Google has announced a suite of new business tools for brands on Google+.

Initially, the new features will be free for all Google+ users, but from 2013 a paid subscription to the cloud-based Google Apps will be required.

Communication and collaboration

Google says the new features are aimed at helping businesses achieve better communication and collaboration using Google+.

“Every day, more companies are going Google. We’re excited to help them take advantage of modern, web-based tools and give their employees new ways to connect and collaborate,” Google Apps Product Management Director Clay Bavor announced on the company's blog.

So how do these tools set Google+ apart from the consumer platform?

Private Sharing For Businesses

Posts in Google+ may now be marked as ‘restricted’, which will only be visible to people within a specific organisation or business.

More Administrative Control

Businesses are able to set up sharing defaults for posts and hangouts. This means that sharing options may be set to private or public by default.

Hangout Calendar Integration

Hangouts, Google+'s video chat feature, may now be attached to Google Calendar events and entries.

There’s More To Come

In their official blog post, Google said that they will continue to roll out features for businesses including a mobile version of Google+ for enterprise and more administrative controls.

Google is increasing its appeal to brands as it has also recently begun rolling out the ability to create custom URLs within Google+.

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