Google+ Pages would be perfect for Car Talk
And vice versa. While brands and media properties will no doubt rush to try out Google+, in many cases for the wrong reasons – to push out content, to replicate Facebook posts, to do the same thing they’re already doing elsewhere – it strikes me that Google+ Pages could work better for certain kinds of brands and content creators than other social platforms. Like Car Talk.
Wouldn’t you love it if Tom and Ray had hangouts once or twice a week for open questions and clever repartee? Sure Car Talk hangouts might be hard to get into, and fans would get really frustrated if they got shut out, but the brothers could always produce brief videos of the best exchanges and share them on YouTube after the fact. Which by they way would help yield better search results and drive traffic back to their Google+ page.
They could share puzzlers on their Google + page each week, too. Fans and listeners could post answers right there. Instead of simply hearing the right answer on the next show, we could amuse ourselves with the wrong ones, too. Perhaps even engage in some argument and debate.
And while it may not be possible for Car Talk, as a Google+ Page owner to add individuals to its circles (at least until the page is circled by a fan first), once fans do add Car Talk to a circle, Ray and Tom could segment those users based on interests or needs, both automotive and psychological. They could have circles of “mechanics who want to get better,” “prospective new car buyers,” “people in bad marriages due to automotive disagreements,” etc. Click and Clack could offer up advice, information, links and content specific to the circles that could most benefit from them.
There are plenty of reasons for brands and media companies to get onto Google+ Pages.
To stake your claim before someone creates a fake version
Like this one for BofA. (They deserve it, though.) Looks like Google is already on top of establishing verified pages, but it’s always easier to avoid the hassle.
To increase search results
Certainly Google+ pages will come up higher in organic search than will Facebook pages. Plus Google can weigh inbound links to that page, so that if you get the right people to link to you your results are even better.
To take advantage of Direct Connect
As Google+ continues to get more popular searching for +Burberry or +Pepsi or +Google makes it really easy for people to find your page. Presuming that they want to because you’re doing great things there.
To avoid being late to the party
An awful lot of brands were late to Facebook and even later to Twitter. While it’s always possible to catch up, it’s hard to be perceived as an innovator if you don’t get there first and set an example.
To get familiar enough with the platform to actually be inventive with it
And I don’t simply mean putting some video in your profile pictures, though kudos to Burberry, it is aesthetically pleasing. Rather to figure out whether or not you can deliver better service here than elsewhere, take advantage of hangouts, or simply leverage your +1’s in a more meaningful way.
Here are some other posts that you might find helpful.
Why Google+ Will Have a Huge Impact Re: Brands
Brand Pages are Lacking, but You’ll Make One Anyway
Burberry and Angry Birds Launch Pages
Google+ Pages Won’t Save the Social Network
In the meantime, I’m hoping Click and Clack jump on Google+ pages sooner rather than later and set an example of how to use the platform.
We’re mobilizing Mobile with our friends at Google
I’m on a bit of a mobile kick as you might have noticed. That’s in part because Mullen has been hard at work getting our own mobile capabilities into high gear and also because we’re in the midst of a really cool project with Google to launch Go Mo, an initiative to get small businesses across America (and eventually the world) to optimize their sites for mobile.
It’s hard to think of anything that isn’t mobile anymore. Search is mobile. It’s pretty frustrating when you’re looking for something from a smartphone and it comes up like this.
Entertainment is mobile. In many cases it provides more options than the alternative. (Note how HBO GO actually trumps HBO On Demand for depth of content and choice.)
Travel is mobile, from booking flights and hotels to checking in. And the list goes on: shopping from mobile sites, making digital payments, executing stock sales and bank transfers, connecting with friends via social media.
More importantly, it’s evident we all have to stop thinking of mobile as its own medium or category. It’s part of everything – in-store, print advertising, physical experiences, customer service, data and analytics. Yet there’s a tendency to treat mobile as an afterthought or at least to develop mobile apps and utility off to the side.
Our program with Google is an attempt to change that. We both believe that given the proliferation of smart phones that everything – from strategy to content — has to start with mobile.
One of the more fun things we’re doing is mobilizing Mobile, Alabama. We thought that helping optimize sites for an entire town’s local businesses would be a great way to demonstrate the value of having a mobile site and the alliteration was too good to pass up. Google will help up to 500 local businesses get optimized for mobile, even hosting the sites free of charge for a full year.
I’m heading to Mobile next Monday to speak at an event encouraging ad agencies to learn, think and create in the mobile space. Jason Spero, Google’s head of Mobile Advertising, will join me. He obviously knows a hell of a lot more than I do about mobile proliferation and consumer trends, but I can share at least a few thoughts on how ad agencies can ready themselves for the biggest shift ever in marketing and engagement.
If you’re down there, stop by. You can register for our Mobile for Advertising Agencies and start to Go Mo yourself.
Oh, and the video below, on how Lulu’s optimized for mobile, was shot by my filmmaker friend Max Esposito.
