Google+ Pages for your business is basically a no-brainer. But because it’s still in its infancy, there is some room for improvement.

A while back I wrote about Social Networking for Businesses. In that post, I outlined how facebook and twitter were “fast becoming a normal day-to-day activity” and how social networking can benefit business in general. Well, some time has passed, and though what I described in that post is to a degree an understatement, I’m anticipating Google+ Pages to be no different, if not more so. With that being said, I do think they could improve in a couple areas.

Google Places Integration or Lack Thereof

For now, Google Places and Google+ Pages are at this point managed separately. This for me was disappointing. It’s said that they will be implementing this sooner than later. And my guess is that they needed to roll out Pages because so many were setting up business accounts that are meant to be for individuals. Therefore, they didn’t really have enough time to develop and implement this much-needed function.

Why can’t I follow others?

Right now, as it is, Google+ Pages doesn’t allow you to add Google+ People or Google+ Pages to your Circles. You’re only allowed to add someone once they’ve added your Page to their circles. I think this should be changed slightly and work more like Twitter; in that you can put individuals in your Follow Circle, but not the rest of your Circles until they have added you to one of theirs.

No Settings, No Obvious Share

Two other issues I have with Google+ Pages are that you are not able to have a different setting than your regular Google+ settings. The other being the obvious “share” button on the top bar of the page. The only way you can share is through your Home sections. I know I’m probably being picky, but I really think that Google+ Pages should function almost identically but separate to how regular Google+ functions — for a couple reasons:

  • Learning Curve – of course, people will understand the format if they have a Google+ account, to begin with. But by not functioning exactly like Google+ People you will have frustration.
  • Frustration in the world of instant gratification = abandonment.

In the end, I’m definitely a huge fan of Google and everything it offers. I mean I’m writing and editing this on my Google Docs account and not in Microsoft Word. I’m just a little disappointed that in what I think could be a much more awesome web application – a Google+ Page account that makes me coffee and tucks me into bed at night. They slightly dropped the ball and rushed things a little in an effort to compartmentalize people’s actions. All issues aside, there are some definite tweaks I’m sure they will take care of. And in the long run, Google+ Pages will be one of the best friends a business can have in the exponentially growing world of social networking.