How brands hangout on Google+

GOOGLE   FACEBOOK   SOCIAL PLATFORM

Global – The White House, Tyra Banks and the Muppets are drawing eyeballs on their Google+ pages with Hangout live conferences. How can marketers make use of this budding platform? Marketing finds out. 

Last month, Toyota’s chief engineer Tetsuya Tada hosted a Hangout session on the new car Toyota 86 targeting Australian motor bloggers. The live broadcast was edited into a promotional video and shared on Toyota’s YouTube channel.

Ryan Hayward, Google+ product marketing manager for Asia Pacific, said it is an example of how brand pages and live conferences make Google+ a better social platform for consumer engagement.

“We can see brands making more conversations by launching new products and interviewing senior staffs with Hangout.

What’s more is that you can share your recorded Hangout session on social platforms other than Google+,” Hayward said.

When asked how brands could avoid ranting consumers on live broadcasts, Caroline Hsu, head of communication of Google’s Taiwan and Hong Kong, said it is better for brands to face up to complains rather than blocking it out.

“Although the host can hang up on any attendee, what we’ve learnt from past examples is not to censor your social platform.

"The best thing to do is to give the angry customer a direct response, and it adds authenticity to your brand page and ultimately, to your brand," Hsu said.

Despite the improving number of brand pages created, brand activities on Google+ is far from on par with its arch competitor Facebook.

Hayward said marketers will need to step further and engage with their users on a new platform proactively.

"We know brands are using Google+ as a research tool.

"The brand page measures every feed and it shows who your most influential consumers are. That allows marketers to talk to the right group of people, and feed them with the right news," Hayward said.

Hsu added that with the statistics, brands could group their followers into different circles and differentiate the trusted consumers.

“We encourage marketers to think out of the box as well as going back to the basic. Before tweeting a feed on your consumer’s news stream, what is your purpose and who do you want to talk to?” she said.

Since its launch in last June, Google+ has registered more than 100 million active users and one million brand pages. 

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