google+ social media marketingAdding this increasingly popular network to online and mobile efforts can make a considerable difference.

As Google+ continues its climb up the ranks of social media marketing networks, a growing number of experts in the industry are beginning to call it essential instead of simply appealing as a part of an overall strategy.

The platform currently sits in the second most popular spot, having recently surpassed Twitter.

For social media marketing companies, this represents an important potential shift toward Google+, where it had not previously been seen as vital as a part of a campaign or strategy. The fact that the platform currently boasts over 343 million active users simply cannot be overlooked any longer.

Though older social media marketing strategies may still be holding out, it is only a matter of time.

According to Daily Deal Media junior editor, Megan Bildner, the majority of businesses still think of Google+ as “irreverent” when it comes to social media marketing to consumers. She went on to say that instead of focusing their attentions on the network, they have been looking to other popular options such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, which have been in existence for a longer period of time.

However, Bildner also went on to write that though this could still be working at the moment, the rapid rise of Google+ is changing the social media marketing environment and businesses need to start paying attention to the new reality. Bildner says that there is a powerful reason that Google+ has been able to achieve the rapid successes that it has seen, and that is that their number of active users is rapidly on the rise.

She also pointed out that through that network, “business content ranks higher when posted on Google+, they have a different approach to marketing and Google’s future will change how integrate all the necessary apps in our life.” From a social media marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) standpoint, that represents critically important issues to any business that hopes to succeed online and over mobile.

Social media marketing companies are increasingly making the connection that this network must be a part of their mix, and that failing to do so could potentially leave them falling behind the competition.