Earlier this month Google introduced +Post ads to a limited number of brands. +Post ads allow brands to turn their Google+ content into expandable ads that will run across the Google Display Network.
These new Google +Post ads will allow brands to display their Google+ posts across the entire web, since Google Display Network currently features over 2 million websites. In order to use these ads, the business’ website must already be using Google’s ad network.
Google +Post ads will allow advertisers to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time, because with Display Network you can target your ads with a number of different measures, including demographics and affinity segments. Affinity segments target ads based on interests and lifestyles. The new ads will also be able to be modified to work on desktops, tablets and smartphones.
The new Google +Post ads will let your brand talk with current and potential customers instead of just talking at them. Google will let you quickly turn your business’ Google+ posts of your choice into expandable ads that allow users to actually engage with your brand’s content by commenting or sharing your posts. Along with posts, you also have the ability to turn other public Google+ content like photos, videos and even Google Hangouts into ads. Advertisers will only have to pay for these ads when a user hovers over the ad for at least two seconds, causing the ad to expand into a full screen lightbox. Once expanded, users are able to +1 (Google’s version of Facebook “likes”), comment or share the ads.
Letting users interact with your brand’s ads will help to make your brand more human to customers and potential customers. These ads can also seem more relevant to users when they see comments, +1s and shares from their friends. The social aspect of allowing users to interact with these ads can provide a better return for companies than other types of standard advertising. Google says that the select group of partners that are already running +Post ads are seeing expansion rates 50 percent higher than the industry average of other rich media ads.
Although the new +Post ads will contain Google+ content, Google+ itself will still not feature any ads yet. This could change the purpose of Google+ from being a place for user engagement into a place for advertisers to create content for their paid ads.
Currently the +Post ads are in beta testing with a limited number of brands, but Google says they are planning to offer +Post ads to more advertisers next month.
