fallon brainfood: the google+ opportunity for brands
Post on 17-Oct-2014
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Fallon's Director of Innovation Marty Wetherall explains what Google+ is (other than the fastest growing site in history), why Google made it (the real inside sports stuff), why we should care (I mean, do we really need another social network?), and what it all means for brands (it's bigger than you think). Fallon Brainfood is a monthly all-agency lunch conducted by Fallon Planners. Wide-ranging topics explore trends, business issues, and actionable opportunities for our brands. Moreover, Brainfood offers us a chance to come together, share a beer and some pizza, and engage in a stimulating discussion on a variety of interesting topics that affect our business.TRANSCRIPT
GOOGLE+ BUILDING A BETTER SHARING MACHINE
WHAT IS GOOGLE+?
LOOKS LIKE FACEBOOK…
LESS ATTENTION MORE ATTENTIONLESS ATTENTION MORE ATTENTION
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/users-look-at-facebook-and-google-the-same-way/2577
…TASTES LIKE TWITTER…
Interesting people sharing interesting things (friendship not required).
http://socialstatistics.com
…BUT WITH MORE FLAVORS.
Instant Upload Filtered by Circles
Editable Posts
Group Video Chat
THE BETTER QUESTION IS, WHY IS GOOGLE+?
(I mean, do they really expect me to join another social network?)
What does it mean for brands?
• Another channel to maintain?
• More fires to put out?
• More ad space to buy?
• What in the world are we going to say?
And how did it become
the fastest- growing
website in history?
GOOGLE MISSION STATEMENT:
“To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” ORIGINAL GOOGLE SERVER RACK
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexlomas/5914079322/
ORIGINAL INNOVATION:
Google revolutionized search with PageRank,
a technology that determined the
“importance” of a webpage by looking
at what other pages link to it.
PERCENT OF TIME GOOGLE EMPLOYEES CAN SPEND WORKING ON IDEAS AND PROJECTS THAT INTEREST THEM
20% 50%PERCENT OF GOOGLE’S PRODUCTS THAT
ORIGINATED FROM THE 20% TIME
ONGOING INNOVATION:
http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/02/24/google-facts-and-figures-massive-infographic/
Privacy is Paramount
Community is Key
SOCIAL STUMBLES:
Google’s misses in the social
space have taught valuable lessons.
PROFITABLE INNOVATION:
Google reinvented advertising with AdWords and now owns the world’s largest display ad network. All told, Google generated over $28B from advertising in 2010 (97% of total revenue).
But Google’s competition is aligning…
“The core of the (Bing)
search page will change
radically with the help
of your friends.”
+Mark ZuckerbergFounder, Facebook
October 2010
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/facebook-and-microsoft-team-up-on-social-search/http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/06/apple-brings-twitter-integration-to-ios/
…and gaining.
http://www.hitwise.com/us/http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/what-americans-do-online-social-media-and-games-dominate-activity/
REGISTRATION INFORMATIONFRIEND CONNECTIONS
CONTENT KEYWORDSPHOTO
RECOGNITIONLIKES
LOCATIONCHECK-INS
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGGGGGGGGGGIIIIISSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAATTTTTTTTIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTIIIIIIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
FFFFFRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDCCCCCCCOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCTTTTTTTTIIIIIOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNSSS
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNTTTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
PPPPPPPPPPPPPHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNN
LLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIKKKKKKKKEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCCCCCCCCCCCCCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKK-----KKKK IIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
http://www.europeupclose.com/article/northern-england-and-the-midlands/
WALLED GARDEN:
Facebook is even rumored to be launching its own
external ad network capable of unprecedented targeting.
Last year,
this painting was
put on display at
Google coinciding
with an urgent memo
to all employees…
http://www.businessinsider.com/google-was-super-nervous-about-facebook-used-this-painting-as-inspiration-2011-4
Emerald Sea, an 1878 painting by Albert Bierstadt
Harness the power of social networking or risk being crushed by it.
SOCIAL NETWORKING
http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/01/google-social-emerald-sea/
In 2011, Google CEO Larry Page announces that all employee bonuses will be tied to “how well we perform against our strategy to integrate relationships, sharing and identity across our products.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-memo-telling-all-google-employees-their-2011-pay-depends-on-google-sucking-less-at-social-2011-4
On March 30, +1 buttons
appeared as a gift from the Google
search gods.
