If you haven’t yet heard of Google+, the search giant’s fledgling social network based on a similar model to Facebook, then you’re very much not alone.

However, few people will have failed to notice one of the platform’s key features, the +1 button, which has been increasingly popping up in Google’s results pages recently and works very much in a similar way to the Facebook Like button.

The brand new network has already pulled in more than 40 million users worldwide since its launch in the summer. So if you’re a business looking to get a strong foothold in a new online community then it may be just the right time you took a serious look at Google+.

Quite simply, if there’s one straightforward method of building up a healthy following on any social media platform then it is to get in there first.

In the early stages of any new social network you have fewer rivals competing for attention from the same group of people. So by the time your competitors get on board you’ll have learnt the ropes and already built up a substantial following.

Other factors to bear in mind are not just the PR potential of Google+ but also the SEO benefits. It stands to reason that being active on a social network owned by the world’s most popular search engine will almost certainly enhance your website’s visibility.

And now would appear to be the perfect time to establish a presence on Google+, as the company has just launched a new type of user account, called Google+ Pages, which allows brands to set up their own company profiles.

This move is likely to prompt a surge in uptake from organisations keen to start building new customer relationships as soon as possible.

There are no signs that Google+ is going to replace Facebook as the social network of choice just yet. But as the demise of both Myspace and Friends Reunited has already clearly demonstrated, social media users are fickle and can quickly switch their allegiance to an alternative network.

And as Google is biggest threat to Facebook’s social media dominance so far, any business with social media ambitions would be ignoring Google+ at their PR peril.