Here we are! Four months in and after having gathered 40M users, Google has finally launched official brand pages on Google, the +pages.

Many had elevated expectations regarding those pages, especially regarding customisation: they hoped they would be able to totally brand their page, unlike on Facebook.

Unfortunately, they will be disappointed, because on this aspect, Google emulates Facebook’s way of doing things; the brand page is very similar to a user’s profile, with profile picture, bio, photos and videos.  At the moment, there is no application or equivalent of a landing tab, but it will probably arrive soon.

Google have announced some particular feature to promote its +Pages.

• You’ll be able to use Google hangout to hold direct video customers with customers
• You’ll be able to separate your followers into different circles; useful if you want to share a post only with a particular group of customers (most loyal customers, people from a particular country etc.): the possibilities are stronger than on Facebook or Twitter

For the moment, it is impossible to get analytics for your page. But when we consider the gap between Facebook analytics and Google analytics, Google definitely has analytical skills that Facebook doesn’t, and it should provide to users many more precise insights than are currently available on Facebook.

Many brands have already created their pages: Pepsi, Toyota, Angry Birds, FC Barcelona, Orange, and L’Oreal. Will Google+ become a competitor to Facebook and Twitter? We can’t say now; it is too soon to judge it. But with 40 million users, Google+ has definitely reached a size which can already be interesting for brands.

These +pages might elevate in importance in the coming months, and Carve Consulting recommends protecting your name by creating a Page, even if you don’t currently plan to use it.

• +1 widget to embed on your website
• It will be possible to look directly for a +page on Google search, by typing the name of the brand followed by “+”. We tested this feature named “Direct connect”, but it isn’t currently live.

Carve consulting can create your +page, please feel free to contact us in this regard at contact@carveconsulting.com

You probably already know it, the Carve team are a group of massive geeks who love to hang around on the internet to catch every social media related news story. They share it by email, by Twitter, by Facebook, but in the end it always stays in the office. So we’ve decided to share it with you. Concretely, every day the team will post a blog showcasing three articles to keep you posted about what’s hot in social media. No need to thank us, it’s our pleasure!

So for today….

Hootsuite announce new Facebook features: “Facebook Groups, Events, Photos & Geo Make #HootSuite Even Friendlier”

“How Younger Adults React to Brands on Social Networks”

“Google Explores Re-Ranking Search Results Using +1 Button Data”

Have a good read and see you tomorrow!

The Carve Team

What Google is describing as a “fundamental shift” in search, Google instant is now upon us. Check out the video here:

Three of the top five most engaging brands in the UK (as judged by research agency Hall & Partners) are brands that have defined how we interact on the internet and been at the frontier of the social media revolution so much so none of them actually exist outside the internet.

The top five include Google (No. 1), Amazon (No. 3) and Facebook (No. 5). We’ve written quite a lot (and ahem, yes, some have talked even more) over the years about how you can use social media to engage with your customers, so this was no real surprise.

The other two in the Top 5 include Cadbury and the BBC - both who have embraced social media and seem to be reaping the benefits according to this study that looked at a range of indicators including integrity, the importance of ’sensing’ in shaping shopper preferences, stock market expectations, profits as well as purchase intent.

Read the full article here from Warc.

Below are links to some related posts:

Top 10 most engaging brands

The most engaging brands in the world and how they got there

Google Street View car (image courtesy of Official Australia Google blog)

Make sure you hook up your grey water hose and water your front lawn, trim the hedge and maybe plant a few pansies - Google cars will be coming down your street this Summer capturing images for the Street View feature of Google Maps.

Despite concerns about privacy as Asher Moses discussed in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday, the Google cars will be updating images of Australian streets over the next few months according to the official Australian Google Blog.

Bookmark this page and you can find out where (roughly) they’ll be driving.

Here are my picks of the best reads last week about things you should consider if you are responsible for your brand’s reputation online.

Please note: A big hat tip to Gavin Heaton (or @servantofchaos) who provided the insipration for this post. His weekly “5 must read posts from last week” are great reading which is probably why, totally unwittingly when I posted this last night I managed to completely (almost) plagiarise his blog post title - funnily enough, that being the topic one of the must-read posts he links to on an earlier list.

1. How brands should manage their reputation online

Some of the biggest names in social media gathered together at Blogworld expo last week. This post covers highlights from one of the panel sessions including some level headed advice from Amber Nasland at monitoring specialists, Radian6 such as “social media didn’t invent criticism” and that organisations should have emergency plans in place (Vegemite’s iSnack 2.0 leaps to my mind here).

2. The Top 10 free tools for monitoring your brand’s reputation

One of the most important things to do if you are responsible for your brand’s reputation online is to know what people are saying about you and this article reviews some of the easily accessible, free tools to listen to online conversations.

We must remember that conversations are being held on the web with or without our consent. That means we can choose whether to be observers, participants or outcasts

3. Top 5 Twitter Trends to watch right now

Once you start monitoring conversations going on about you / your brand / your organisation you’ll realise quickly that many of these are taking place on Twitter.

Here’s a great article that includes insights about Twitter trends from blogger, author and entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki as well as PR2.0 guru Brian Solis.5.

4. Managing your reputation through search results

This post from the Google blog has some tips on what to do when you aren’t that happy with what you find when you type your company’s name into Google. These include thinking twice before you publishing anything online and if there’s something you don’t like - contact the source of the information (and there are some tips on how to do this) as well as proactively publishing positive information.

5. Damage Control: Social Media Reversals

Renowned web strategist Jeremiah Owyang identifies and analayses three case studies in this post looking at how organisations should respond to a social media crisis: “assert themselves and be proactive - even during a crises”.

Saw this on ReadWriteWeb and loved it.  Great photo from Mykl Roventine on Flickr