Google+ brand pages has manged to make a bit of a stir in its nascent stages, with brands showing great interest for the Google service. They suspended all brand pages and just had one for Ford for testing purposes, and then announced it would be available to one and all over the next couple of months; it is not the idea situation and even Google admits this.
“Google+ tries to take the best from Facebook and the best from Twitter and brings it together,” said Shiv Singh, global head of digital at PepsiCo. “Google has said publicly that its going to roll out with really strong analytics.”
Indeed, this is a large hole in Facebook’s offerings, and could especially help brands with different products in different parts of the world. “An accurate assessment of who is engaging with our content and where they’re from — that’s particularly important since we’re a global company,” said Scott Monty, head of Ford’s social media. “We’re looking for the ability to determine the specific demographics about our followers in a way that’s not as basic as what we see on Facebook, but more in depth so can target our posts.”
Right now, Ford has been testing it with various kinds of content and that fans of Ford have been asking, like access to the engineers and car designers in the company. Regardless, it’s still in progress and Google spokesman Jim Prosser says Google+ just isn’t ready for business just yet. “We don’t want brands doing this in the consumer experience, it’s not built for businesses,” said Prosser. “Businesses can expect from Google marketing tools like analytics and measurement.”
“I’m happy waiting a bit,” said PepsiCo’s Singh. “Because I know they’re putting in the rigor behind developing the right analytics and designing the brand pages so they meet business needs. Giving their history with AdSense and AdWords, I’m confident that they will do a really thoughtful job when rolling out the brand pages. They’ve been working with brands for years, they really know us and know what we want.”
Source: AdWeek
