Computers - IT

After an initial launch in June, Google+ is now officially open to businesses. The launch was announced a few days ago on Google’s Official Blog and some brands and businesses have already made the most of the opportunity including Toyota, FC Barcelona, H&M and The Muppets. So, what the search engine optimisation and internet marketing communities want to know is how can brands and businesses maximise the opportunity that is presented through having a Google+ business page? Hopefully this blog will cover a few of the basics, and although it is still early days for G+ business pages, make a few suggestions about how they could be used.

Those of you with a normal G+ page will notice that aesthetically there is very little difference between standard profiles and business pages. However, scratching beneath the surface will reveal a few small differences; businesses and brands can’t add people to their circles without the person they want to add circling them or mentioning them first, for example. Also, Google+ business pages receive no notifications about activity via the Google bar, or email – however, it has been suggested that the page administrator (the one person who set up the page), will have access to all notification data.

Another feature worth mentioning is that the URLs for Google+ business profiles consist of numbers instead of words, and this means that there will be no scrapping for ‘keyword-friendly’ URLs. It also enforces the concept that businesses should use their profile to interact with people rather than just using it as a platform to secure more online visibility. Also, as mentioned briefly above, only the person who creates the business page can act as the administrator, although allegedly multiple-administrators have been promised in the future once the initial business pages have had time to bed in. Businesses can also create multiple pages. So, for example if a brand is represented by separate entities across the world, they can create one broad profile page for the entire businesses, and then create additional pages for its subsidiaries around the globe.

There are five categories to choose from:

Local Business or Place – These are pages specifically designed so users can interact with a business’s physical location. Local businesses can add a phone number, opening hours and a map of their location will be automatically added to their business page.

Think this sounds awfully familiar to pages on Google Places? Well, it does. The key difference however is that G+ pages provides additional ways for businesses to interact and engage their audience, and this is really the point of social media marketing.

Product or Brand – These are pages specifically for products or brands such as cars, electronics or financial services for example. Administrators can choose the ‘Page name’, choose a category for their product or brand and define who the content is suitable for (18+, 21+, all Google+ users etc.). These pages can also be linked directly to the business homepage to help users find the G+ page more easily. Company, Institution or Organisation – This is the same as the ‘Product or Brand’ create a page option, except it applies to companies, organisation, institutions and non-profits.

Arts, Entertainment or Sport – Again, the same options available except these pages are for films, music, TV, books, sports, shows etc.

Other – These can be used by businesses who don’t feel their page fits into one of the other categories. The process of page creation is a fairly straight forward process, as can be expected from Google – but a key question is how can companies use their brand pages as a marketing tool, and specifically why would they use G+ pages over Facebook business pages?

Google have made it clear in their blog announcement that the reason they want brands to be represented on Google+ is for them to interact with their fans, customers or business partners. The most unique way to interact on Google+ is to conduct a ‘Hangout’, which is essentially a group video chat.

Using ‘Hangouts’ to conduct video chats with people is a great way to raise brand awareness and build a positive brand reputation across the web. A company could, for example, host a ‘Hangout’ with their customers where they get to ask questions about products, services and competitions. A company in a technical niche might choose to hold a weekly ‘Hangout’ where their followers can ask detailed questions and be confident they are getting an answer from an expert. Companies could even us their ‘Hangouts’ to get suggestions from their followers about how they could perhaps improve their services. The point is that ‘Hangouts’ offer an unparalleled opportunity for brands and businesses to interact in real-time, face-to-face with the people that follow them. This really could be a fantastic opportunity for companies to really strengthen their brand reputation.

With the exception of ‘Hangouts’, the business pages on Google+ really do look similar to that on Facebook, and they seem to provide the same opportunity for updating followers on news, offers, competitions and other relevant information. The main differentiation would relate to the Google+ ‘circle’ model of sharing. Theoretically, businesses on Google+ could use ‘Circles’ to specifically target a certain group of followers with unique content; however, it might be difficult for particularly large brands with many followers to ensure that this system works effectively.

Google+ has seen the initial surge in users ease off in recent months, but now opening their doors to brands could provide another surge of momentum to further close the gap on Facebook. The question still remains as to whether users, SEOs and social media marketing executives will see enough value in G+ to start using it or representing their clients on it as well as Facebook. With news emerging that it’s now possible to link a Google+ profile with an AdWords account, there will certainly be more developments as more businesses take to G+. Would you invest the resources into having your businesses represented on Google+?