Google has partnered with social commerce companies Bazaarvoice and PowerReviews to help brands implement the “+1” recommendation button.
Google’s +1 button is similar to Facebook’s “like” in that it allows consumers to endorse and recommend search results. It also enables members of the Google+ social network to suggest products and brands to contacts.
Bazaarvoice and PowerReviews will assist brands to “get the +1 button on your pages” and “develop the right strategy for implementing +1 buttons on your site,” Google said in a blog post about the partnership.
Underwear retailer Jockey International and sports equipment retailer Golfsmith International have implemented the button after working with PowerReviews and Bazaarvoice, respectively.
“We help them so they don’t have to worry about the hassle of implementing it,” said Nadim Hossain, VP of marketing at PowerReviews. “We understand people have lots of priorities, so by bringing it into our product we make it easier.”
“The core benefit is that we can be the social commerce provider across the board,” he added.
Brands can add the +1 button to pages without the help of third-party vendors by installing code on their websites.
Google launched the +1 button in June. The next month, the company said it had improved the product to make it render faster on pages and to ensure that its presence didn’t affect Web page load times. Google said this week that the +1 button could be shared with “Circles,” Google+’s social networks within the social network, and that publishers can customize the links, images and descriptions that consumers see each time someone initiates a +1 share.
Representatives from Google and Bazaarvoice could not be reached immediately for comment.
