Touting it as a way for brands to “make the entire web their social stream,” Google today announced the full rollout of +Post ads. The ad program gives advertisers the ability to place Google+ posts onto Google’s display advertising network. In testing since December, the program is now available to any Google+ page with at least 1,000 followers.
The +Post ads are essentially promoted posts — links, photos, videos, Hangouts on Air — that are pushed into the Google Display Network, where they appear as fully interactive content. Viewers see a “Click to Expand” button that triggers a full screen lightbox view of the content. The posts are fully interactive, allowing users — at least those signed into G+ — to comment, share and +1 without leaving the site.
Google said brands who helped test the product have had great success. Toyota USA, for instance, used it for the launch of the 2014 Corolla and experienced a 50% higher engagement rate than the industry average for rich media ads, according to Google.
The ads, Google said, are also an effective way to promote a brand’s on-G+ engagement efforts. When UK online fashion and beauty site ASOS ran a +Post ad during a Hangout on Air, 71% of its live viewers watched from the ad unit.
Brands using the ad product can also choose to automatically promote their most recent Google+ post, paying only when people engage with the content.
Postscript: For a deeper dive into the +Post rollout and the discussion around it, see the G+ post by Mark Traphagen:
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