Early evaluation of the marketing impact of Google+

Two days ago, the buzz on the internet was all about Google+. (No, not Google +1. Drop the numeral and remove a space. How’s that for clarity of branding?) A handful of techno-nerds had their hands on it for a while, telling us that Google was finally making a solid push for the social space.

And we waited. But not for long.

Last night many of us who can’t stand to be anywhere other than the bleeding edge were allowed inside. Productivity dropped to all time lows as we kicked the tires and explored the corners of this new social network. I’m still a bit bleary eyed this morning, but I wanted to pen this quickly. See my earlier “bleeding edge” comment. Yeah, that’s me.

But I’ll let the social pundits tell you what is and is not cool in their own blog posts and news articles that will be flooding your inbox over the next week or so. Instead, I’m going to tackle Google+ from a marketing wonk perspective. That’s why you work with Sitewire, right?

What are the advertising opportunities on Google+?

None, really. Well, no more than Google already offers. I fully expect to start seeing Google-powered ads showing up all over Google+. Just like they show up all over the rest of the Google properties. Google has an excellent and ever-evolving contextually relevant engine that places ads. Getting more info about what users like and say will only make this better. Action: make sure you’ve got deep coverage in Google Content. It’s been important for a while.

Can my brand get involved in Google+?

Not in the way you are thinking. Unlike lots of social media properties, there is no “beachhead” (think profile or page) that a brand can establish. Google+ works with people’s existing Google accounts. Gmail. Reader. Calendar. You don’t have to “Go check Google+”. You see it as an integral part of the other Google properties you use on a daily basis. Action: Why exactly don’t you have a personal Gmail or Google Reader account? Go get one. Now.

Can I use Google+ to broadcast my message to people?

I cringe to say this, but yes. Like other social networks, sharing of links, images, and notes is an integral part of Google+. But all of this sharing is done at discrete levels. One or more Circles (think lists on Twitter or Facebook) must be selected for every shared item. You could put loads of people into one big list and broadcast out in their Stream. But considering how easy it is to add — and delete — people from lists, I expect tolerance for blatant promotional messages to be very, very low. But then again, I said that with Facebook and Twitter and was proven wrong. So YMMV. Action: Experiment with your content calendars. Go slow here. Please?

Should I drop everything and embrace Google+?

I wouldn’t go that far. We’ve seen Google stumble and fall many times as it’s made advances into Social. I think they are playing it smart by leveraging the vast network of users they’ve already accumulated through their various properties. But there may not be waves of people ready to get that much social chocolate in their productivity peanut butter.  Action: When Google opens up more invites, see if you can get one. Personally. Play in the space. And get ready to move if necessary. But don’t  neglect your other much more established properties.

Final thoughts:

This isn’t a Facebook killer. This isn’t a Twitter killer. It’s not going to kill anything. It’s worth watching and perhaps worth engaging. But it’s too soon to tell what the larger impact will be.

Tagged as: Circles, facebook, Google, Google plus, Huddle, Sitewire, Social actions, social media, Social network, Social space, Spark, twitter