Do you have to have a Google+ profile page for a person before you can build a Google+ brand page?

[danatanseo]

There was some debate at MozCon 2012 about this issue. I have my personal Google+ page which I didn't want attached to the brand of one of the sites I manage. I saw no other way to create a new Google+ page for this brand except to create a new profile under a different gmail account. The problem is, I had to put in my personal name to create the profile (you can't put in a business name, Google won't accept it), so now I have two "Dana Tan" author pages in Google+, the second one is where I built the page for this separate business "Celebrate Communion." Unfortunately, this has muddied the waters because people are following me in both places (it's fragmented my circles). I would like to add customers who are already on Google+ to my business pages circles, but the business page won't do it.

Is it possible to build a Google+ business page without all of this brand confusion? If so, can you send me directions? I have found nothing online that says you don't need a profile to do a brand page.

Also, once the page is built, what is the best way for me to reach out to customers with google accounts? I don't see a good way to do that on businesses pages either. On my profile page I can load all the emails into my contacts list, but then those contacts can only be added to my profile page and not the brand page.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Dana

[adirectinc]

How does one "associate" a personal profile with a company profile?  As a contributor to that site?  What about the Betty Crocker approach, a company persona Google+ account that is run by whoever is currently staffed to do so?

[danatanseo]

Hi Danny,

I just watched an interview posted by Chris Goward (Wider Funnel) with Janet Driscoll Miller (Search Mojo) about how to best set up Google+ businesses pages without having the issues I mention above. I included a transcript where Janet describes in detail how best to achieve the separation between brand and personal pages. I also included my own "summary" of how to do it in three steps (see the very bottom post in this thread). Did I get it right? Thanks so much for your help,

Dana

[danatanseo]

Aha! I believe I have found the answer to this question. Thanks goes to Chris Goward of Wider Funnel Marketing. He interviewed Janet Driscoll Miller at SMX West after her presentation on Google+ and SEO

Here is the excerpt that answered my question about Google+, personal Gmail accounts, Google+ pages for businesses and branding:

"The administration of those pages can be tricky, because it's not exactly like Facebook pages. People expect it to be like Facebook and it's not. You can have multiple administrators but there's still one owner. So, for instance, if you're the business owner, you should go in and do it, so it's under your email address and you always have the ultimate control. So make sure that the person you're giving it to, that either it's an email address that multiple people can get to or that the owner of the company could. The other challenge is that most people use their Gmail account to sign up. Well, the problem is, if I'm the social adminstrator and I leave the company and I used my Gmail address to set up the page, I can never transfer that Gmail, necessarily. So you want to try...you can set up unique profiles, with your own domain name. So I like to recommend that, just because I feel like it's safer for companies."

So here's the best way to set up a Google+ page for business:

1. Have a business owner create the account using a Gmail username related to the business or brand, something like this:

MyBrandName@gmail.com

2. Don't use a gmail account as the email address in the sign up process. Use an email account that is a general email address at your company that multiple people could have access to if necessary., something like this

GooglePlusPage@MyBrandName.com

3. Have your social adminstrator or social media manager and team members associate their Google+ profiles  with the core Google+ page set up by the owner. That way, if they change positions or leave the company, they can be disassociated with the business page, but maintain their personal profile as they move on to something else.

[danatanseo]

Hi Keri,

I have reached out to Google for an answer to this question. I asked that the post something both in the Google forums and also here. We'll see how far I get

Dana

[KeriMorgret]

If you can figure out how to get an answer from Google, especially on an SEOmoz forum, we would love to know.

[danatanseo]

I still haven't received a truly complete, detailed answer to this question. I would really like to hear from Google. Anyone have additional info?

[danatanseo]

Thanks very much Danny. Yes, I understand that I didn't necessarily need to create a separate Google account for the brand page, but to keep my personal brand separate from the Celebrate Communion site's brand was my goal.

So it sounds like I really am stuck having two Google+ accounts, both under my name, but attached to different brands.

My concern is that I manage multiple sites.Our main site, CCI Solutions needs a Google+ page. I don't want to open a third "Dana Tan" Google profile just so I can create their Google+ page.  How do agencies set up Google+ pages for their clients? Whose Google account do they attach the business page to?

[dannysullivan]

You have to have a Google+ personal account to make a brand page, but brand pages don't have to have their own account.

Start here:
http://www.google.com/+/business/

After you've made the page, there's no way to transfer over people from other personal pages that I know of. But you can point people there to follow you at the new location.