A few things we’d like to see when Google+ launches a business service

Google+ is now out to much a aplomb and cheer from the tech world. I outlined the major differences between Google+ and Facebook in this post. However, that was examining the differences between the more ‘civilian’ aspects of the social networks, namely how regular people will use the networks. But if you’re reading this you probably want to know how Google+ is for businesses. Sadly, right now Google isn’t allowing businesses onto Google+ and is shutting down profiles that don’t belong to individuals, although it says that the feature will be present by the end of the year. In this post I’m going to go through a ‘wish list’ of what Google+ for businesses should have. Obviously a lot of features of Facebook business pages would be welcome so I’ll start with those.

One of the foundations of Facebook business pages is the ‘like’ button, which is now ubiquitous on the web. This simple button allows consumers to show their loyalty to a particular company. For businesses, the ‘like button’ allows for vast marketing and advertising, to both their ‘likers’ and to the friends of ‘likers.’ Google+ needs something similar because even with millions of users, if you can’t engage them effectively there’s no point. The +1 button (Google’s offering) has become more popular lately, and can easily be added. Furthermore, Google’s blending of Facebook friends and Twitter followers could make it easy for businesses to reach even larger crowds, assuming Google goes down that route.

Almost everyone in the internet industry has heard of Google Analytics, even if they have not used it. Google has made its name partly on top of big data, and has used its skills to create a fantastic analytics suite which gives you more information than you could ever want about your visitors. Google could very easily integrate this into its business page offering allowing businesses to track exactly who, what, where, and why their visitors are there.

Lastly, and I think this is one of Google+’s biggest advantages, Google is already fairly entrenched in our lives, such as having over 90% of the search engine market. A lot of companies also use gmail as their corporate email, and perhaps even more use Google Docs as a collaborative tool. Tying these services into Google+ would be a great way to include a more social aspect into business tools.

All in all, Google+ is a great start, and with the right tools its business offering could be even better. If you have any things you would like to see in Google+ for businesses, let us know in the comments.