Late last year, Google revealed that it had been testing +Post ads, enabling advertisers to reach audiences across the Google Display Network with their Google+ posts. Today, the company announced that it has opened the ads up to all advertisers.
The ads let you use Google+ photos and videos, and turn them into engagement ads. While the format is open to any advertiser, you still have to meet the minimum requirement for Google+ followers, which is at least 1,000, so if this doesn’t apply to you, you better get started building up your following.
“+Post ads are already helping advertisers run creative campaigns that make the entire web their social stream,” says product manager Eran Arkin. “For example, for the launch of the 2014 Corolla, Toyota USA sought to drive consideration from a younger audience by promoting their Google+ content with +Post ads. For this campaign, Toyota USA saw a 50% higher engagement rate than the industry average for rich media ads.”
“The European Parliament worked with Ogilvy Brussels to run a campaign in 11 countries encouraging European citizens to cast their votes in the upcoming EU elections,” says Arkin. “Koen Van Impe, CEO Ogilvy Brussels, found the combination of an easy to create ad, the potential reach and targeting of the Google Display Network, and the powerful ad format promising and saw engagement rates that were 50% to 100% higher, and at a lower cost-per-engagement, than previous campaigns.”
In addition to the open access, Google is adding two new features to +Post Ads: Hangouts on Air support and automatic promotion.
Advertisers can use the ads to promote Hangouts on Air, and let users take specific actions before, during, or after the broadcast, such as RSVPing, watching, or viewing a recording.
With automatic promotion, you can promote your most recent Google+ post, and only pay when people engage with it.
Here, Google shares some +Post ad examples, requirements, best practices, and other tips.
Images via Google