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Google+ lays groundwork for business profiles

September 27, 2011 | Online Marketing

After three months of testing the social-network waters, Google+ is finally ready to make a big splash. In the past week, it ditched its invite-only program, began promoting registration from its seen-by-millions-daily homepage and declared the network ready for brands.

At Ad Age's Digital West conference last week, Christian Oestlien, group product manager for social advertising at Google, announced it's close to unveiling Google+ business profiles that will permit companies to create pages and circles like those of an individual user of the social network. It's an about-face from a July blog post in which Mr. Oestlien wrote that businesses should refrain from setting up profiles, noting a policy team was working to shut down profiles set up on behalf of companies. A number were killed, including those for Sesame Street, MTV and Mashable, all of which had enthusiastically tried to set up a presence on Google+ only to be told Google+ wasn't ready for them.

As it stands, only two marketers have gotten the official go-ahead to test the waters for Google+, automakers Ford and General Motors, whose beta status is identified by "test account" and "sneak preview" banners. But several unofficial business profiles have cropped up on Google+, set up surreptitiously by companies, fans or squatters registering the brand name.

Get the full story at Advertising Age

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