Google+: Become the Business Brand

Pete Cashmore on Google+

It was inevitable that businesses quickly took the social media opportunities generated by Google+ when it was released. Within a couple of days business had attached their name and motto to a Google+ profile and tried their hardest to gain traffic and influence. Google didn’t like it and they started to suspend business named profiles (more info here).

This was for two reasons:

1. A Google profile is aimed for individuals
2. Google+ will have specially designed business pages (rumored to be released next month)

Having been on Facebook since 2007 I’ve seen the network generate from being purely a human business to instead a corporate matter. The amount of money which gets pushed into Facebook Pages by organisations and agencies is astounding. Google+ may be heading in the same corporate direction.

Google+ currently doesn’t feature any business page options but yet something else is happening, something more effective. CEOs of companies are becoming their own corporate brands, engaging with contacts on a human level. Depending on the actual layout of a Google+ business page this comes with huge benefits.

Google+ users all have circles, different categories in which they can organise their contacts and control the messages which are sent out. This acts as a basic but effective PR medium, companies can control precisely which messages are communicated to each stakeholder.

If I was a clothing brand, much like my friend’s Entirety Clothing, then you could create Google+ circles for males and females to target the appropriate clothing offers. Basic but effective. Google+ circles allows you to communicate purely with stakeholders who are relevant. This is unlike Twitter which is developed to simply shout a message and hope that the relevant people will pick it up.

If Google+ business pages use circles for contacts then great. If not then I recommend CEOs continue to be the brand for their company. The world is full of brands but nothing beats communicating with the geniuses behind the logo.

Once Google+ releases their business pages I will revisit my opinion in this post.

Michael is a Consultant for Keene Communications where he devises and manages digital public relations campaigns. Keene Communications has been providing public affairs, public relations and representation services for over 25 years. Michael is a certified member (MCIPR) of the Chartered Institution of Public Relations (CIPR).