The joke used to be that the only people on Google+ were Google employees. With over 300 million active users, it’s definitely more than that now!

Depending on what research you are looking at, Google+ ranks around #5 or 6 in the social media hierarchy behind Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, pinterest, and instagram . So why should you care about #5? It has a unique set of users. Here’s some generalities about the social media audiences:

 

  1. Facebook: Tends to have more female users, especially 25+, but it’s closer to a 50/50 split between men and women than the other platforms.
  2. LinkedIn: They are their own beast…have a specific purpose in the business world, so the demographics tend to be slightly male, with college degrees, with a higher income level or an active job seeker.
  3. twitter: Tends to skew a little more male than female, and a little younger.
  4. instagram: More younger women tend to use instagram, but instagram is just younger in general.
  5. pinterest: This skews heavily female, but the male population on the site is growing.

Now, here’s where Google+ is special: users tend to be very tech savvy and skews more male. If you search through Google+, you’ll see all kinds of technology developers and fans, which can be a valuable audience to reach.  If you are marketing a technology product or service, these are the people you need to reach and foster interaction with!

Another benefit that is on the broader spectrum, no matter what you are marketing, is that Google+ is the only social media platform that is associated with a search engine and the most popular mobile operating system through the  +1 button. This means that integrating Google+ into your social media strategy and website can help increase your search engine optimization and raise your position in search ranking.

So #5 has some key advantages that your competition may or may not have taken advantage of.  Will you?