Today Google unveiled a feature that will allow brands to take their Google+ posts and turn them into ads to be displayed outside the platform.
The new ad format, called “+Post ads” will display across the 2 million sites that are part of the Google Display Network. In a post announcing the new format, Google product manager Eran Arkin says it will allow brands to use ads that are designed around engagement and “think of the entire web as their social stream.”
The ads will look just like any Google+ post, so they could be a conversation, an image, video, or even a Hangout the brand has posted, along with comments from followers. The theory is that users are more likely to engage with multimedia posts that look like social media, rather than just plain old display ads.
So far Google is only offering the service to a handful of partners, including Toyota, Ritz Crackers and Cadbury UK. Here’s a video on how Toyota is using +Post ads to advertise its new Corolla model:
In a way, this is a pretty savvy move from Google. Its Google+ platform has plenty of great features and tools to optimize social sharing for brands, but it just doesn’t have enough users to be attractive to advertisers. With +Post ads, brands can create engaging content and conversations in the Google+ platform, but engage the huge audience that lives outside it, getting the best of both worlds.
