Google announced the launch of business pages on its social network Google+. The social network that had been open only to personal profiles, has now opened its arms to businesses to set shop on the network and interact with its members.
I wanted to explore and so I created a business page for Mirc Art – my sister’s home-enterprise that sells handcrafted gifts and artistic savories (read: chocolates in all forms !). Here are some of the noteworthy points from my experience.
- First look- it appears like a facebook business page with longer updates minus the apps on the left bar (which I always look forward to on FB pages I stumble upon)
- Setting up a Google+ page is a quick process. Uploading an Image Display picture is a drag and Drop process- nice!
- Google+ pages provides a creative kit that lets you enhance/edit the image: color correction, cropping, basic image editing for your profile picture – not just resizing/cropping.
basic image editor- part of the package google plus pages - Just like the new gmail, files can be dragged onto the the text editor to attach along with the post. Very neat and smooth.
- Here is a treat: Google+ lets you edit the post even after it has been published. More so, you can choose to disable comments, lock the post or prevent users from sharing the post (‘anti social’, I think)
edit the post even after publishing it – just like a blog - Privacy settings are upfront and in your face for every piece of information that you update.
There is a lot of intelligence in the system- when IÂ entered the URL as the (physical) address for the page, it published it as the website by changing the field name.
- Apparently pages cant share in extended circles and cannot create hangouts on mobile devices
- The google plus page application for local business seems very promising- it will get you integrated on Maps along with helping you with a great Google SEO.
- Google Direct Connect appears revolutionary on the first look. It basically lets you search for a page by typing ‘+Page Name’ on Google search
Try typing ‘+Google’ or ‘+Pepsi’ this takes you straight to their google plus page.
Once popular, this may just become second nature to searching for an entity online. It’d be interesting to see how G+ tackles user name squatting in this case.
Google Plus Direct Connect - I haven’t been able to find a way to find a way to add administrators for the page (That may be because I did not have anybody adding the page I created to their circles in the short span). I am keen to explore this opportunity.
You can collaborate by adding the Mirc Art page to your circle:
https://plus.google.com/b/109974317358169357085/
Concluding Thoughts:
The new business page features look very promising on the first look. There is some work that needs to be done to make this worth the while.
The golden question occurs- are there people conversing on Google plus? Is this worth the while to open a page in here:
As some bright observer said, at the moment Google plus is like a gym- many people have signed up but very few land up to work out. This is where the pseudonorm lies.
So its not a very ‘social’ property as of now, in spite of its large user base. The immediate carrot to me is the SEO value that it is likely to bring in on the world’s largest search engine. It may just be worthy to invest some time to create an existence for the same and innovate when the platform develops the social carrot for our prospective consumers.
If you are a business page owner, I’d like to know your thoughts on using this new development from Google+
2 responses to “You can now create Google+ Pages for Your Business : Initial Thoughts”
Its very early right now, but from what I can see, I have 4 points to make:
– Hope Google makes it such that when i type +Pepsi, it leads me to the Pepsi India page from within India, than a US page. Their Direct Connect initiative will fall flat on its face without this. This is my gripe with the internet in general, actually.
– Speaking of Direct Connect, I would hate to see a brand page being advertised in my Google search results the way Google plans it right now.
– Integration with Google Analytics? I almost choked when I read that. Too many parameters to monitor and too many reasons for Brand Managers to complain.Â
– Couple this will Ripples and BMs will always ask ‘why are updates on the page not being shared by ‘influencers’.
Lastly, I think the future is in social platforms that you create, build and control. Screw Facebook/ G+. Every time you think you have finally found a way to maximise (heck, even stabalise) your Edge Rank, Facebook goes and changes their algorithm ever so slightly. We have become slaves to advertising on FB and I have no doubt this will spill over to G+ as well. It does nothing but massage egos.Â
I will leave you with this thought and I want you to think about it:
Brands are paying Facebook money to promote their premium products at a discount. What do they get in return? More virtual fans on their virtual property.Â
Asfaq,
Thanks for your comment. Agree with most points but a few:
– G+ Integration with GA may increase total variables, but a seasoned BM will know/should know what to look at to get that one shot overview. I think this will help in determining the economic value of the G+ initiatives mapping various conversions that occur due to updates on G+. A direct connect is missing for other networks for obvious reasons.
Althoug I did not notice it, thumbs up from me for this integration!
– Private social networks is a good thought. However, looking at it from a user’s point- another property to sign up for!! we will then step back and have social sign-ons and then apps to post from existing networks to private network and go around re inventing the wheel.
Must admit – works great on special interest groups that have private communities- you have a strong reason to join and contribute.
-Agree on the advertising bit, but then thats the reality- these platforms need to survive for the common user to reap the benefits she is getting for free.
Cheers!