More information about Google+ for businesses revealed

The big questions on the minds of brands everywhere about Google+ remains unanswered. How will I use it? Will it be as effective a social marketing tool as Twitter or Facebook? How do I keep from being chased off the service by an angry mob? Strangely enough, I’ve not seen much of that last question, but the fact remains that Google+ from a business perspective still has many blanks to fill in its description.

One thing has been made extremely clear is that using personal accounts as a business account will not be tolerated. Yesterday the axe swung from on high at Mountain View, taking out most of the business accounts on Google+ in one fell swoop. They didn’t get every single one, and Google still encourages users to help by flagging accounts, but a serious blow was dealt to those impropperly using the service yesterday.

Now, Google doesn’t want to push business accounts away, they just want these businesses to open their minds to a new form of social communication. Earlier this week I wrote on how I felt Google should implement business accounts for Google+. It would appear that, in part, I wasn’t too far off. Google’s already planning to separate games into their own “Games Stream”, as indicated by their prematurely released help documentation on the subject. By separating Games onto their own viewable layer, users like me who want nothing to do with “Games+” can be free from the Farmville players of the world and still enjoy Google+ in its existing state. Now, as much as I am sure everyone wished Google would just copy and paste this formula into Business and allow us to re-label it to the “Spammy advertising stream”, it seems Google has in mind something a bit more elegant, not to mention less offensive.

Last night Googler Christian Oestlien gave us some information on what is to come for Google+ for business. For starters, Oestlien hinted that while a small batch of businesses will be a part of the pilot program, it won’t be open for everyone for another few months, which is apparently a significant jump in their initial timetable.  The second little bit he gives us is suggesting alternative ways to use Google+ in the mean time, namely to “find a real person who is willing to represent your organization on Google+ using a real profile as him-or-herself.”

That suggestion had a familiar ring to it, if you recall my previous article. Finally, Christian left us with an encouraging video summing up his thoughts.

So we know that Business+ is coming, but we also know about Google’s encouragement to maintain individuals in the social space as representatives for their companies is significant. Instead of the large brand, Google’s suggesting individual faces and names that act as the human contact for that company. Google has been taking this approach with all of the facets of their business on Google+ so far, a fantastic move from a company who has been notoriously difficult to engage with over the phone.

The move has been met with terrific results for every company out there who has followed the “Google model” so far. Bloggers across the web have reported unparalleled engagement levels, demolishing other social networks in that aspect. Dell CEO Michael Dell participates in Google Hangouts regularly, suggesting on more than one occasion that he hopes to see his customer support team engaging customers the exact same way soon.  The personal touch, the face with a name concept, is already gaining tremendous ground over the previous business model, and if the “Business+” is really months away, I expect it will be equally as impressive a marketing tool.

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Facebook Ads: Three Case Studies

Facebook marketing studies show that brand campaigns have doubled and CPC and CPM prices on the social site are on the rise. If your marketing team aspires to have a formidable Facebook presence, there’s no time like the present.

ClickZ News has gathered three brief case studies from emerging online companies – to catch a glimpse of what practices are working in the Facebook advertising field.

Travel Site Says Facebook Ads Beat Search Marketing by 7X

Over several recent weeks, U.K. travel site On the Beach began testing Facebook ads to see how they compared to its paid and organic search efforts. Increasing Facebook followers was secondary.

Based on 30 campaigns, On the Beach said Facebook trumped the search marketing channel by a considerable margin. In fact, for every seven sales where Facebook ads were the first click in the purchase funnel, there was only one conversion originating with either a paid or organic search click. The site revealed the data-point in conjunction with its marketing firm Upcast.

They targeted 18- to 64-year-olds initially, but testing helped them whittle the target group down to women 35 to 54 years old. They tested dozens of ad creatives and day parts before launching the campaigns that brought in the 7X figure.

Dr. Oz’s New Site Finds Its Social Footing

YouBeauty.com, a one-month-old site aimed at women, primarily wanted to bolster its follower ranks on Facebook. With a budget of $10,000, marketing provider Extole helped the brand target women aged 19 to 50 years old whose profiles showed interest in health, fitness, beauty, skin care, and Oprah Winfrey.

The site, created by physicians-turned-daytime-TV-stars Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Michael Roizen, pitched a sweepstakes. The winner would garner a three-day trip to see Dr. Oz’s show in New York City and meet him backstage. A $300 L’Oreal gift bag was also part of the winnings.

YouBeauty’s Facebook page went from 500 “likes” to almost 15,000 during the one-week campaign. To enter the sweepstakes, participants had to provide an email address. And the brand’s list went from zero to 13,000.

Beach Bunny’s Facebook Page Is No Longer Skimpy

Beach Bunny Swimwear was looking to increase its Facebook presence during bikini-buying season, in April and May, as the high-end retailer had 15,000 “likes” on the social site. So, with the help of marketing providers Clearsearch Media and Marin Software, it targeted Facebook ads at 18-to-24-year-old women throughout the U.S. The promos utilized a 20 percent discount and employed the commonly used like-gating strategy.

Beach Bunny saw its Facebook like count grow by 311 percent daily and quickly approach the 20,000 mark. It also experienced a 344 percent increase in Facebook page views. What’s more, the brand attributes a 120 percent increase in daily purchases to the promotions.

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Meet up with top voices in search, social, display, and email marketing during ClickZ’s Connected Marketing Week, Aug. 15-19, in San Francisco.

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