It has been revealed this week that Google Plus is now the second largest social media network, providing a wake-up call for brands that are not already visible on the platform, says integrated PR, social media and SEO agency Punch Communications.

Google Plus has previously been described as a ‘ghost town’, but a recent Global Web Index report shows the social network has accrued over 340 million users since it launched in 2011. It is therefore now the second largest social media network behind Facebook. YouTube is the third largest with just under 300 million users and Twitter is fourth with 288 million. The announcement of these new statistics is likely to result in social media marketers taking a renewed interest in Google Plus.

In addition to the overall number of users, the report showed that Google Plus achieved 27 per cent growth in active usage (users who have actively used or contributed to the platform) in the past month. Therefore, brands without a Google Plus marketing strategy would be wise to realise that the network is something they should consider integrating into their other social media activities.

Whilst the study did not take levels of engagement into account, it has been widely reported and confirmed by Google Plus that brand pages will factor more in search rankings over time, signifying the importance of the platform in a much wider marketing sense. Furthermore, the potential new user base for Google Plus grows as people are automatically granted profiles on the platform when they sign up to Google’s others services, such as Gmail.

Pete Goold, managing director of integrated social media, search and PR company Punch Communications, says: “Punch was an early adopter of Google Plus and has been working with brands on the platform for some time. The network adds a great deal of value to brands’ overall strategic social media aims, especially as Google Plus has a very engaged audience that is looking for deeper conversations.”

“Google Plus offers many features not currently available on rival networks like Facebook and Twitter. For example, through Circles, brands can target specific groups of users with tailored messaging and the Hangouts feature provides creative opportunities to engage on a personal level with users. These features, along with the platform’s recent growth and its SEO benefits, all form a compelling case for brands to look into enhancing their social media offering with a brand page on Google Plus.”

Punch Communications provides SEO, social media management and PR as integrated services. To find out more about what social search or PR SEO can do for your brand, call Punch on +44 (0)1858 411600 or visit www.punchcomms.com.