If your business has been hesitant about creating a Google+ brand page, perhaps a good New Year's resolution would be for your company to get on board -- or at least consider it.

According to a recent BrightEdge SocialShare study, December saw an increase in Google+ adoption from the top 100 brands, as well as a major increase in fans within the circles of Google+ brand pages.

Currently, 77 percent of the top 100 brands now have Google+ pages. This is a huge number, especially since many Fortune 500 brands are without Twitter or Facebook accounts.

There has also been an increase of more than 50 percent of people within circles of the top 100 brands over the past month. For example, Starbucks almost quadrupled its social followers, while H & M and Pepsi hit more than 20,000 people in their circles.

But if all that information is not enough of an incentive to create a brand page for your business on Google+, this might be – Google has embedded Google+ pages from brands on search engine result pages. Meaning more visibility for your business.