Touted as the most credible contender to Facebook since, well, Google Buzz, Google+ has unleashed the next weapons in their armoury – targeted at businesses.
Entrepreneurs with their finger on the pulse will remember that Google+ focused primarily on its consumer base – to the extent that any corporate pages set up by users were summarily deleted. Now, however, Google have unveiled their corporate accounts, with early testing showing a great response, helping businesses become part of the social media conversation to reach customers.
Pepsi, WWE and Fox News are just a few of the big names to set up their accounts. Naturally, Google+ pages are integrated into Google search, and content that has been +1’d (the Google+ version of a ‘like’) will also appear.
But perhaps the biggest development is the ‘Direct Connect’. Add a + symbol before a brand and be taken directly to their Google+ page. When customers arrive, they’ll be prompted to add the page to their circles in order to receive content. We think the potential for + use is huge – from searching for kitchenware to film trailers
It’s been 100 days of highs and lows for Google+. While it boasts 40million users, site traffic dropped 60% as the hassle of juggling similar types of social media accounts put off customers. But with the new additions, especially the potential of Direct Connect coupled with the power of Google search, expect an interesting few months for, and from, the social media giants.