The Future of Google+: Integrating Brand Pages with the Social Network’s 40 Million User Profiles

Posted by: Micah Pratt, director of social networking r&d

Last Wednesday at the Web 2.0 conference held in San Francisco, Vic Gundotra, Google’s senior vice president in charge of Google+, discussed the possible changes coming to the social networking site. One of those changes included the idea of Google+ brand pages for companies anxiously waiting to reach out to the more than 40 million users. Here is an article from Mashable.com on what Google+ brand pages could look like when made available to companies.

What Google+ Brand Pages Could Look Like [PICS]

A few weeks ago, Mashable contacted some ad agencies and asked them to imagine how brand pages on could change in light of that platform’s planned redesign.

Just as Facebook was announcing its tweaks, though, Google was on track to add brand pages to Google Plus. Though it looks like that will happen any day now, the integration hasn’t been announced yet. Meanwhile, a handful of brands, including Ford, are already enjoying the possibilities.

There are several barriers to designing brand pages for Plus. For one thing, it’s hard to stand out the way Plus looks now. The somewhat rigid format has a leveling effect. But Colin Murphy, director of social for Skinny, one of the agencies that accepted our challenge, says there are potential advantages to Plus, too. “A primary gripe among Facebook and Twitter users is that brands bombard them with messages they don’t want or care to see,” said Murphy. “In its current form, Plus doesn’t solve that problem, but Plus Brand Pages might, if they implement Public Circles.”

Skinny outlined how this might work with a hypothetical example for Mini, the auto brand. In this case, a Mini Countryman fan could join the Countryman circle and see just Countryman updates in her feed. “This level of selectivity isn’t possible on Facebook or even Twitter, unless of course you are a fan or follow the specific product you’re interested in — but there’s a major drawback to that method because the user has to seek out content streams,” Murphy says. “With Google+ it’s all in one place, and the all the admin has to do is feed pertinent content to the appropriate circles.”

In addition to Skinny, Fantasy Interactive created some fictional Coca-Cola and Starbucks brand pages. Are these on the mark? We’ll know soon enough, but in the meantime, let us know what you think of these agencies’ vision of how Google+ can accommodate brands.

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October 27, 2011 | Categories: Blogged, Blogging, Facebook, Google, Mobile Marketing, SEO, Smartphones, SMS, Social Media Marketing, Twitter | Tags: advertising on google, blog marketing, brand, brand awareness, brand identity, brand management, brand marketing, brand pages, brand strategy, branded awareness, branding, branding awareness, business marketing, capabilities, company policies, compnay policy, employers, facebook like, facebook likes, facebook policies, facebook policy, googe, Google, google ad, google ads, google adwords, google analytics, google dictionary, google docs, google earth plus, google gmail, google google, google home, google homepage, google images, google places, google plus, google plus 1, google plus one, google products, google search, google sites, google toolbar, google voice, increase facebook likes, interactive marketing, internet advertising, internet marketing, internet marketing tools, Kansas City, kansas city business, KC, marketing, marketing advertising, marketing communications, marketing research, marketing services, marketing strategies, marketing tools, mashable, mashable news, mashable.com, media marketing, my google, online advertising, online brand awareness, online marketing, product marketing, promo campaign, promotion campaign, promotion campaigns, promotional campaign, promotional campaigns, public relations, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, search engine optimization marketing, search engine ranking, search google, search marketing, SEO, seo marketing, seo search engine optimization, social marketing, Social Media, social media and marketing, social media business, social media for business, Social Media Marketing, social media marketing company, social media marketing firm, social media marketing services, social media policies, social media policy, social media promotion, social media work, Social networking, social policies, social work media, Twitter, twitter marketing, twitter policies, twitter policy, Valerie Jennings, viral marketing, web marketing, website advertising, work in media, work in social media, work in the media, working for you, working in media, working in social media, works in the media | Leave A Comment »