Healthinnovations is 
not only on google plus but healthinnovations enjoys google +. I like the clean-cut asymmetrical minimalist design, I like the ease of use and I like the reach. You see it has more controlled reach than any other platform I am currently using, have used, joined, got bored with or left. The honed nature of the UI comes in the guise of google circles, add who you want, where you want. It’s like your own personal social media filing system where you get to pick the tabs with the facility to share with specific circles and people in the singular sense.
At this time the beta-version for brands on google + has not begun but the strategy most certainly should be. When google designed this platform they had brands in mind, the maximum number of friends, or whatever you want to call people, google + will allow is the same as Facebook which is 5,000. However, with google + this could be 5,000 per circle with no limit set as yet to the number of circles you can utilise. It is yet to be seen with larger brands, who may have in excess of 100,000 likes or friends on their Facebook fan pages, on how well this will work. Pharma, on the other hand, will have an advantage here and be able to jump straight in with friends numbering between 1,000 and 15,000 per Facebook fan page, easily divided between circles of 5,000 people.
The greatest adage here of course is the fact that these ‘fans’ can be divided by interests with different streams being sent to each circle. This also gives the customer a greater choice, a choice which cannot be given on any single Facebook page or in any single Twitter thread, both of which denote different accounts or pages being set up and not always easy to find for the customer. These also have a reach unmatched by other platforms. With the extended circles selection you can share with the circles of people within your circles. This is like sending a tweet to the followers of your followers, automatic retweets. You can also make your message public, making it searchable in the google engine and accessible to its 1 billion a month unique users.
With google + you can have circles for pharma company news, for drug safety, for CSR news, for two-way dialogue, for illness type and awareness, the honing of your customer-base is, for now, limitless. All encompassed on the same page making life extremely easy for your Marketing Authorisation Holders (MAH) to cover. On the flip side we see customers with the choice to either follow your stream or form a two-way dialogue with the pharma company by including them in their circles. A choice not given on the more impersonal pharma Facebook fan pages and more intimate than Twitter threads. There is also talk of google allowing brands to integrate their company web design into their google + page, mirroring official homepages and becoming more recognisable by consumers. Not to mention better functionality.
The use of separate feeds are key here, leading to intimacy, personalising the customer reception of information. I recommend that google allow brands to give their circles full visibility so customers are aware of their surroundings, so to speak. This would give each circle of customers more transparency and promote interaction within each key topic, possibly leading to self-governed communities as these circles start to intersect and grow. How these will play out is anyone’s guess but pharma brands must make sure they take advantage of the freestyle nature of google + and make sure threads are different to any others being published on branded platforms.
We are also witnessing a move by social media thought leaders to survey the general consensus on branded google + pages. Chris Brogan sent a message out recently asking if people would be happy to receive branded marketing news if he created a circle. The response was overwhelming with the 500 comment limit per post being broken, responses being mostly positive and too many to list.
To conclude branded pages are coming to google + with a honed UI yet to be matched by other platforms. Early adopters, or adapters as we should be known, are loving it but we are geeks. It’s yet to be seen how the public will take to this almost austere clinical platform, which may not contain the safety or warmth of Facebook pages and at times can be highly technical. We now have multiple phone call facilities on Gmail and the high spec hangouts with a 10 person conference call ability. Great for companies or group calls with followers, patients and customers but will these be used by non-business accounts? Will regulations allow pharma to be involved in group chats of this nature?
We also have Sparks which could be a wonderful avenue to link the massive user base of google search, but after a few experimental tagged posts from yours truly, looks to be slightly off-kilter with its analytics. This could also be a great search tool for google + users on illness and health awareness engrained within their social platform but definitely needs some tweaking. Searching for Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) or specialists within the health and pharma realm on google + is now possible at plus.google.com.
All the above is a plus for geeks like you and me but for the masses who use Facebook to meet up with mates and look at photos this may end up being a purely branded platform you join to follow as opposed to being followed. This coupled with the, quite frankly, shocking terms and conditions of google + usage may turn away people now comfortably ensconced in the Facebook nest. Or are we being highly arrogant in our thinking the populace will not be able to use this polished platform.
Only time will tell but either way social just got more personal with google +.
I would also like to take this occasion to thank all the people I have found on google +, both old and new, in particular Mike Young and Craig Delarge who were there performing trial and error posts with me every day. It’s been great helping to develop this platform for health with everyone and learning as we all go along, what an experience, a big thank you to you all.
