Yes, I’m back tooting the horn of Google+. But I’m also talking about how powerful the act of sharing is online. Let’s start with the share. Sharing info – things we love, things we hate, funny stuff, sad stories – is one of the oldest forms of human interaction. People love to share tidbits of info and boast about all the things they really enjoy (or hate). And with the Internet, sharing has never been easier. Today’s web properties – whether an e-commerce site, a niche blog, a company web page or something in between – are share-ready, equipped with the latest in sharing tools and buttons. All it takes is one click to refer a post, product or page to a friend, colleague or relative.
As a blogger or marketer, you want people sharing and resharing the content that you’ve created and also the content that you have shared via third-parties. Sharing helps create awareness which, in turn, helps a brand (and blog) grow. Take a look at just how prevalent sharing is:
- People are now sharing 500 million photos each day and that number is poised to double year on year.
- The volume of digital information created and shared had risen ninefold in the five years to 2011, and is set to double every two years thereafter.
The good news? It’s not too late to begin more actively sharing and positioning your content to be shared. The world average of sharing things online currently stands at only 24%. That means digital sharing is still in its infancy.
Now, let’s talk a little bit about Google+. Below is an infographic from Addshoppers breaking down the demographics of the average sharer, what categories are shared most often and what the value of a share is on each platform (i.e. Google+, Pinterest, Twitter, etc.).
As the infographic points out, not all shares are created equal. Email sharing is a very personal and deliberate one-to-one (or many) act. For these reasons, it outperforms all other platforms when it comes to sharing info, images, ads and so on online – worth a staggering $17.93 a share. A referral from Google+ is worth an average of $10.78, compared to a Facebook referral at $2.35 and a Twitter referral at $1.62.
If you’re wondering why Google+ outperforms the others, here’s a great explanation from Joe Scuderi on a post by Denis Labelle:
“I think it’s very easy to click the Facebook like. It shows very little commitment. The same for sharing, really, though perhaps it requires a bit more. But what I think G+ is pioneering is the sense of digital community. If you share with your community, you’re making a deep commitment to the quality of what you share.”
This is one of the reasons I keep stressing for Google+ adoption. If you’re not on there yet, you need to be – NOW. There’s no more time or room for procrastinating when online sharing is set to explode and Google+ is predicted to be the market leader. The more people who join Google+, the higher the numbers with respect to this platform. Get yourself on there today!
