Social Media "Cool Kids": Google+ and Pinterest

Social Media “Cool Kids”: Google+ and Pinterest

Recently two new big shots are making themselves known on the Social Networking playground: Google+ and Pinterest. With every new Social Network that launches, it’s like another invitation to a big party and frankly, it can easily become overwhelming to try to keep up with a social calendar with all those options. When you’re using Social Media as part of your marketing efforts, you definitely want to go to the party with the most “cool Kids”- in this case, “cool kids” means your target audience.

So you need to ask yourself: Which party is THE ONE with the best “see” and “be seen” capabilities? Let’s take a look at Google+ and Pinterest and some of their best, and not so great, features.

Pinterest

Pinterest has quickly moved up in the ranks to become the 3rd most popular social network in the United States. With an average time spent per visitor of over an hour and a half, this shows that folks are sticking around when they’re there- which increases your potential exposure.

Pinterest is also one of the most user friendly sites on the web. That means from a marketing standpoint,  it’s easy to share your content so it travels the web; again, increased potential exposure.

We live in a visually driven society so Pinterest is great for jumping on that bandwagon. What could be easier than uploading some amazing pictures that promote your product or your business and then letting them fly around on Pinterest? If you don’t actually have physical things to photograph, you can still take advantage by posting info- graphics, statistical graphs that pertain to what you’re marketing or even product logos and graphics. Get creative!

A downside is, unlike other social networks, Pinterest doesn’t have a specific business category. So creativity is key when you want to get on there and do some marketing without feeling like the party crasher that showed up with your shirt inside out.

An important thing to remember about Pinterest is the majority of their users are female- 83% ages 18-34. That’s the demographics you need to target to get the most widespread exposure, so feature your pins accordingly.

Google+

With Google+, the users are primarily men (63%) and their main focus is on technology. Software developers and college students are two of the biggest groups using Google+.

Google+ isn’t going to take as much of a time investment as Pinterest. It’s a great way to get your links out there and bring in some linkbacks to your site and content. Increased site traffic is always a good thing!

There are pages and areas on Google+ that are specifically for business purposes. This is helpful when you really want to be selective and not quite as broad spread as Pinterest allows.

Google+ has a lot of users, but they don’t seem to be as “dedicated” (or even addicted- as some might say) as the Pinterest users. With an average time spent of only just over 3 minutes, you need to make sure your activity on Google+ is going to hit where you want it to hit and be seen by who you want to see it. The clock is ticking….

One of the best benefits of Google+ is the +1 button. With this handy button, your SEO power is greatly increased. Combine that with the better targeting options and you’ve got a powerful tool.

In the end it all comes down to knowing your product, knowing the personality of your business and then deciding which party is going to have the best “food and entertainment”.