We are going to stray a little from content and keywords and talk about some social marketing. Specifically, I want to look at Google+ and how it can be used to better market your brand or your business.

Google+ Basics

As someone who is interested in SEO, you are sure to know about Google+ and the basics of how it is used by search marketers to increase traffic to websites or to improve branding around the “intrawebs.”

First there was Friendster and the magic didn’t really happen. Then there was MySpace and they (spammers and people running the site) monetized it into the ground so much that it became known as a ghetto social network and was abandoned by many around the world. (It was sold off recently for a lot less than it was bought for by Murdoch.)

Then Facebook took off after they dropped the “The” from the name – among other events. The biggest social network in the world now has some competition (some would say) from Google’s latest offering (in beta, of course) – Google+.

While it mirrors Facebook in some ways, circles and other aspects are unique to Google+. Initially, the geeks have primarily been the heavy users (just as in the early days of Google – remember that Google!?), but now with brand pages, more businesses and other people are starting to get into Google Plus.

While traffic growth has slowed for Google’s social network, the numbers are pretty staggering when you think how young the network is currently. At the same time, there are some out there who are betting it will shut down or be forgotten within months or maybe years. (There are some saying the death of Facebook is coming as well, as happened with MySpace…)

Google+ for Brands & Businesses

Won’t you be your neighbor has turned into drop me into your Google+ circle for Sesame Street.  According to Search Engine Land, even Sesame Street had a Google+ account closed because it wasn’t a “real person” and they didn’t yet want brands or businesses to enter the Google+ fray.

At the time, Search Engine Land and many others in the blogosphere (can we just say media by now? I mean, really!) … Anyway, the bloggers were all upset and up in arms, but as of this post, Search Engine Land and many others who complained now have Google+ brand pages.

Earlier this month, Google opened up their social network (although they’re not really calling it that… Google Plus is more of a platform perhaps.) Whatever you call it, they opened their doors to the “big boys” and brands and a lot have signed up and started collecting in people’s various circles (which are sort of like groups in many ways – a feature other social networks have but is not played up as much or made as easy as it is in the Google+ user interface.

Here is a list of some of the better big brand pages in Google+

• McDonald’s at Google+ – I’m lovin’ it … Have McDonald’s in circles (220) as of posting this. Very basic and doesn’t look like there’s much activity. Maybe not promotion – ie you always see Facebook and/or Twitter icons (like you used to see MySpace URLs a few scant years ago… how time flies online == [chicken] nugget of wisdom buried for the close readers who will become loyal readers. Nice to meet you!)
• IBM at Google+  – This Google+ page is managed by George Faulkner and Kevin Winterfield and is official as far as I can tell.
• Microsoft at Google+ – They have a few pages for some of their products, but I also found a lot of pages in the index that went to 404′s – a few days old at the most. Kinda interesting to the SEO world, I imagine.
• Marlboro at Google+ – Hard to find the main official brand page. Seems a lot of people have the surname of Marlboro! lol.
• Verizon Wireless at Google+ - They have an official Customer Service Page that looks well designed and full of information. Alas, not people know about it (or Google+ yet) with only 116 having Verizon Wireless Customer Support in circles at this time. Also of note, there’s only one tech signed up on Verizon’s end so far. Could be interesting to watch it develop. Leave a comment below if you would like to choose this as a future case study for Captain Quality.
• Disney at Google+ – It appears there have been attempts to create non-official Disney Google+ pages. While they 404 currently, they’re still in at least one of Google’s data centers. A lot of people are using Disney as first name to rank on page one or setting up unofficial “official” pages on Google+. Didn’t dig too deep, but didn’t see main brand on exclusive search of plus.google.com and Disney. (Again, leave a comment if you want to follow this or other big brands in some sort of ongoing case study here at Lease a SEO.

This is just a small sampling of six big brands and how they are using or not using Google+ for marketing. While Google+ is still only in infancy – even when using Internet time – it should be interesting to see more and more big brands incorporate Google+ into their marketing and other ad campaigns. As mentioned above, it’s rare to not see the Facebook “F” or the Twitter “T” on many television ads or mentioned on radio ads as well as all over the place elsewhere on the Internet.  Whether the +1 symbol is adopted and put into advertising or the days of MySpace and using a custom URL return remains to be seen. One thing about the Google+ URLs for brands is that they’re not very SEO-friendly, ya know?

If you have any thoughts about Google+ – personal accounts, spam accounts, their attempt to tie a real person’s name to each account, business or brand accounts – we want to hear from you! We value our readers – even you. Or maybe that’s better said especially you. Small smile. In all seriousness, if you have questions or want to share your opinion leave a comment below.

“What’s Google+? Is it like Facebook?”

“Google+ sounds like it’s a Facebook wannabe!”

“My friends aren’t on Google+ yet, so why should I be…”

Can you somehow detect the indifference, and possibly a wee bit negativity? Google+ … love it, hate it or feel indifferent towards it, you cannot deny that the spotlight is on this upcoming social networking site. Everyone is interested to know if it will indeed annihilate Facebook, and what it can do in the long run to edge Facebook out of the picture. However, we are pretty positive that there it will appeal to the social networking crowd, without being a fad that will slowly disappear into oblivion (does anyone remember Google Wave?). For those who have resisted checking out Google+ (until now!), here are five reasons why you should “date” Google+ and give it a try. Who knows, you may just fall in love with it!

Reason 1: Better control with your contacts with Google+

One of the main grouses voiced by Facebook users is the inability to segment their contacts – all 2,405 of them. Well, actually, you can do so via “groups” but it has got to be more… intuitive, ya know? With Google+’s Circles, you can effortlessly create separate profiles, and group our contacts into different Circles according to their personalities. Mom, your pesky kid brother who insists on having a Google+ account and your dog can go into “Family”, people you just met at the party last night can go into the “People I Just Met at the Party Last Night” Circle… well you get the drift, don’t you? All this translates to the ability to post and share with a particular group of people. Inappropriate NSFW material can be hidden from your boss while your current pictures that denote your current whereabouts can remain unknown from your ex-girlfriends! Handy, innit?

Along with Circles, the Hangouts feature is cool, too. You can video chat with your closest pals and just spend some time hanging out online (pardon the weak pun).

Reason 2: Sharing and uploading from your phone made easy

This is a no-brainer. Along with Google+ you will get your own Google+ Instant Upload app which allows you to share stuff from your phone. Pictures and videos can be uploaded to a private folder on G+ and you can select what to keep private, and which ones to show off to the world.

Reason 3: Google+… now with GAMES!

If you think Google’s going to miss out on the huge share of the social networking pie to Facebook just because Google+ didn’t feature games at first, then you obviously thought wrong. Google has just announced that they are rolling out new casual games to entertain and enrich Google+-ers’ experience. The lineup includes Rovio’s addictive Angry Birds game as well as Zynga Poker. Zynga being a major social networking gaming developer in Facebook, will only mean that its rivals will follow suit and Google+ users can be sure of a more interesting experience in the months to come.

Reason 4: It’s good for SEO

Or at least, we are putting our money on the fact that it will. Google+ is, after all, owned by Google and that non-intrusive +1 button has to be good for something, right? The way websites, blog posts, images and other content is shared on G+ will have an impact on SEO later on especially once people get used to the +1 button. Unlike ‘Likes’, we get the feeling that the +1 button will be a fixture on the search engine result pages in the near future… It’s never too early to immerse yourself in Google+ and get to know the sexy +1 button!

Reason 5: The simplicity is so sexy

We cannot stress just how intuitive Google+ is. Facebook may look like one gigantic Wall but it’s actually more complicated than it looks. In comparison, Google+’s stream is so much simpler to experience. It’s actually as easy as emailing someone, but more intuitive and with more features, of course. If you want to do away with the ads, the spam and tons of photos to sieve through, try out Google+ and you will be surprised at how simple everything is.

Games in Google+… finally!

This just in! Google has announced that they are finally bringing in social games to Google+. According to them, there’s more to life than just plain sharing conversation. In other words, we need something more visual and enriching, and with the new game feature in Google+, it seems that the experience will be made all the more interesting for us, and profitable for Google and its game developer partners.

There when you need them, gone when you don’t

In their blog post, Google explains that “games in Google+ are there when you need them, and gone when you don’t.” In other words, the games won’t be a major part of your whole experience, and it won’t a pesky in-your-face thing unlike Facebook where one can be inundated with repetitive gaming alerts/posts in one’s Wall. We think this non-intrusive feature in Google+ will go down well with those who enjoy gaming on the casual side, but do not want to experience a barrage of games and pop-ups pestering you to purchase Facebook credits for in-game items. With the Google+ Circles feature, you can create your own gaming circles and show only the posts intended for them, thus saving your non-gaming friends from an endless stream of posts asking for them to water their cabbage in their tiny, impoverished farms.

So, what can we expect for the initial lineup of games in Google+?

Based on the image Google provided, we can clearly see a couple of big names there. Rovio’s phenomenal Angry Birds game is in there, and so’s Zynga’s Poker (touted as one of the most popular social networking poker game). If Zynga is part of the Google+ gaming scene, it is only a matter of time before the rest of their equally popular offering follows. Think Farmville and Cafe World. Also, Zynga’s main rival, Playfish, may want a piece of the G+ pie and it may also be a matter of time before it joins the game lineup in Google+.

As of the time of writing this post, not the game feature has not been fully rolled out. Have you played the new games in Google+ yet? Let us know what you think!