In an effort to further expand its social network’s reach, Google announced the introduction of brand pages to Google+ yesterday. This will allow companies and brands to join Google+ and connect with their customers via another social media channel. It’s now available to all companies everywhere (many companies previously got a “try back later” message). For some examples of pages that exist now, check out Rovio’s Angry Birds page or our own Anvil Media page.

So what is the implication for businesses? To understand that, we need to take a look at the features that companies can take advantage of, particularly the ones that aren’t available on other social networks like Facebook.

A few reasons that companies will want to leverage Google + to engage their customers include:

• Using Circles to Hyper-target Your Audience – Google+’s Circles functionality gives you a robust and diverse way to target those you are connected with. Whether you want to target gender, city, or something else, you can do so using Circles. This is a major advantage over Facebook which only currently allows business pages to target their posts by country or language. Brands can very specifically target their messaging to get the most out of their social media marketing campaigns.
• Revolutionize your Customer Relationships with Hangouts – The ability to use the Hangout feature to provide video customer service could be a real game changer. Imagine joining a hangout to get some help on the installation or configuration of your new HDTV, or seeing a friendly face on the other side of a call to your bank.  Hangout can also be integrated into contests as well. Below is an example of Macy’s using Google+ for a contest to speak with a fashion icon.

Interested in setting up an account? Check out this handy guide to getting up and going with Google+.

Changes will surely come quickly as feedback is gathered and new tweaks and features are rolled out, so expect increased functionality in the coming months. In the meantime, what do you think the major advantages or Google + Pages will be? Will your company be using it?