Which is Better: Facebook or Google+?

If you spend any time online, you’ve probably heard the talk about the battle of the two heavy weight sites Google and Facebook. Google and Facebook are the top two most visited sites on the Internet.

Lately, it seems Google has been losing their edge to Facebook. As a result, to add a social flavor to search, and also in an effort to better integrate their other services, Google introduced Google+.

So, if you’re running a business and trying to increase your sales or generate more leads, which one should you use? Is Facebook a better way to market your business, or should you double down on Google+?

Let’s take a look at these two options to help you decide.

Facebook Marketing

With Facebook you know there are lots of users. Facebook gives you the ability to build a business page. On this page, you can share photos, videos and links to articles and posts on your website. On your Facebook business page, you can generate “likes” and comments, which spreads your company to a wider audience.

In addition, on Facebook you can run inexpensive, highly targeted ads to draw more people to your Facebook page. For example, to attract people looking for storage in NJ or self-storage Pennsylvania, you could run an ad to people who rent an apartment in certain zip codes in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. As a result, you can bring them to your Facebook page through an ad and then encourage them to visit your website to learn more about your self-storage services.

Is Google+ a Better Option?

You can also create a business page in Google+. The main difference between Google+ and Facebook is that at this point, Google+ doesn’t have nearly the users of Facebook. However, your activity on Google+ helps your search engine ranking efforts.

Recently, Google integrated Google Places into Google+. If you had a Google Places page, it is now part of Google+. This is very important for any local business because now when people search for local businesses online, it’s your Google+ business page that will show up in the results.

It is therefore important to optimize your local listing and Google+ business page. Make sure you add photos, videos and links to your business website. Share your blog posts on your Google+ page too.

Another integration of Google+ that helps with search is rich snippets. When you link your Google+ personal profile with a blog you author, and your blog likewise links back to your Google+ profile, your photo will show up as the author in search results. This helps to position you as an expert, and these results tend to win more clicks in the search results because prospects know there is a real person on the other end of the link.

So, what’s better, Facebook or Google+? The honest answer is neither. They are different and the both have advantages and disadvantages when it comes to marketing your business. Check them both out and test which works best for your marketing. Chances are, a strategy using both is the best answer.