Illinois Springfield on Google+
January 4, 2012
The University of Illinois Springfield is now on Google+. We are currently focusing on The Arts at the university, including our Theatre, Music, and Art programs, along with our Visual Arts Gallery. We will keep your updated on our progress as we research and test this new channel.
November 17, 2011
There is a growing list of universities on Google+ Pages. There is also a lot of buzz about it's potential.
Currently the University of Illinois Springfield is reviewing the pros and cons of Google+ Pages as a social media channel.
Facebook is truly a social network and was built to work that way, whereas Google+ *appears* to be a social network, but is really the result of studying user behavior and attempting to answer that with relevant content.
- Universities present on Google+ Pages are not receiving much activity on their posts. Take a look at the pages for universities present on Google+ Pages and note the lack of engagement.
- Number of users on Google+ cannot currently be compared to those on Facebook and Twitter. Read: Why You Can't Compare Google+ User Figures to Facebook or Twitter.
Pros and cons for using Google+ Pages:
Pros
- Another way to reach our constituents
- Hashtags work
- Share extended content, links, images and video
- Hangouts - connect to up to 10 followers for discussion
- YouTube sharing in Hangouts
- Google Docs integration in Hangouts
- Topic Circles - users get specific content
- Integration of the +1 button on most major websites makes our content available in Google search results
Cons
- Very little engagement on university pages
- No vanity URLs
- No multiple admins
- No contests or promotions
- No analytics
- No custom tabs
- We must be circled by someone before we can add anyone to our circles (this makes it more difficult to keep track of how and who to circle. There is currently no option for users to add themselves to specific brand circles)
- Hangouts - time consuming and needs dedicated resources
- Google has not solidified it's launch strategy for Google+ (no integration into any social media management platform, no API, not many page management features)
Next Steps
- We observe - see how Google+ Pages develop. If it looks like engagement is building for universities and options are becoming easier/clearer, we can create the channel.
- We create - focused channel on Google+ Pages in order to draw in followers.
- We change - goals based on what appears to work on our focused Google+ Page.
Last update: January 4, 2012