It is now 2021, and Farfetched Studios has come to recognize Google as the standard for customers searching for businesses and products online and nearby. Surprisingly only about 50% of business owners have claimed their Google My Business (GMB) listing and validated their address and business information.
Most owners are already extremely busy with the day to day operations and managing their businesses, it is understandable that half of local businesses have overlooked claiming or creating their GMB listing. This is a golden opportunity to get more customers, deliver key messages and drive more traffic to the business. Here are 5 things you should be utilizing in Google My Business.
Google Posts
Google Posts is Google My Business’ social media platform that can be found on your listing and within search results. GMB Posts can be used to communicate a multitude of things but not limited to:
• Holiday Information
• Sales and Promotions
• News and Events
• Recent Blogs
GMB Insights
There is a lot of useful data to take advantage of within GMB insights. Here you can learn how customers are searching for your business:
• Direct Search – For your specific business or brand
• Discovery Search – For a product, service or category related to your business
• Branded Search – For a specific Brand related to your business
Within GMB insights you will also find a list compiled of the most popular search queries that triggered your business listing. These search queries will be a mixture of direct, discovery and branded keywords.
The Google services customers used to find your business, such as search and map listings, can be found within insights as well. Which then leads into the most common actions your customers are taking on your listing. Including calls, directions, requests and website visits. Insight allows you to filter these direct request actions by postal code, phone calls by time of day and date, and photo views/quantity compared to other businesses like yours.
Farfetched Studios has found GMB Insights to be a powerful information tool when making marketing decisions like ad scheduling around your most popular times or applying bid modifiers to underperforming and desired target postal codes to improve awareness and traffic.
Photos
Building trust with your customer is important to their experience. Photos give you the opportunity to show your experience, expertise, and authenticity of your business to the customer. These photos will help you stand out from your competitors and attract customers to your GMB listing.
Farfetched Studios recommends you go beyond the standard upload of the logo and photo cover and create more opportunity to communicate with your customers with more images. Include photos of your business, both inside and out, products, services you offer or menu items you may serve. Remember to upload your newest photos often so that you remain current and in the eyes of the customer.
Additional Listing Information
Additional info section allows for the addition of a wide range of information fields depending on the type of business you have and services you offer. Under this tab you can add additional info like pickup and drop off hours, delivery hours, or have a direct link to an appointment page.
Business owners can also claim any special categories here, such as local-owned or women-led.
Lastly, list any key services and products within these tabs. Google Merchant Center integrates directly with GMB and will automatically list your products and prices if you utilize their listing service.
Reviews
Google My Business is centralized around the review system. Every listing will display a star rating along with all customer reviews, good or bad.
Encourage customers to leave reviews for your business. This can be done in person, via email or link within your website. Be mindful of Google’s Compliance polices and do not offer any reward or incentive for reviews.
Farfetched Studios recommends you respond to ALL of your reviews, both positive and negative in a timely manner. Sometimes a simple and thought out response can lead to a solution and lead to a new customer.
The Take-Away
Google My Business is an incredibly useful platform to get your business in front of customers and tell your own story. The growing use of GMB by customers has put incredible value on the information made available through your listing. Farfetched Studios is here to help you take advantage of all these key features and managing your business. Setup a GMB Listing audit today with our team of experts.