How are companies using personal profiles?
Right now Google+ is still hasn’t officially opened to the public for personal profiles or started field testing business profiles, but we can’t help but wonder what those business profiles will look like and what type of features they’ll have.
Although Google+ says they will delete any businesses using personal profiles, they have kept a few such as Ford and some others that act as businesses profiles like Michael Dell (Dell Computers) and Pete Cashmore (Mashable). I was really interested to see that both Michael Dell and Ford have been holding “Hangouts” (Group video chat of up to 10 people at once) on Google+ and inviting customers to come and talk about their company as well as current events. Ford has also been live streaming these Hangouts through Hangout Party.
Even though Hangouts only allows for up to 10 people to video chat at once, each of Michael Dell’s Hangouts have had about 25 people (some people leave allowing for others to enter). For Dell and Ford, the Hangouts seem to be a success. The comments on the Hangouts are primarily positive and the Hangouts always meet their maximum number of people allowed in. People seem to like to have video chats with the companies they use.
Ford, Michael Dell, and Pete Cashmore/Mashable are all using Google+ similar to the way they use Facebook as far as posts. They are posting pictures, videos, articles, etc. much the same they would on Facebook. However, with Google+ they have the ability to make their posts a little bit longer if they wish. They could even turn a Google+ post into a blog post much like Tom Anderson, Co-Founder of MySpace, has done with his personal Google+ blog posts.
What would we like to see in a business profile?
Here at HostDime, we are excited to eventually have the opportunity to connect with current and prospective clients through Google+. We hope that they keep Hangouts and the chat options for the business profiles so that we may connect with you in ways we cannot currently. We are intrigued about the idea to hold Hangouts on new services we offer, answering questions you have about our services, and other topics.
In addition to the new ways to connect with customers, we would also like to see better analytics than those that are offered with a business account on Facebook. The integration of Google Analytics would be very a nice addition.
Allowing business profiles to group followers into “Circles” would be nice as well. This would allow business to group customers by geographical area so that more target interaction could take place. It could also allow for current and prospective customer grouping as well as grouping customers based on the service or product that they currently buy from you. Again this could allow for better targeting of posts, Hangouts, etc.
What would you like to see in a business profile?
As a customer, what kind of features would you like businesses to have at their disposal to better connect with you and meet your service needs? Do you like the idea of businesses using Hangouts to hold discussions and answer questions? What specifically would you like to see HostDime use?
If you’re an owner of or an employee at a business that utilizes social media to connect with its clients, what features would you like to see on the business side? What most intrigues you as a possible feature?
We want to discuss the different possibilities and see what you think will actually happen and what you want the profiles to have. To join the discussion, either leave a comment here or use this #hashtag on Twitter: “#GPlusHD”. The hashtag will allow you to see what others are saying. We’ll write another blog post later with the results of this discussion.