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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