Inspired by the deep and promising potential of Google+ as a platform and its user base of tastemakers, MINI has joined Google+ in the interest of opening new doors for community interaction and engagement.
MINI and its social media agency KKLD believe Google+ is remarkably well-suited for the MINI fan base, which is engaging and responsive when challenged in an online setting.
I’m not sure what type of “challenges” MINI has in mind, but let me ask you a question if you don’t mind. Are you building out yet another social media profile and connecting with people and brands on Google+? I’m there but I’m not invested. Maybe that’ll change in time.
I know some smart people are excited about Google+, for their own use and for their clients’. Photographer Thomas Hawk says, “Google+ is awesome!” He then goes on to list 50 ways to improve the platform.
My girlfriend’s MINI, when connected to its iPhone app, will talk to you in a British accent. There’s a pretty tight community of MINI owners so there may be a built-in group that can take advantage of Google+
As the girlfriend, I love the MINI brand and its personality. If any company inspires brand loyalty to the extent that you want to follow the brand online, it would be MINI.
BUT….with the concept of Circles, where in G+ do I place a brand? They aren’t friends; they aren’t family. If I created a new circle called “brands”, how often would I really care to see or post updates for my collection of brands?
I love that MINI (and to be fair…a slew of other brands) asks in their first post, “What… would you like to see from us here?” Really, the answer is nothing. There’s nothing that I feel compelled to get from you on G+ (and especially when I can already get something from you on FB, which is more built out and more active). Offer me something to engage with you, don’t create a page and then a) hope I find it and b) expect me to engage with you just because. It comes down to ‘do something for me’.
From what I can see, brands are rushing to G+ for two big reasons:
a) They are afraid that not doing so will hurt their page rank
b) They don’t want to have squatters taking over their brands (the “Bank of America defense”)
Neither of those are sustainable. Look for the G+ wasteland to continue, this time including brand pages that get ignored just like the tens of thousands of profiles that are already laying around abandoned.
Girlfriend knows better than I.