How easy will Google+ be to sell?

There’s no doubt that Google+ is awesome. There is no doubt in my mind that it is a strong contender for Facebook.
What I find highly curious about it, is just how easy will it be to sell to clients?
Despite the grasp Facebook has on the social space. many businesses are still to dip their toes into it’s chartered territory. Then not to forget that Twitter too is largely untapped as it seems to scare a large portion of business owners.
(I have no idea why there is a water theme, maybe I drank too much at lunch?)
However, back to business, these two Social Media giants are here, they are solid, not everyone uses them, but they are known, familiar and household names.
When presenting to a client, they are aware of Facebook and twitter, in fact they usually come running at full speed telling us they NEED to be on Facebook and Twitter. These guys have heard of Google, they know Google, but not in a Social Media capacity. So, I cannot wait to see which businesses will be taking the brave steps to go there first.

In the Social Media world it is easy to say that something is awesome and has great potential and I guess, for Google’s part, when you have a bunch of enthusiastic, cool, converse wearing people on board, it is going to be easy to sell. However, it is not the Social Media world that needs to be sold on it.
Someone said to me the other day, that Google+ is the buzz word in social media. While I agreed, I couldn’t help but think that they flagged up an interesting point. If you move in Social Media circles (hehe) it IS a buzz word. But not in the outside world.
It is a bit like Coke and Pepsi. Facebook being Coke and Google+ being Pepsi.
What? I hear you say, is she nuts? And yes while most of you who know me can verify this, stay with me for a few more minutes.
No matter how hard Pepsi has tried, (and boy has it tried), it will never be Coke. Coke was there first. It is brand recognition at it’s finest, the real thing. It’s Coke. and you cannot really mess with Coke. When you ask for a Coke in a restaurant and they say, “sorry we don’t have Coke, we have Pepsi”, although you say, “that’s ok”. It’s not the same is it?
So when clients came in and say “I need Social Media, give me Twitter and Facebook” How easy will it be to say, “sorry, we don’t have Twitter and Facebook, we have Google+?” Are our clients going to think they are shortchanged and demand Coke? (I mean Facebook!)
When most businesses are still using Facebook and Twitter as buzz words, how will they cope with the new kid on the block? Especially with Google’s past attempts at taking a chunk of the Social Networking Space.

Now, Google is clever. Fact. I do not doubt all this has been taken into account when creating its strategic approach to marketing Google+, but still. Facebook already has the name, the noteriety and the users. It was here first.

So my fascination is in seeing how it will pan out, there’s now doubt it will be a great thing to witness and be part of. We’re all finding our feet with it and enjoying it as a new toy, I personally want mine to stay clear and uncrowded, a social space I can breathe in and enjoy like the first days of Facebook. I think I’ll be more choosy about my circles (and maybe that is the selling point right there?)
Whatever happens, the migration to Google+ will be slow and part of me hopes they pull it off as you have to applaud them for never giving up.
Stay tuned!


One response to “How easy will Google+ be to sell?”

  1. Andrew Kemp Avatar

    Interesting read 🙂 I am still getting to grips with Google+ my first thought was Google trying to take over the world (again)!

    in some ways I would expect a “battle of the bands” kind of thing with Google+ and Facebook, I think regardless of these two twitter will always be there the way twitter woks is completely different to these two..

    Its very much the same at the moment with Google Apps and Office 365 those two battling it out just now as well. Is there any one Google is not going up against these days?

    I think Google+ will be a good competitor for facebook. Facebook has been around standing on its own for too long now! There were some neat little things that I liked about Google+ when I first signed in, it integrated my Picasa Albums, it was crisp and clear, it was uncluttered and the best of all, No Adverts! jsut now any way!

    Once it takes off will it change its look/feel and ease of use every couple of months? as that is one thing that bugs me about facebook, just as you get used to the way it works they go change it!

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: