Google shocked the world when they decided to take on Facebook with their own unique social networking service. Google introduces some fresh twists to the original social networking formula like the ability to create friend circles. Although it has tight integration with other Google services, it continues to lag behind Facebook. When Google+ first launched, there was no way you can create a Google+ business page.
Back in November 2011, Google+ launched branded pages so businesses finally have the opportunity to spread awareness within the Google+ community. However, many businesses have worked very hard in the past to promote their Facebook pages. Creating a Google+ business page may seem like a waste of time especially since statistics show that people are spending less time with Google+.
That doesn’t mean that you should avoid ignore Google’s hot new feature because creating a page in Google+ is just as simple as making a Facebook page. Plus, you only have to do it once and when you are done, the page is ready for the public to see. So to answer the question, you should make a business page in Google+ whenever you have time.
This is a Google product after all so you can bet that this page will likely show up in the Google search results when people type in keywords related to the name of your business. If you are advertising a website or blog, having a business page opens up another gateway to that site.
The Google+ business page rides on the circles concept which is actually pretty nice because you can mix friends and pages in circles. If more people get into Google+, they might find it easier to track updates from your Google+ business page since they can add the page to any of their existing circles for easy tracking. For instance, someone can make a circle called “Favorite Businesses” and add a couple of business pages including your business page. Clicking on the “Favorite Businesses” page will display all of the posts including any posts that your business page makes. Unlike the cluttered news feed in Facebook, it is less likely to miss page updates.
Based on Google’s newly launched Google Play, it looks like Google will continue their aggressive stance in social network dominance. Google+ is behind for the meantime but their integration advantage may encourage people to finally take Google+ a bit more seriously. Google+ is still young and Google might have some things cooking behind the scenes.
The Google+ branded pages feature is new as well and Facebook responded by giving business pages the timeline treatment. At least Facebook knows that they have to be more competitive and that will only cause Google to figure out ways to bring more innovation too.
By making a Google+ business page, your business will be ready to adopt any new features that launch. You can also advertise both your Facebook and Google+ pages so you can cater to more people. Best of all, there is really no disadvantage of making a Google+ branded page after you set aside some time to make one.
