Google announced today that after 12 weeks of testing, everyone can now join the latest social network and kick the tires, so to speak.
A few of us here at ZAG Interactive have been playing around with Google Plus since this summer, and we’re noticing some interesting elements of its functionality that can benefit businesses.
We’re still waiting on Google to formally roll out Google Plus Business Pages, which many industry observers believe will happen by the end of the year. So we don’t know exactly what features will be shared between the social and business pages.
Circles of Influence
But let’s just say Google Plus’ “circles” become available to businesses. Such a move would present a lot of options to companies. Just to catch you up, Google Plus allows users to define circles of friends, families and acquaintances so that you control which group of people sees the content you post.
From a business perspective, a company could create multiple circles for users to follow and then target posts to those specific circles. Companies could create a news circle filled with all of their media/investor relations contacts or a promotions circle targeted to their customers. Users would receive updates only on the information they care about, rather than forcing them to weed through uninteresting posts.
We’re excited about new social media possibilities both personally and from a business strategy perspective, so we’ll keep you posted as we learn more.