by
Rachel Cummins
| Jul 18, 2011
Google Plus is still in its early days and is not available to everyone yet. It is invite only, and invites can only be sent from someone who is already on there so whilst it’s not open to all yet, it is growing rapidly in its take-up. For the purposes of this blog, annoying and overused as it is, it’s useful to explain its features in relation to Facebook for those that have not yet interacted with it, as most of us are familiar with Facebook by now. It’s similar to Facebook in some ways and different in others. Similar, in that you connect with people; you post content; you can use instant chat to people; there is a stream of status updates and conversations on your homepage; you can share photos; you have a profile page; and you can share videos... Different, in that you can see people’s updates by adding them to a circle - they don’t have to reciprocate for their posts to be visible; you can start video chats (called hangouts) with one or all of your connections; you divide your connections up into groups (called circles) which enables you to decide who you want to share stuff with; when posting you can turn off comments and re-sharing with others if you so wish; and you can recommend (the equivalent of Like), not just other people’s posts, but also sites in the Google listings by clicking an icon (called +1) next to the listing. I’m sure there are loads of other ways that it is both similar different to Facebook too, but these are the most apparent.
Sounds great for individuals but how will brands use Google Plus?
Michael Dell of Dell computers has mooted the idea of using Google Plus Hangouts for customer service. He posted on Google Plus, naturally, that “I am thinking about hangouts for business. Would you like to be able to connect with your Dell service and sale teams via video directly from Dell.com?” The response has been very favourable, and it confirms that, as Twitter and Facebook have become tools in the marketing kit, Google Plus will be also inevitably be used by businesses. So, what else can we expect to see from businesses using Google Plus? Focusing on how technology companies, here are some ideas that we may well see materialising in 2011 / 2012…
- Hangouts (live video chats)
o Live product launches: scheduled online events to launch new kit
o 24 support: customer service, as Mr Dell suggests
o Ask the expert: live chat with staff members
- Circles (a way for you to group your connections)
o Customer circles: brands communicate en masse to their end customers
o Channel circles: the same, but with their channel
o Personality building of senior staff: encouraging customers to add their team members to circles and thus increasing visibility and encouraging loyalty
o Incentives for +1 recommendations, like access to exclusive content for example
The main benefits for brands of the Google Plus’s unique features
The most obvious benefits to Google Plus are the Circles and Hangouts features. Circles are great as you can now select the people you wish to share with, i.e. you don’t have to share everything with everyone – just like in life. Hangouts are a winner as they allow much richer communication, full stop. Facebook will probably follow suit with similar features, as they are losing people as I type just for these two features alone. When it comes to brands using Google Plus, these two things are extremely powerful, as they will allow brands to interact with their audience in a targeted and much more enriching way.