What is Google Posts

I read an article just now by Sunil, that alerted me to an interesting development. It seems Google is thinking of taking a page right out of LinkedIn Pulse's Influencers concept. Google Posts, embeds one-way content into search results directly. 

This concept and experiment has potentially huge implications on the way online branding takes place. Google Posts are like orphaned and marooned Google+ posts without the awkward Google+ branding directly embedded in search. Google.com/posts

An experimental new podium on Google

 It's being tested out on 2016 US presidential candidates as of March, 2016. Think of it as a Google + reboot just for brands, made for prominent figures and organizations. So the podium would be for the famous, i.e., an influencer content showcase of real-time content. 

1. One-Way
2. No comments
3. No Google + social or networking implications 
4. Google building content right on the back of its main product (search)

Google posts could then become an online reputation management (ORM) system of some influence for the already influential. 

• Faster on-demand content on Influencers, public figures and syndicated brands 
• Google posts is a podium for influencer-highway content 
• A likely Google + reboot just for brands (B2B). 

Google is trying to adjust to the hyper real-time nature of influencer marketing on mobile devices. It may also have noticed how well the Influencers on LinkedIn appear to be scaling in terms of followers and reach. It's also an attempt to do something more successful than the mostly failed Google + network. 

Potential of Google Posts 

Google posts is thus, directly hosted content embedded in search, an exciting prospect to say the least. It's influencer marketing because it's making the already popular, more popular by giving their audience quicker access to their latest content. So it's far from user-generated-content it's more an advertising model that will allow celebrities, public figures and influencers to hit magic search results easier. 

This is an experimental preview of how it will look, not unlike a Facebook Note or Medium article. Google is hinting that the feature will come to others if the test is successful, opening up a waitlist for future expansion so you can sign up to be invited later on.

Rise of Influencer Marketing 

Google entering the arena of online reputation management (ORM) in this way heralds its own spin on the site about.me combining elements of influencer marketing we see with LinkedIn's syndicated Influencers, who are buried 3 clicks down in LinkedIn's interface and only pop-up on occasion with featured posts on Pulse or when the algorithm advises you to follow them.  That this tool appears also to be for business means it's a monetization play and a recognition that we are in a new era of influencer marketing, where an increasingly important role of ORM will play in content marketing and the future of digital influence. 

• Real-time updates of Brands
• Self-promotional landing-page for Influencers
• Highly SEO friendly micro-content (Podium)
• Text, images and video content! 

In this series, professionals share how they measure success and hacks to get the job done. Read more here, then write your own #MyMetric post). I've always been fascinated with the convergence between online reputation management and content, and this is a great adaptation for mobile influencer marketing. 

Will this googley approach to mobile social search become part of our online alphabet soon? Do you think the experiment has potential?