Google+ is in many ways Google's final opportunity to capture a substantial share of consumers’ social media activity, and Google is betting the farm on it. This company is in the midst of pulling apart their array of web products – including Blogger, Gmail and YouTube – and is slowly but steadily rebuilding each with Google+ functionality baked in.
For brands, Google+ pages represent one piece of this larger puzzle, but they have limited functionality right now, and the audience is small and niche-focused. This scale makes Google+ certainly worth continued observation from the sidelines, but in deciding on whether to set up shop with a page right now, brand teams should answer the following questions:
Is this the right audience for your brand?
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As of November 2011, Google+ has not yet caught on with the public at large
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Instead, it is currently dominated by a blend of tech-savvy early adopters, software developers, photography enthusiasts and marketing professionals
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This is not necessarily a predictor of what the audience will be like in the future; however brands should consider whether the current tech-savvy audience would be receptive to their presence on Google+
Is the volume of current users in line with your business needs?
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A reported 40 million users have signed up for Google+, but many have been inactive lately, and a large (but undefined) portion of that user base resides outside of the U.S. – compared to 800 million active users on Facebook
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Experimentation on Google+ may be worthwhile for some brands, while others may elect to devote resources to higher volume (or more mass-market) social media platforms at present
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Brands should consider whether they are comfortable with a lower volume of response – especially in comparison to Facebook – during this time
- For example, The Google+ page for The All-American Rejects featured a recent post that was personally authored by guitarist Mike Kennerty, and it received only 12 comments
Does paid search (Google ads) account for a substantive portion of your brand’s marketing plan?
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Much of the value of a Google+ page will eventually be in enabling brands to better target search ads
- If your brand runs extensive Google AdWords campaigns, a stronger case can be made for testing the waters with a Google+ brand page now—since the two will be more tightly integrated in the near future
Does your brand require detailed analytics and advanced administrative tools?
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With administrative functionality being limited at the moment, brands do not have the ability to use sophisticated platform management tools (such as Hootsuite) to moderate, escalate, approve posts and respond to consumer inquiries. All of these activities must be done manually at this time
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No analytics are available at the moment, making it difficult to efficiently measure performance
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Google has indicated plans to add these capabilities in the future, so in deciding whether to dive into Google+ right now, brand teams should evaluate their capabilities for handling consumer response and their level of need for the added layer of risk mitigation that a management/posting tool provides
Is a solid content strategy in place?
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Perhaps the most important question for brands considering investing the time and resources into a Google+ page is: what is our content strategy?
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For brands planning to engage with consumers via Google+ pages, it is crucial to avoid replicating the content that is already being shared on Facebook, as this will not add value for users
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Instead, brands should begin with a unique approach and keep in mind that Google+ is designed to connect users directly with the employees on the production, engineering and R&D teams. Consider the following examples:
- Automotive company: conversation with the team of engineers that designed the new fuel-efficient transmission
- Politician: posts from campaign staff live from campaign events, and opportunities to chat with the politician themselves
- Film/TV: live chat sessions with the actors, characters, writers and behind-the-scenes staff
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Consumer products company: a request-for-feedback session with the R&D team designing the brand’s next generation running sneaker
- While more intricate administrative functionalities are still in the works, Google’s own Google+ team has been testing a feature which allows approved individual employees to post content on their employer’s Google+ page. Note that the following post is not made by the ambiguous Google+ brand; it is “posted by +Toby Stein (Google employee) on behalf of the Pages team.”
There is no universal answer to content strategy for Google+ -- instead, the best approach is one that is customized based on your business goals and target audience.