Google has finally started monetising its social network and Facebook rival Google+ by introducing paid ads called +Post Ads that will allow brands to display their existing public Google+ posts as paid ad via Google Display Network (GDN) that is being used by more than 2 million websites worldwide.
Google’s product manager Eran Arkin announced this new ad format in a Google+ post saying:
“We’ve recently started testing a new, brand-friendly format: +Post ads. +Post ads allow a brand to take a piece of their public Google+ content, like a photo, video or even a Hangout, and with a few clicks, turn it into a display ad that can run across the more than 2 million sites in the Google Display Network.”
He also added that for now this new ad feature is available to select partners including Toyota USA and Cadbury UK and over the next few months, we’ll collect feedback and plan to open this format to additional advertisers.
+Post Ads are for web from Google+ pages.
Although brands will be allowed to use their existing Google+ public posts to create this new +Post Ad, the ad will be displayed on the web using GDN but not on Google+ itself.
The Post Hummingbird Update Era
The year 2013 has been a busy year for Google with the search engine giant rolling out updates after updates throughout the year and with Hummingbird update launched by Google in late October, the online marketing community, businesses and SEO professionals are constantly bracing Google+ as their core digital branding platform and this new +Post Ads format will doubtlessly boost their marketing campaigns and ROIs.
Your Thoughts
What do you think of Google’s new social ad feature? Do you think this is something that a vast class of brands and social media users have been looking for or do you think people will still prefer Facebook ads?
See Also: 4 tips on using Google+ to increase your Search Engine Rankings
