The long-awaited Google+ pages for business have finally launched, will it be something that will add to your online success as a business?
From this week, Google+’s 50M+ users will be able to find brand pages easily, add brands to their circles, and recommend brands using the +1 button.
That’s a lot of +s involved in setting up your stall on Google+, but there are also some challenges, as with everything else.
Google+ advantages
- It’s simple to set up – there is an easy create a page process to follow
- It makes you easily found on search, Google have announced although not fully implemented ‘direct connect’, where you can put ‘+brand’ in the search box and the Google+ page will come up
- It offers brands a choice of preset circles that followers can be added to, allowing for potentially powerful segmentation – for example early sharing of content with VIP customers, etc
- Brands will be able to use the ‘hangouts’ technology to offer enhanced customer service
- Google will likely have strong analytics integration through Google Analytics, making it simpler to track activity
- There are multiple rules about what brands can do, which may be an improvement on the Facebook dynamic – for example pages can follow people, but not until they have first been followed – leading to more meaningful interaction or at least prompting this thought
Already on there, big brands and early adopters
Google+ challenges
- Considering the months that have passed between launch of personal and business pages on Google+, there aren’t really that many immediate enhancements on show – the pages are still pretty basic and will need future developing or enhancing with Google Apps in order to become really compelling
- There is only one admin allowed at present – so if you set the page up, you will need to maintain and update it, as multiple admins are not yet available
- Compared with Facebook and Twitter, especially outside the US, there really is a limited audience, although this audience is continuing to grow
Questions to ask before going ahead
What are your reasons for setting up a Google+ page? Like everything else, there needs to be a reason to justify the effort taken, not in setting up the page, but in generating the content and the interest to sustain it going forward.
Where will your Google+ page sit within your overall strategy? If you need new customers you may be able to reach a new audience, there are good opportunities to showcase products and send sales to your website, and the potential of circles that could be used to segment your users and offer exclusive content to generate loyalty.
If your audience isn’t yet on Google+, the chances are that they will be at some point soon as usage becomes more mainstream; you can learn from what some of the bigger companies are doing and see how they develop their activity over time, and determine at which point your business would best benefit from another online profile.
What are your plans for Google+? I would love to hear them, add a comment below.