Then on June 28, Google+ launched in a “limited field trial.”
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/introducing-google-project-real-life.html
PROJECT, NOT PRODUCT
“We’re calling this the Google+ project for a reason. It’s not a monolithic product…This is a project and
when we say “project” we mean it’s much broader in scope. This is something that will impact Google.”
+Bradley Horowitz Project Lead, Google+
http://allthingsd.com/20110628/google-execs-explain-why-they-launched-google-now-before-its-ready/
FROM PAGES TO PEOPLE
“When you look at the web today it’s obvious it’s not just about pages, it’s about
people. It’s not just about information, it’s about what individuals are doing.”
+Vic Gundotra Project Lead, Google+
http://allthingsd.com/20110628/google-execs-explain-why-they-launched-google-now-before-its-ready/
A PRIVACY NETWORK FIRST
https://plus.google.com/113117251731252114390/posts/Q6KB4Frbi6B
“We wanted to build the first privacy network that got social right. We wanted
to build something that you could feel comfortable sharing with, and we believed that if we did that, you would share more.”
+Vic Gundotra Project Lead, Google+
MO
RE
SHARING
MORE INFORMATIO
N
MORE PEOPLE
A Better Sharing Machine
ALL OPTIMIZED FOR GOOGLE SEARCH AND ANALYTICS. ALL O
PTIM
IZED FOR GOOGLE SEARCH AND ANALYTICS. ALL OPTIMIZED FOR GOOGLE SEARC
H A
ND
AN
ALY
TICS
. ALL
OP
TIM
IZED
FO
R G
OO
GLE
SEAR
CH AND ANALYTICS.
SHARING (AND RESHARING) THE FIRST 30 DAYSJUNE 28:
Google+ launches
“Limited Field Trial” (invitation only)
JULY 8:
+1 Button on more sites than Twitter share button
JULY 16:
+Daria Musk’s first Hangout concert with 98 people
JULY 23:
+Daria Musk’s second Hangout concert viewed by over 7,000 on HangoutParty.com
JULY 6:
+Marty Wetherall (finally) gets in
+Christian Oestlien announces application for Google+ business page pilot program (deadline: June 15)
+Soulja Boy has a Hangout with 27 people
JULY 5:
SocialStatistics.com lists +Mark Zuckerberg as most followed user on Google+
JULY 14:
CEO +Larry Page shares Google’s Quarterly Earnings Statement on Google+, confirms 10M users and over 1B items shared and received in a single day
JULY 22:
Users recommend other users to add for updates on Norway Disaster
JULY 9-11:
+Kevin Rose &
+Bill Gross redirect blogs to their Google+ pages. Reason: higher engagement
JULY 21:
All brand pages removed (except for +Ford Motor Company’s), promise of business pages for all by Q4
JULY 25:
Google+ fastest website to 25M visitors in history
+Mark Zuckerberg still top user
Still invitation only
All brandd
MOSTLY ABOUT GOOGLE+ CONTENT SHARED MORE ABOUT OTHER STUFF
“In just over six weeks, (Google+ has) moved
from innovators to early adopters to early mainstream
users visiting the new social network.”
—Experian Hitwise
http://weblogs.hitwise.com/bill-tancer/2011/08/google_plus_innovators_and_ear.html
KEY INNOVATION:
Circles improve both sharing and receiving.
http://techbend.com/2011/07/01/google-plus-new-google-social-network-whats-new-google-black-bar-google-products-page/
+Paul Adams (then with Google, now with Facebook)pioneered designing for different types of relationships.
http://www.slideshare.net/padday/the-real-life-social-network-v2
+MIKE ELGAN’S GOOGLE+ DIET DISCOVERY
https://plus.google.com/113117251731252114390/posts/aQYKVc5GPVK
“JUST–WAIT–AND–SEE” INNOVATION
Sparks serve up easily shareable content sorted by interest, paving the way for a new form of sponsored search.
Hangouts take real–time social interaction to another level with almost unlimited potential for interesting uses.
THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL MEDIASHAREABLE
EVENTUALLY (IF GOOGLE
IS SUCCESSFUL), YOUR
CHOICE OF SOCIAL
NETWORK WON’T MATTER.
