Brand posts and engagement peak midweek and in the morning on Google+
Usage on Google+ isn’t as high as on longer-established social networks, but companies are starting Brand Pages there, and some consumer engagement is taking place—particularly in the mornings and on Wednesdays.
According to comScore, users spent an average of 3.3 minutes on Google+ in January 2012, a drop from 5.1 minutes in November 2011 and 4.8 minutes in December.
But even as time spent drops, brands are starting to get more invested in Google+. Companies have only been allowed to create Brand Pages on the site since early November and have since encouraged their followers (people who have added the brand to one of their Circles) to comment, +1 and reshare brand posts with others.
Social media measurement company Simply Measured has been tracking Google+ activity by the Top 100 Brands according to Interbrand, as determined based on financial performance, to see how much the brand name influences purchasing decisions and to measure the overall strength of the brand.
On the Google+ pages of the 62 brands with Verified accounts, Wednesdays were the most popular days for both brand posts and users’ engagement with those posts. From November 2011 until March 13, 2012, there were a total of 1,158 brand posts on Wednesdays, or 21.1% of all brand posts. When it comes to engagement, or how many times users commented on, +1ed or reshared that content, there were 56,980 points of engagement on brand posts on Wednesdays between November and March.
Looking specifically at the times of the day when engagement was high, morning saw the most engagement from users, with 37,654 comments, +1s and reshares happening between 9am and 10am local time. Brand posts also mirrored that peak, with 646 brand posts happening at the same time. As users get settled into their desks and check in on various social networks, they are starting to include Google+ in the mix.
Other data has looked at how and when users engage on Facebook, but not much has been published yet about Google+. As marketers start to become more comfortable there, it will be interesting to see whether active brands can bring more active users, or whether usage must improve on Google+ before it becomes a significant channel for brand communication.
SOURCE eMarketer
