Google+ for businesses and brands

I recently attended the Communicate Magazine discussion on Google+ for businesses and brands.

My interest in Google+ centers around its true impact on search and I have wondered if Google+ will go the way of Google Wave or whether it will be a sort of SEO blackmail which means it simply has to be adopted.

Speaking to early adopters and power users at the event the consensus was that G+ will succeed because of this but mainly as it is leading 'social search', the marriage of old SEO and social media.

For PR people this is a great opportunity as social search means we can improve the way we channel our content and the role this plays in ethical, organic search - especially the ability to claim clients' content via rich snippets, which is very important for brand building.

I also think, and there were some good examples of this from panelist Lee Smallwood, that the ripple effect of G+ will make evaluation of social campaigns easier and complement Google analytics well. The idea of seeing where your content has been shared and how influential these advocates are is simple but presented well.

Overall I left the talk enthused about getting to grips with Google+ and I've made a Google doc with my abridged notes if anyone wants to get a feel for the conversation.