• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, January 23, 2012

Asked by “Google+” moderator Jim Yu, CEO of BrightEdge, what “best practices” they’ve gleaned so far from dabbling with Google+, panelists had a range of opinions and views, but generally agreed it’s still early+ days.

Rosetta Director of Search & Media Though Leadership Chris Boggs said, so far, it’s all about “consistency with your brand,” especially for large marketing organizations.

“Before you dive in, make sure you know who’s doing it and how it’s aligned with the rest of your organization,” he recommended.

Coca-Cola’s Laura Houghton said “social listening” has emerged as Coca-Cola’s seminal best practice, noting, “Understand how they’re talking about your brand first.”

Intel Social Media Strategist Jennifer Lashua gave a completely different point of view, noting that for Intel, at least, it’s all about “taking risks.” She said that’s part of Intel’s DNA, but Google+ is a great platform for taking risks and looking at their results.

“We’re really using it to test out some new types of content, some new types of posts. It’s a great testing ground for us,” she said, sharing some “tactical” insights Intel has gleaned from that testing, including that different users respond to different posts at different times of the day.

She noted that Google+ activity tends to be “most active in the morning,” but Intel had been posting updates in the afternoon. “Now we’re doing it [in the] morning.”

Syncapse’ Michael Scissons, reiterated his view that it’s about the integration of search and social.

“Make sure your search team is interacting with your social team. What’s driving search results is where I’d start thinking about it,” he recommended.