“Back in the bad old days, customers of one phone network couldn’t call customers of other phone networks, then people couldn’t email out-of-network. Today people can’t be social across networks, but few people mind because everyone they care about is on Facebook. Plus is a big push to change that.”
+Marshall Kirkpatrickhttp://marshallk.com/google-pluss-real-goal-is-not-to-kill-facebook-but-to-force-it-to-open
Sharing with friends, complicated privacy settings
EdgeRank filtering of Newsfeed
420–character post limit, threaded comments
Games get in the way
Content not searchable
Evolved from Wall posts to status updates
Public sharing
Self–filtering using Lists and Search
140–character post limit, no comment threading
No games
Content searchable (but no longer optimized for Google search)
Pioneered easy online sharing optimized for mobile SMS
Sharing with different Circles, easy control of who sees what
Self–filtering of stream
No character limit (auto– collapsing), threaded comments
Games in their place
Public content searchable on Google (and soon on Google+)
Specifically designed as a better sharing machine
FOR USERS, GOOGLE+ THREADS THE NEEDLE
FOR BRANDS, GOOGLE IS SEAMLESS…
TRIGGERSTRACKABLE
USER ACTIONSPERSONALIZED
TRIGGERS
…AND EVERYWHERE
ADDS NOT ADS
“…We may never even see an ad on G+—Google has plenty to gain without ever showing an ad, and, put
simply, Google doesn’t need the money.”
+Tom Anderson Co-Founder, Myspace
Ford is leveraging their early access to experiment with Hangouts and various forms of content, including asking users what they would like to see from the brand on Google+. Ford Social Media Director +Scott Monty is also active on the platform.
BRAND CASE STUDY: FORD
While Dell waits for Google+ Business Pages, founder +Michael Dell is actively representing the brand on the platform. He’s famously considering Hangouts for customer service, and he frequently posts content relevant to Dell customers including brand news and ads.
BRAND CASE STUDY: DELL
Every Google employee is active on Google+ and actively engaged with promoting its growth. They’re always sharing helpful advice on how to use the platform and appearing in Hangouts to answer questions, creating a welcoming environment for newcomers.
BRAND CASE STUDY: GOOGLE
• Sponsored Sparks
+1 Button • Polling
• View–only Hangouts for up to 10K viewers• Mobile Hangouts for guided tours
CONSIDER THE POTENTIAL FOR GOOGLE+ BUSINESS PAGES (DUE Q4)
All enabled from Google Search and Display ads• Mobile alerts to Circles
Nearby• Geo–targeted sponsored deals
• Public, joinable Circles• Targeted Content Delivery
• Place Page integration
Contemplate Content Strategy
for a Better Sharing
Machine
• Circles offer targeted content delivery across devices, meaning more possible content channels (each demanding fresh updates)
• No character limit enables all types of content in a highly networked environment built for sharing and resharing
• Hangouts put your brand in a virtual room with live consumer interaction (soon to be mobile and embeddable)
• Everything optimized for Google Search and Analytics as well as integration with other Google products (AdWords, Places, Offers, Checkout, Catalogs)
• First Mover opportunity when Google+ Business Pages appear (due Q4)
• Aiming beyond the “Like”, with more room than a ReTweet, what are your brand’s shareabilities?
Fallon Recommends
• Place +1 Buttons on all web properties now and save room for Google+ social sharing plugins soon (use Buzz This as a placeholder)
• Create a Google+ user account (let us know if you need an invitation)
• Consider appointing one or more brand representatives to initiate a following and test content strategy (see +Michael Dell)
• Circle interesting users and examine what content generates the most response (+1s, Comments, Shares)
• Ask users what kinds of content they want from your brand
• Evaluate Google+ as your primary hub of social brand activity (promoted via Facebook, Twitter, Google Ads) based on its SEO, analytics, and enhanced sharing properties
Summary
• The Web has matured from pages to people
• Google+ is a highly evolved sharing machine with an active, fast-growing user base
• Google+ is the thread that will make other Google products and services better (and seamless)
• Brands can harness improved social functionality (Circles, Hangouts) and end-to-end analytics
• Cultivate your brand’s shareabilities