Well I must confess I am still confused about the Google+ feature. I’m still in the process of digesting the info. So here are some perceived pros & cons based on the answers of 50 small business owners as reported on the American Express Forum for Small Business. 

Pros

1. Get an SEO boost….business joined Google+ because  relies on Google search referrals for sales conversions. “Google+ influences search for all the people who have included my business in their circle,” ….. This is a great way to get free promotion from people who like the product to people with similar interests.”

2. Host a hangout. “Hangouts offer an amazing opportunity for businesses to engage in a highly personal way with clients, customers and industry thought leaders,”…… locations can hold team meetings to brainstorm with one another from an interface that affords them immediate and easy access to share and collaborate on most of the information materials they might need, such as documents and spreadsheets.”

3. Expand content distribution. …..Google+ is a great platform for expanding a publication’s content distribution. “It took us almost a year to get 1,000 Likes on our Facebook Page, and three days on G+ to get that number to Circle us,….

4. Connect with early adopters. If your business falls in the Internet or technology industries, Google+ could be a great place to connect a tech-savvy audience……”When we look at what defines an ‘ideal customer’ for our products, that criteria is certainly high on our list.”

5. Segment your audience. “The obvious benefit of Google+ is that it allows us to share select content with specific audiences,”……

6. Use Google+ to network. ……. he uses his personal Google+ page to network and gather contact data and research the “personal side” of relevant contacts, such as journalists and potential clients, so that he can better create a connection with them.

7. Just explore. …… It is still a niche platform, but quickly growing and with a platform giant behind it…… I want to start early using this platform to be prepared when this inflection point arises.”

 

Cons

 

1. Administration is difficult. “The pages need to be created from an individual’s Google+ account, and you cannot add admins or any other users to manage the account,”…

2. Facebook and Twitter reign. Many of the small businesses we spoke with pointed out that they maintain engaged audiences on Twitter and Facebook, but most of their customers and clients don’t use Google+…..

3. Social dashboards don’t integrate Google+ yet. …….many social dashboard services on the market do not enable users to post to Google+……

4. Google side projects are unreliable. ……he’s not certain that the social network will pan out. “Google keeps starting and shutting down products—Buzz, Wave and Hotpot, to name a few—and I’m not entirely convinced the same thing won’t happen with Plus,” he says. “Given the time and cost of engaging followers, I think the effort is better spent on Facebook.”

5. Growth is small. …sees potential in Google+, but that growth has been small for her company. “The biggest drawback to Google+ so far is that it’s hard to grow a fan base, since businesses can only add other businesses to their Circles, and not individuals, the way you can on Twitter (until they add you, that is),” she says. “It will definitely be a lot more fun once more people start using Google+.”

Of course we have all these pros & cons before with the introduction or facebook, twitter, linkedin etc….ahhhhh…. help…. I’m going to have to do more research