Google Plus API and Your eCommerce Platform G+: The Rocky of Social Platforms Google Plus is the Rocky Balboa of social media sites. Consumers bash it again and again and yet it keeps getting up, eerily stronger than before. Why? Why won't G+ just stay down? The reason Google Plus keeps steadily creeping up in market share is that it has the power of Google backing it. This article will seek to dissect the slow rise of Google + and what it means for eCommerce. Hint: You need to have a Google Plus API integrated with your online store. G+'s Slow Rise to Stardom Most social platforms experience early, breath-taking exponential growth. We've seen this with Facebook, Twitter, and more recently, messaging apps like WhatsApp and Snapchat. Google Plus, however, has experienced only modest, comparatively steady growth since its introduction in mid-2011. The reason isn't because consumers are clamoring to be a part of the G+ community, but because Google is integrating Google Plus with its most popular products. If you have a Gmail account, you have a Google + account. There was an uproar when Google-owned Youtube (see YouTube video integration here) started requiring comments to be associated with Google + accounts, yet the complaints have since died down. Google also bought Waze, which is an app that details traffic conditions via crowdsourced information from users, the same information seen on Google Maps (which has its own formidable API). Google is also slowly learning how to coax users to integrate their Android phone contacts with Gmail email contacts. Most importantly for businesses, Google + has wormed its way into the all-important search rankings and reviews when people search for a particular product on the search engine or Google Maps. Right now, Google+ limitations are the amount of time and interaction users have on the social platform. This will surely change as it becomes harder and harder to use any Google product without an accompanying G+ account. Another current limitation, specifically for online shopping carts and web store services, is that G Plus lags behind rivals like Facebook and Pinterest when it comes to retail sales and LinkedIn and Twitter when it comes to online B2B sales. However, as shown in the graphic to the right, G+ has the highest conversion rate of any social platform when it comes to eCommerce sales. This bodes well for the future in a world where Google (and therefore G+) lords over mobile and mobile dominates eCommerce sales. Google Plus: A Sleeping eCommerce Giant is About to Awaken Here are a few trends to help justify this claim. For starters, Google's Android operating system (which invariably comes with Google search tools and highly encourages other Google products) is the dominant OS in the world, with around 60% of all PCs, tablets, and smartphones running on Google's system. Even more astounding is that Google's Android runs 76% of all mobile devices, which are quickly replacing traditional laptops and PCs as consumers' preferred method of searching for and purchasing products. This dominance is even more pronounced overseas than in the US, so Google Plus integration is arguably even more important for international eCommerce platforms. Do you know why successful Google Plus integration with other Google products and mobile devices is unbelievably important for you as a business? In the not-too-distant future, vast numbers of people will search (via search engine or Google Maps), read reviews, buy products, and leave reviews through Google Plus. Thus, if you want high search engine rankings and a constant presence in front of prospective and former customers, you need to accept Google Plus. Integrating eCommerce Platforms with G+ It is vitally important for eCommerce web stores and online shopping carts employ G+ eCommerce API integration with their platform (ESPECIALLY if you have an international eCommerce store). While a '+1' is an important and useful tool, you can beat the competition by doing more. Integrate the reviews your customers leave with their G+ accounts as it makes the review process easier for them and therefore more likely to leave reviews that correlate to higher search rankings (not to mention the benefits of numerous positive reviews in a prospective consumer's psychological purchasing process). You can get as creative as you want with the integration by offering incentives for sharing a special promotion with their email contacts (which, if I may remind you, will be synced with G+), gamification an integration specific to your unique business. How to Integrate Your Online Store With G Plus If you really want to the reap rewards of the impending G+ gold rush, Clarity can integrate Google Plus API with your online platform. Clarity has the experience, can and will design an integration custom-tailored to your business, and has done custom social API integration before. Guarantee your spot on the Google Plus money train before it gets too crowded, or before Rocky gets swarmed by too many bandwagon fans. Find out more about how a custom Google Plus social API integration can give you more reviews, higher rankings, and more sales to increase your bottom line. Call Clarity Ventures for a free consultation today!