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.
5. …BUT WITH MORE FLAVORS.
Filtered by Circles Group Video Chat Instant Upload
Editable Posts
6. THE BETTER QUESTION IS,
WHY IS GOOGLE+?
(I mean, do they really expect me
to join another social network?)
7. • Another channel to maintain?
What does it • More fires to put out?
mean for brands? • More ad space to buy?
• What in the world are we going to say?
8. And how did
it become
the fastest-
growing
website in
history?
9. 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/
10. 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.
11. ONGOING
INNOVATION:
20 %
PERCENT OF TIME GOOGLE EMPLOYEES CAN SPEND
WORKING ON IDEAS AND PROJECTS THAT INTEREST THEM
50
PERCENT OF GOOGLE’S PRODUCTS THAT
ORIGINATED FROM THE 20% TIME
%
http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/02/24/google-facts-and-figures-massive-infographic/
12. Privacy is
SOCIAL STUMBLES: Paramount
Google’s misses
in the social
space have taught
valuable lessons. Community
is Key
13. 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).
15. “The core of
the (Bing)
search page
will change
radically with
the help
of your
friends.”
+Mark Zuckerberg
Founder, 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/
17. WALLED GARDEN:
Facebook is even rumored
to be launching its own REGISTRATION
REGISTRATION
INFORMATION
INFORMATION
external ad network capable FRIEND
FRIEND
CONNECTIONS
CONNECTIONS
of unprecedented targeting. CONTENT
CONTENT
KEYWORDS
KEYWORDS
PHOTO
PHOTO
RECOGNITION
RECOGNITION
LIKES
LIKES
LOCATION
LOCATION
CHECK-INS
CHECK INS
http://www.europeupclose.com/article/northern-england-and-the-midlands/
18. Last year,
this painting was
put on display at
Google coinciding
with an urgent memo
to all employees…
Emerald Sea, an 1878 painting by Albert Bierstadt http://www.businessinsider.com/google-was-super-nervous-
about-facebook-used-this-painting-as-inspiration-2011-4
19. SOCIAL NETWORKING
GOOGLE
Harness the power of social networking
or risk being crushed by it.
21. 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
22. On March 30,
+1 buttons
appeared as
a gift from
the Google
search gods.
23. Then on
June 28,
Google+
launched in
a “limited
field trial.”
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/introducing-google-project-real-life.html
24. 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/
25. 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/
26. A PRIVACY NETWORK FIRST
“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+
https://plus.google.com/113117251731252114390/posts/Q6KB4Frbi6B
27. LYTICS. AL L O P T I M
NA IZE D F
NDA OR GO
OGLE
A S E AR
CH A
A Better Sharing Machine
H
ND
RC
ARING
AN
EA
H
R GOOGLE S
AL
S
YT
E INFO
MORE
OR
ICS
M
. ALL
RM
D FO
ATION
OPTIMIZE
E
M IZ
P TI
D FO
O
R
L L
GO
S. A
E PEOPLE
G O
R
LE
C TI
MO
SE
LY
A RC
NA
H
A
AN
D
D
AN
AN
H
AL
RC
Y TI
A
CS
SE
.A E
LL GL
OP
TIMIZ FOR GOO
ED
28. SHARING (AND RESHARING) THE FIRST 30 DAYS
JUNE 28: JULY 5: JULY 6: JULY 8: JULY 9-11: JULY 14: JULY 16: JULY 21: JULY 22: JULY 23: JULY 25:
All brand Users
pages removed d recommend
+1 Button (except for other users to
Google+ SocialStatistics. +Marty Wetherall on more sites +Kevin Rose & CEO +Larry +Daria Musk’s +Ford Motor add for updates +Daria Musk’s Google+
launches com lists +Mark (finally) gets in than Twitter Page shares first Hangout Company’s), on Norway second Hangout fastest website
Zuckerberg as share button Google’s concert with promise of Disaster concert viewed to 25M visitors
most followed Quarterly 98 people business pages by over 7,000 on in history
user on Google+ Earnings for all by Q4 HangoutParty.com
Statement
on Google+,
confirms
+Bill Gross 10M users
redirect and over 1B
“Limited +Christian Oestlien blogs to their items shared
Field Trial” announces Google+ pages. and received
(invitation application for Reason: higher in a single day +Mark Zuckerberg
only) Google+ business engagement still top user
page pilot program
(deadline: June 15)
Still invitation
only
+Soulja Boy
has a Hangout
with 27 people
MOSTLY ABOUT GOOGLE+ CONTENT SHARED MORE ABOUT OTHER STUFF
29. “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
30. 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/
31. +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
33. “JUST–WAIT–AND–SEE” INNOVATION
Hangouts take real–time social interaction
to another level with almost unlimited Sparks serve up easily shareable content
potential for interesting uses. sorted by interest, paving the way for a
new form of sponsored search.
35. 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 Kirkpatrick
http://marshallk.com/google-pluss-real-goal-is-not-to-kill-facebook-but-to-force-it-to-open
36. FOR USERS, GOOGLE+ THREADS THE NEEDLE
Sharing with friends, Sharing with different Circles, Public sharing
complicated privacy settings easy control of who sees what
EdgeRank filtering Self–filtering Self–filtering using
of Newsfeed of stream Lists and Search
420–character post limit, No character limit (auto– 140–character post limit, no
threaded comments collapsing), threaded comments comment threading
Games get in the way Games in their place No games
Content not Public content searchable on Content searchable (but no longer
searchable Google (and soon on Google+) optimized for Google search)
Evolved from Wall posts Specifically designed as a Pioneered easy online sharing
to status updates better sharing machine optimized for mobile SMS
37. FOR BRANDS, GOOGLE IS SEAMLESS…
TRACKABLE PERSONALIZED
TRIGGERS USER ACTIONS TRIGGERS
39. 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
40. BRAND CASE STUDY: FORD
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.
41. BRAND CASE STUDY: DELL
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.
42. BRAND CASE STUDY: GOOGLE
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.
43. CONSIDER THE POTENTIAL FOR GOOGLE+ BUSINESS PAGES (DUE Q4)
+1 Button
• Polling
• Place Page integration
• Public, joinable Circles • Mobile alerts to Circles
• Targeted Content Delivery
All enabled from Google Search and Display ads
• View–only Hangouts for up to 10K viewers
• Mobile Hangouts for guided tours
Nearby • Sponsored Sparks
• Geo–targeted sponsored deals
44. • Circles offer targeted content delivery across devices, meaning more
possible content channels (each demanding fresh updates)
Contemplate • No character limit enables all types of content in a highly networked
environment built for sharing and resharing
Content • Hangouts put your brand in a virtual room with live consumer
Strategy interaction (soon to be mobile and embeddable)
• Everything optimized for Google Search and Analytics as well as
for a Better integration with other Google products (AdWords, Places, Offers,
Checkout, Catalogs)
Sharing • First Mover opportunity when Google+ Business Pages appear (due Q4)
Machine • Aiming beyond the “Like”, with more room than a ReTweet, what are
your brand’s shareabilities?
45. • 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
Fallon invitation)
Recommends • 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
46. • The Web has matured from pages to people
• Google+ is a highly evolved sharing machine with
an active, fast-growing user base
Summary • 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