the numbers. While I am not saying that Google Plus is a complete waste of time, it just hasn’t proved to play an essential role as a social network in any digital marketing strategy for a business looking to raise brand awareness online. Time is better spent elsewhere.

Sorry Google Plus! We are breaking up with you. It’s not us…it’s you.

Are you feeling like Google Plus with your own social media? Talk with us today, we can help!