By Hannah Staton, Public Relations and Social Media Associate

It didn’t take long after Google+ launched for articles to spring up all over the Internet asking “But what does it mean for marketers?” and “How can brands use Google+?” Well, listen up, self-proclaimed social media gurus: You’re missing the point.

As someone who does social media as their job, I understand the questions. Social media has become, for many organizations, a deserved and important part of their marketing and public relations strategies. But if we look at Google+ head on and ask “How can we use this for our purposes?” we will miss this point entirely, and with it, much opportunity. Google+ is not about marketing and brands. If we’re lucky, it never will be.

The most raved about aspect of Google+ is how connections are structured. You place your contacts in “circles,” which can be friends, family, coworkers, acquaintances, etc., mirroring the way we, as human beings, cluster our “real life” relationships. This gives you fine-tuned control over the information you share and allows you to “segment” who sees this information based on audience (Marketing ears just perked up, I know.)

Google, much to the frustration of the aforementioned social media guru, has made sure brands cannot set up their own Google+ accounts. Why would they do this? Simple: Because Google+ is intended to be a social network, not a marketing network. It’s an obvious—but crucial—difference, and one that I think opens up tremendous opportunities for nonprofits.

Now, imagine if someday, when Google+ has gone completely gangbusters, that you make a circle for your major donors.  You also make a circle for your volunteers, a circle for your mid-level donors, for your board members, even a circle for your first-time givers.

And when I say “you,” I mean: YOU. I do not mean your wonderful organization, as a brand and an entity. I mean YOU, an individual leader as a representative for your organization. You have these circles, not your organization, and it is you sharing the information and connecting. We’re already seeing this happening, as brands and organizations are circumventing the “no brand” policy by encouraging audiences to follow individual employees on Google+ (Check out Slate.com or Time Magazine as an example.)

Think about how exciting this actually is. Instead of—let’s be honest, forcing a social network to serve the purposes of branding and marketing—we can actually have real, social connections serve that purpose. When your communities have direct access to your thoughts and communication, why do they need canned Facebook statuses or passive tweets that may or may not reach them? We’re not marketing more, we actually ARE connecting—the true purpose of “social” media.

The implications of this could be huge, as our Millennial Donor Research has shown. The next generation of donors and nonprofit leadership want direct access to current leadership within organizations before giving support. Google+ can give it to them—and your nonprofit could see the results.

By Hannah Staton, Public Relations and Social Media Associate