Google+ Pages to Compete With Facebook Pages?
Google has announced Monday the worldwide release of Google+ Pages, establishing a direct competitor to Facebook’s Pages.
“For businesses and brands, Google+ pges help you connect with the customers and fans who love you. Not only can they recommend you with a +1, or add you to a circle to listen long-term,” said Vic Gundotra, Google senior vice president of engineering. “They can actually spend time with your team, face-to-face-to-face.”
Product Management Director Dennis Trope said in a blog post that Google will add up all +1 button clicks--from brands’ pages for Google Plus, websites, and search results--and the single total will be used to determine relevancy in Google search results.
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Troper also announced the rollout of Google Plus Direct Connect, an experimental feature that will allow Google users who add a + after the name of the company they’re searching for to be sent directly to the business’ page for Google Plus, as long as Google Plus Direct Connect has been activated.
Pages for Google+ has five categories: Local Business or Place, Product or Brand, Company, Institution, or Organization, Arts, Entertainment, Sports, and Other.
Pages for Google+ offer many of the same features as Facebook Pages, albeit with different terminology: +1 button, Like button; Hangouts, Circles, Friend Lists, etc.
While Google+ Pages edges out Facebook Pages In search-engine optimization, a natural progression considering the parent company, Facebook has more than 800 million users, dwarfing Google at roughly 21 million.
Major multi-field brands, including Coldplay, Dallas Cowboys, Barcelona Football Club, Fox News, Good Morning America, Pepsi, Macy’s, H&M, Toyota, Anderson Cooper 360, WWE, X Games, and Angry Birds were permitted to create pages for Google Plus before the official rollout Monday:
According to the press release, after the launch these brands were joined by ABC News, Amazon, AT&T, DC Comics, Dell, Kia, L’Oreal, Marvel, NBC News, The New York Times, T-Mobile, Uniqlo, and Virgin, among others.
Google+ was unveiled earlier this year, and marketers flooded in, but business and commercial pages were quickly deferred and deleted by Google in effort to make Google+ user-centric. Google promised upcoming solutions to disgruntled marketers.
“So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people,” said the press release. “But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about—from local businesses to global brands.”
Google+ Pages are currently only available to select brands.
