Today I came across this thought provoking post on Google+ by Neil Davey : 

Google+ Pages: What will it mean for your social media strategy?

Google+ has finally launched its brand pages. So what does it allow you to do – and is it worth your time?

I think Google+ Hangouts is a key factor that differentiates Google+ Business Pages from Facebook Pages.

The ability to easily mount a Hangout could influence brands to use Google Plus Business Pages as a direct channel of communication to it’s clients. Because companies can “circle” their clients into different segments, it’s also a possible way to hold small focus groups as well as one to one interactions.

This gives businesses the ability to treat Google+ as a complimentary platform to Facebook. Yes, it will mean more work to maintain two sites, but since Google+ doesn’t allow contests and promotions, followers won’t be exposed to duplicate content. (hopefully).

Being able to create a Hangout with a customer is “the next best thing to being there.”

The promotional video that Google produced for its G+ BP launch gives you a sense of how Google hopes to set its pages apart from FaceBook.

 

I agree with many many, including Neil, that pages as it stands now is pretty anemic. I’m sure though that shortcomings like the inability to have more than one person administer a page and unverified page creation, will be rolled out very soon.

These are pretty basic necessities that everyone is calling for.  If Google wants companies to justify digging deeper into their limited resources to  invest in two social media platforms, then Google will have to make that choice irresistible.

What do you think? Is it too early to take Google+ Pages seriously?

 

About Ray Hiltz

Ray is an experienced Social Media Strategist who works with companies to integrate "social" into their business culture. Connect with Ray on +Ray Hiltz