Thanks for the kind words Michelle. I can only comment from a end user/patient advocate stance.
I’m really excited about the potential that google+ has especially from a end user perspective.
I believe it will help brands especially Pharma with their content delivery and communication. Making it more specific and focused towards the right market or group of people.
It will be interesting to see of any guidelines come to light regard to using google+, and hoping that it helps break down the existing barriers in terms of healthcare communication.
From A user perspective, I think it great that you can choose what you want to follow, who to follow, who to interact with, who to share with. Although I’ve yet to take part, hangouts look like a great addition to social networking and I envisage benefits to those that adapt and adopt early on. Great for focus groups, chatting to KOL’s globally.
Mike 😉
There is no question that we are all going to be talking about Google+ in the near future. The masses will eventually come, and hopefully the geeks in this circle will have figured a bit more out than we have on the emerging patterns of Google+
I like your ideas about Circles. I hope the major players can figure out how to segment their content.
At the moment the Stream is hard too manage. Circles are either all on, or you can look at one at a time. I’m sure the evolution of that process will have some much needed upgrades shortly.
As it is, Google+ is fascinating. In one launch they have brought the discussion of WHAT IS SOCIAL, and how do we (business, pharma, individuals) do it?
Well done for opening the conversation to your audience and I’m interested to hear what they think.
@jmacofearth
Lots to learn! I see you working Michelle, thanks for all the great insights. You experiment and then you share…invaluable.
Jeanne
Everything I’ve learned about marketing over the years leads me to believe G+ will not be able to dominate the social sphere, barring horrific Zuckerberg & Co. missteps.
For starters, Google’s biggest problem is its success—in search. They are a verb: We “google” things to find information—not connect with others. For that, we “facebook” with somebody. It’s become part of the language, something that’s very, very difficult (often impossible) to shift in a generation, often longer.
The essence of marketing is based on PERCEPTION vs REALITY, perceptions winning. G+ is admittedly a better platform; but Facebook is the precedent, one that will be (despite Google’s sneaky integration strategies) extremely difficult to usurp.
Interesting aspects both in the post and in the comments part as well! Even though I experimented a bit with G+ already and liked it, I remain on the wait-and-see side for now, for two reasons. One is that what G+ will have in store for corporate accounts is yet uncear (at least to me), second is that IMHO ultimately the success of any online initiative depends much more on the content/value/execution/strategy than the channel itself – which “only” has to be adequately chosen for the programme.
Although the concept of circles is a plus, IMO, it would take more time for the masses to digest Google as networking than as a search.
However, for us at Doctors Global we would definitely look at creating streams similar to circles so that physicians on our platform may be able to address different audience based on the topics of their interests.
Thanks Michelle for spending time to try this new platform and tell us what it is about..
As for me, as I told you already, I have just gone through Google+ and have not stopped because I am afraid it will take too much time to set it up… Also I find it a little confusing but maybe it’s the first impression. On the other hand, I read almost everything published about it and in the quote below you give the view of almost all commenters I have read so far: Google+ will be adopted by expert SM users but not by the average person who visits here and then Facebook…
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All the above is a plus for geeks like you and me but for the masses who use Facebook to meet up with mates and look at photos this may end up being a purely branded platform you join to follow as opposed to being followed. This coupled with the, quite frankly, shocking terms and conditions of google + usage may turn away people now comfortably ensconced in the Facebook nest. Or are we being highly arrogant in our thinking the populace will not be able to use this polished platform….
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Thanks for your early thoughts on google+. How important google+ becomes is a matter of time….but we all know that old habits die hard…right now it’s yet another technology platform 🙂 but one i’m still learning! the implications of circles is still in its infancy but i think we have to be careful not to make it yet another place to push messages…
I am so happy to read this. This is the kind of manual that needs to be given and not the random misinformation that is at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this best doc.
Michelle,
Nice article!! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Google+ with some great insights for the healthcare community. One of the greatest aspects of Google+ is the comment stream. Unlike Twitter, it is very organized. Your example of Chris Brogan asking for feedback really illustrates the power of the Google+ Feed.
For this reason I think Google+ may not be a favorite of Pharma. Google+ is a great tool for engaging, and this is really not a goal of most Pharma Brands. Perhaps this will change and Google+ will open the important dialogue that needs to occur.
Thanks again for your early insights and your visionary take on this new tool.
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Thank you for this valuable post. Cheers, Mark
Excellent read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch because I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that.
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