Google+…Already Marketing with a Celebrity Tie-in

We saw this afternoon that Google’s home page has a nice little celebrity tie-in to its Google+ promotion. Underneath the search bar is a clean line of text that simply states, “Hang out with the Black Eyed Peas on Google+ right before they go on stage. Tonight at 6pm ET.” Clicking on the link goes to Will.i.am’s Google+ page, which we assume will be updated with Black Eyed Peas-related posts come this evening.

Google+ is still new to the social market, but we’re impressed with how Google is finding new ways to push the new social branch to audiences that may not have yet tried it out. (Google+ only opened to the public last week. It had previously only been available to Google account holders.) While Will.i.am’s Google+ page may be of interest to those who follow the star, we like how Google has opened the invitation to hang out with the Black Eyed Peas no matter who you are, where you live, and if you’re even a fan or not. It’s an intriguing invitation that we anticipate will have people counting down the minutes to click and check it out. Plus, it’s impressive that Will.i.am has made his Google+ page his own already – posts aren’t all Black Eyed Peas-related, unlike their Facebook page. Google’s done a nice job there, showing people who aren’t yet on the Google+ bandwagon how open and personal the site can be, unlike Facebook where users are locked in with an account and password.

We give points this round to Google, but as both sites continue to innovate, we’re looking forward to seeing what Facebook throws back.

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