Josi Constine in the well-known technology blog TechCrunch published a signed article

According to foreign media reports, social product analyst Chosi Consting Josh Constine on the well-known technology blog TechCrunch published a signed article on Google + and Facebook's "brand page" products are analyzed, the following is a full text summary:

Google + today launched the first generation of "Brand page" (pages) products. To challenge Facebook, which has had years of experience with the product, Google needs to make a big choice in a number of specific details. But now a comparison of Facebook's and Google's brand pages will give us a rough idea of the Google + product roadmap and see what weaknesses the Facebook brand page has to exploit ( Facebook has a firm footing in order to promote its application platform and to get some weak points from advertising revenue.

To make your own "brand page" better than Facebook's similar products, Google + can take two core approaches: 1 allows brands to distribute directional information to the demographic subgroup of followers, and 2 provides official application templates that allow brands to easily add their own applications, rather than using third-party developers.

Set up branding pages

In the next few days, Google plans to allow all users to create brand pages. But the situation is a bit confusing because some of the "create Google + pages" links don't actually open.

Like Facebook's brand page, Google now offers a few big classes, many of which are for users to choose from. Both Facebook and Google + provide a special format for local businesses to be able to list information such as addresses and phone numbers. However, there are fewer explanations on how the category selection will affect the functionality in Facebook about how to choose the right category. By contrast, Google + 's online web-making tutorials are better, allowing brands to be less worried about screwing up the crucial first step.

The Google + Brand page does not now have a personalized URL (vanity URLs) feature, but it may be available in the future. It is said that this product will soon support multiple administrator functions. And administrators have different roles and permissions to choose from, such as the ability to post updates or remove other administrator privileges, which makes the Google + brand page more secure and manageable.

Focus and release

Users can add a brand page to their circle, or "+1" operations. The former means that users will see an update of the brand page in their main content stream and the corresponding circle content stream, while the latter is to share a link to the brand page. If Google wants the brand to use the product to get enough followers to attract the brand's resources to deliver the message, then Google needs to make it clear and straightforward to focus on the branding page.

An important feature of the Google + brand page is direct Connect, which allows users to add brand pages directly to their circle by searching Google for "+ [brand name]". This process is much simpler than visiting Facebook to "praise" a page. The "direct link" leverages Google's search dominance, and Google should also use its strengths in other areas, such as Gmail and maps, to make Google + unique.

Another big potential advantage of the Google + branding page is that brands can create their own circles and then choose to send a post to an audience in a circle. Currently, Google has created "VIP" (VIPs), "Customer" (Customers) and "team member" circles, where administrators can add members to these circles. If Google could provide an efficient and accurate way of dividing followers into different circles based on age, location and other characteristics, the brand would be able to distribute different content to different population subgroups, thereby maximizing the use of this higher relevance.

For example, if a retailer Macy's can publish content to all followers under the age of 30, Lionel Messi can send more information about young people's products to younger audiences without worrying about getting older followers upset. Similarly, brands can publish more targeted local promotions without creating a separate Google + page for customers in different cities. Currently on Facebook, brands can only publish directional information based on different countries and languages, and cannot be directed by age or more precise geographic location.

Google + users can comment on the posts on the brand page, but they cannot post directly to the wall of the brand page. Users can refer to a branding page in their own updates (simply by typing a "+" in its name), but the update does not appear on the branding page-this is different from the way Facebook "mentions" it. Putting questions and feedback on the wall of a branded page and discussing it with administrators and other fans is making the Facebook brand page A new customer service channel that cannot be overlooked. So Google + should think carefully about how much it wants to become a two-way communication medium for its brand pages.

So far, the Google + brand page seems to have not provided analysis data for administrators. Measuring the participation of posts and page development is critical to branding because brands need to understand that they are worth the money they invest in Google +. Google + needs to introduce analytics like the Facebook Page insights. But perhaps Google is trying to avoid a brand leaving Google +, which is now deliberately opaque to the page's performance, until it attracts enough users to launch analytics.

Provide application Templates

In addition to news source posts, the ability to host Facebook's branded pages is an important factor in promoting participation and increasing the number of new fans. Brand pages Use these applications to create landing pages and E-commerce stores, encouraging people to "praise" the operation, fill in the email address and mobile phone number, participate in competitions, lottery and games. However, to create these applications, brand page administrators must first find solutions developed by third parties, and in some cases they must empower the page management platform to get the apps they want.

Google has the opportunity to make it easier for brands to use the Google + brand page--creating official templates that allow brands to make a certain degree of customization. Google can provide brand managers with a reliable free template that eliminates the use of apps created by Third-party developers who don't know the details. On the other hand, it makes it possible for Google + to provide applications without first creating a powerful API to support a variety of applications.

Facebook has created a functional model for the brand's presence on social networks. But, sadly, Facebook has focused on app developers, and Facebook wants the brand to advertise its demographic message, leaving Google with the opportunity to create a "brand-friendly" platform. By providing application templates and supporting accurate information releases, Google can prove to the brand that it is a powerful, free, Easy-to-use digital marketing Strategy tool.