Google Launches Google+ Pages Worldwide
In a blog post today, Google’s Vic Gundotra announced that Google+ Pages is now available worldwide. In a nutshell, Pages allows you to connect with things and entities, such as sports teams, favorite products, local businesses, and so on--as opposed to only other people, which is what G+ has offered thus far.
The addition of Pages is more than just a little feature tweak for the young social network; this is a huge deal, and it could help G+ gain some meaningful ground on the competition. In addition to the traffic boost G+ will no doubt enjoy today from press coverage such as this post you’re reading now, allowing businesses and brands to create a space on the social network will enable them to better interact with and draw in customers and fans. By proxy, Google+ itself will draw in a great deal of traffic, too.
Facebook already offers some of these capabilities, and the aforementioned entities are taking full advantage of it. However, G+ offers some features that Facebook does not. Specifically, in addition to being able to add a business or brand to your circles, +1 your favorites, and take advantage of “Google+ only deals”, customers/fans and businesses/brands can set up Hang Outs and interact live.
This is especially powerful for smaller, local businesses that can leverage G+ to actively form bonds and create a community with current and potential customers.
Currently, the Google+ Pages “Create a page” site asks you to choose from one of the following categories: Local Business or Place; Product or Brand; Company, Institution, or Organization; Arts, Entertainment, or Sports; or Other.
G+ Pages will turn up in Google search results, in two ways: one, Pages will show up in results as you might expect them to, as the second or third hit, behind a company’s actual website. However, Google is rolling out a new feature called Direct Connect that lets you enter “+” and [name of entity] in a Google search bar to go directly to that entity’s Pages site.
The astute conspiracy theorist will note that the latter feature is designed to effectively circumvent a business or brand’s actual website and send that traffic directly to Google+. However, it is a nice way to quickly find something you’re looking for if that something’s Web presence isn’t big enough to rise to the top of the search results.
The addition of Pages is more than just a little feature tweak for the young social network; this is a huge deal, and it could help G+ gain some meaningful ground on the competition. In addition to the traffic boost G+ will no doubt enjoy today from press coverage such as this post you’re reading now, allowing businesses and brands to create a space on the social network will enable them to better interact with and draw in customers and fans. By proxy, Google+ itself will draw in a great deal of traffic, too.
Facebook already offers some of these capabilities, and the aforementioned entities are taking full advantage of it. However, G+ offers some features that Facebook does not. Specifically, in addition to being able to add a business or brand to your circles, +1 your favorites, and take advantage of “Google+ only deals”, customers/fans and businesses/brands can set up Hang Outs and interact live.
This is especially powerful for smaller, local businesses that can leverage G+ to actively form bonds and create a community with current and potential customers.
Currently, the Google+ Pages “Create a page” site asks you to choose from one of the following categories: Local Business or Place; Product or Brand; Company, Institution, or Organization; Arts, Entertainment, or Sports; or Other.
G+ Pages will turn up in Google search results, in two ways: one, Pages will show up in results as you might expect them to, as the second or third hit, behind a company’s actual website. However, Google is rolling out a new feature called Direct Connect that lets you enter “+” and [name of entity] in a Google search bar to go directly to that entity’s Pages site.
The astute conspiracy theorist will note that the latter feature is designed to effectively circumvent a business or brand’s actual website and send that traffic directly to Google+. However, it is a nice way to quickly find something you’re looking for if that something’s Web presence isn’t big enough to rise to the top of the search results.
