We’ve been waiting (impatiently) for months, and now Google+ has finally launched Pages, which will allow businesses and brands to establish a presence in the social network.

We were lucky enough to score an early invitation back in July when the entire platform was in beta, and we were immediately interested in some of the features and how they could be applied for business.

We weren’t the only ones. Within two weeks there were 10 million users, most of them social media marketers and tech professionals.

(And yes… it was exactly the kind of nerd-on-nerd echo chamber it sounds like. There. We said it.)

But among those early adopters were brands who created profiles as quickly as they could snag an invitation — only to be shut down by Google+ just as quickly.

All that changed yesterday:

So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people. But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about—from local businesses to global brands—so today we’re rolling out Google+ Pages worldwide.

One of the interesting – and unexpected – features for pages is called Direct Connect. While it’s not yet universally available, they do plan to expand it to more pages soon.

Just go to Google and search for [+], followed by the page you’re interested in (like +Angry Birds). We’ll take you to their Google+ page, and if you want, we’ll add them to your circles.

(It certainly explains why Google killed the Boolean + operator, provoking the rage of search nerds everywhere.)

So. How will Google+ Pages fit in with and complement your social media marketing program?  It’s too early to say. They’ve only been available a little over 24 hours after all.

But considering everything that falls within the Google/Google+ spectrum (search, Google places, +1’s, circles, video Hangouts, and now Direct Connect) we think it’s a platform brands need to be a part of.