Only a tech behemoth like Google could have engineered and deployed a social networking site as versatile and elegant as Google+. The proof of early success is clearly evident — it's been a little over two months since Google+ launched (the official launch was on June 28), and the number of users has sky-rocketed past 30 million. You obviously can't compare start-ups Facebook and twitter to Google's growth, but just to put things in perspective; it took Facebook just over two-and-a-half years and twitter almost three years to reach this figure!
Success of Google+
Google+ has been successful, at least till now, for many reasons. Whether it's the mechanism used to roll out Google+, by creating an illusion of exclusivity via invitations or some of the unique features introduced such as circles and hang-outs there's no denying that people were flocking to Google+ upon release. The initial hype and euphoria around Google+ has subsided, but very soon when Google+ launches Business Profiles, a property for businesses on Google+, the buzz will return. Google+ Business Profiles will be in direct competition with Facebook Pages.
Recently, Christian Oestlien, Product Manager at Google+, said that Google+ Business Profiles' test programme had received a good response as tens of thousands of businesses took part. He concluded by saying, “In response to the enthusiasm, we're going to accelerate our road map, and that means we are bringing Business Profiles to everyone much faster than we previously expected.”
Talk about building up the hype! As Google prepares to release Google+ Business, let's explore what we can expect, what it means for brands and businesses, and what effect it may have on Facebook and Facebook pages, if any.
Google's Advantages
Without a doubt, Google has tremendous advantages as it prepares to launch Google+ Business Profiles. Through the test programme, they've accumulated valuable feedback from thousands of businesses about what features they are looking for in the product. Also, being late entrants to social networking, Google can assess what has worked and what hasn't for other social networking business pages (Facebook Pages, LinkedIn pages, twitter business pages) and incorporate this into the new product.
Google's other massive advantage is the range of products that businesses already use that they can integrate with Google+ Business Profiles. The usage of YouTube, for example, is widespread as many companies have branded YouTube channels. Integrating this with Google+ Business Profiles would be a great move. Google can give brands the freedom to integrate other Google products, such as Google Maps, Google Places, Picassa and Blogger. Google Analytics could also be integrated into Google+ Business Profiles, helping brands measure traffic on their brand pages to the last click. Facebook Insights (which measures analytics for Facebook Pages) is quite robust but doesn't come close to what Google Analytics offers. If Google adopts this approach of giving businesses the ability to integrate existing Google products to Business Profiles and couples that with some new and unprecedented features for Google+ Business Profiles, it will definitely give Facebook a run for its money!
But there's no denying the fact that Facebook is ahead in terms of business pages — both in market penetration and audience awareness. Companies of all sizes have embraced Facebook Pages, they've spent lakhs of rupees acquiring fans (or likes) and they've integrated Facebook Pages with many in-store activities and off-line promotions, so brands are not deserting Facebook Pages anytime soon. So Google could release Google+ for Businesses with all the bells and whistles and still fail to gain momentum. So can Google incentivise brands to shift their focus (at least partially) to building Google+ Business Profiles and simultaneously create a massive buzz about it? It can, in many ways. Small incentives such as giving small/medium-sized businesses ad spend budgets on Google Adwords could work.
A different approach
But other innovative and larger incentives could help Google capture the market in an unprecedented way. For example, social networking for businesses is a big deal. A number of companies such as Yammer, Jive, Chatter and Socialcast cater to medium and large businesses who want to create an internal company social network for various reasons. Let's say along with Google+ Business Profiles, Google offers all businesses who sign up a product similar to Yammer, Jive or Chatter that will give businesses the ability to create their own internal social network. They can offer this as an incentive to new business clients and as an additional service to existing Google Apps for business clients. Doing this would be a game changer for Google+ Business.
Even though Google+ Business Profiles is a few weeks (or months) away from release, a few brands have already laid out how they plan to use some of Google's innovative features. Michael Dell of Dell Computers, for example, said, “I am thinking about hangouts for business. Would you like to be able to connect with your Dell sales and service teams via video directly from Dell.com?” The response was overwhelmingly positive, and there's a good chance Dell could leverage this feature from Google for customer service.
One unnoticed news item that's extremely relevant is that in early July, Google stopped displaying real-time search results that were pulled from twitter and some from Facebook. Any guesses why? It's obvious. Once Google rolls out Google+ Business Profiles, real-time search results on Google will show from Google+ Business Profile pages and not from twitter or Facebook! Does a brand manager need any other incentive to jump onto the Google+ Business Profile bandwagon once it's released?
(The writer is the Founder & CEO, AliveNow - Social Media Management.)