Google+ is addictive, engaging and at 20 million users (in less than a month) and growing. It’s the “real deal.”

Last week Google let a handful of brands use Google Plus on a test basis and reportedly kicked a few off.

Ford Motor Company has a test brand profile.

Then a Google Plus product manager Christian Oestlien posted a video message saying they are accelerating their roadmap to bring business profiles sooner than anticipated. He encouraged companies to find “a real person who is willing to represent your organization as him or herself on Google Plus using our consumer profiles as was originally intended.”

That’s a slightly convoluted way to say:  It’s okay for businesses to get moving on Google Plus as long they have the authority to represent the company. At least that’s my interpretation.

So now what? Companies should go ahead and assign a community manager and establish their “official profiles” now or risk a proliferation of brand profiles being created by employees without the authority to do so.  I already see a number of profiles popping up for companies like Starbucks, for instance.

Second, draw up a short-time strategy and game plan to utilize and experiment with Google+ in the coming weeks. One idea would be to create circles of media, influencers and employees and start interacting with them on how to best use Google Plus in the future.

But don’t go overboard!  It is still likely Google will release business profiles and it may not be easy to transition a personal profile to a business profile.

Google will be rolling out new functionality for businesses in the next 60 days. Brands that put appropriate resources in place now and learn how the platform works will have a head start on their competition.