At long last Google has finally launched Google+ brand pages. There has been a lot of speculation on what would be included and the potential benefits to brands. Now that they are finally here it will be interesting to see what is fact vs. fiction and more importantly how best to optimize the experience and drive meaningful engagement.
There is already a fast growing list brands positioning their pages from Fox News to the Dallas Cowboys and now you can add BlackFin360 to that fast growing list.
You can add BlackFin360 to your circles here
Here is the direct link to create a Google+ brand page
For now the functionality closely mirrors that of the consumer Google+ experience with the exception of the Google+ Direct Connect option. Google+ Direct Connect allows your Google+ brand page to show in a Google search by simply having the user search +Brandname e.g. +BlackFin360
The Hangouts option provides a new twist on transparency as you can support a F2F live chat with up to 9 people at one time. It will be interesting to see how creative brands can be with Hangouts and what potential policies will be put into place to manage that process.
More to come on the features and functions available for Google+ brand pages in future posts.
Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360
