If one wants to promote a company to the world, you would want it to have a presence on Google. Apart from having your website rank highly in the search engine, you want it to have a Google My Business Listing.
Google My Business is a service to post basic information about your company on a Google search result page.
It has gone from being another Google service to being an essential service for having your business stand out. Having a Google My Business post is a great convenience for one's customers.
And once you use the service, you want to make sure you optimise it to its fullest potential.
Optimising Your Google My Business Post
Google My Business is a free service that Google offers to promote local businesses. It manages its online appearance on Google's search results and on Google maps.
If you search for any business on Google, you are likely to see a small box that has basic information about the company.
It will include contact information, a location, as well as hours of operation – if the business has a physical presence.
It is the best way to connect with one's customers and make your business easily accessible.
Here is how to optimise your Google My Business post to its fullest potential:
1. Have Your Basic Information
The first step is to make sure your company has its basic information on Google My Business.
Make sure the listing has your company's name, the address, the telephone number, the hours of operation, and the category of business.
Before continuing onward, make sure this information is consistent across your platforms. For instance, if your company has a Facebook page, it should have the exact same contact information, location, and hours of operation. If there are inconsistencies, it will reflect negatively on your company.
As you can choose up to 10 categories—after choosing your one primary category — make sure you choose the right categories to promote your company.
Finally, in 750 words make sure your company has a well-written copy to distinguish itself in the description area.
2. A Picture Says It All
Your listing should have high-quality images. As a first step, you should definitely have the logo of your company as an image—this makes it easier to spot by your customers.
Additionally, you want photos of the interior of your business and also the products and services that it offers.
For instance, if you run a restaurant there are a variety of photos that should be on your listing. You should have photographs of the various seating areas in the restaurant. There should be photos of the menu as well as photos of the most popular dishes.
If your restaurant ever hosts special programmes such as live music or a quiz night, there should be photographs of these events in the listing as well.
3. Responding to Reviews
We shudder to think of all the companies that routinely ignore the reviews of their company on their Google My Business post.
A smartly-run business makes its customers feel appreciated. Your business must focus on getting returning customers.
Among the best practices when dealing with customers, it is imperative that one responds to reviews on Google My Business. If you receive positive reviews, make sure you thank your customers for their patronage.
If you receive a negative review, make sure you promptly respond to it.
While there is certainly no ‘one size fits all' solution to responding to negative reviews, you want to make sure you express empathy with your disgruntled customer. You want to ensure that you will work toward providing a better experience for the future.
Potential customers will look at your reviews, and they will regard your business highly if they see an interaction between you and your existing customers.
4. Posts
One of the best features of Google My Business is Google Posts.
This allows you to share content directly to your listing. This should be used as an additional platform for sharing content in addition to your website and social media platforms.
You can use Google Posts for sharing blog posts, updates about your company, etc.
We would also recommend using this feature for sharing promotions, information on upcoming events, and even special offers directly to your customers.
Your posts should ideally take your customers to a landing page. For instance, continuing with the restaurant example, you can promote a banquet night where a select number of guests can eat in the VIP section with an exclusive, limited-time menu.
The post would state the date and time of the banquet night. It would give information on pricing as well as a preview of the menu. If customers are interested in attending the banquet night, they can click a link on the post that redirects to a landing page for buying their ticket.
5. Videos
Video marketing is one of the most effective ways of promoting your business. Google My Business offers a feature to share videos as a post.
Your videos have to be less than 100 MB in size and can only be a maximum of 30 seconds. This means that you need to create short and direct commercials for your business to share on your listing.
Ideas for videos can include a general promotion for your business, a video for promoting a particular product or service, or perhaps a video for an upcoming event to accompany your post selling tickets to the event.
Depending on how new your business is, you may not be able to create videos straight away. But we strongly recommend creating videos as soon as possible. Having video promotions will differentiate your business from its competition.
We're in Business!
If you follow these five steps and put in the time to work on every Google My Business post, you will surely find your business grow through the service.
Google My Business is a fantastic service and by optimising your listing, you will establish your company's online reputation.
Be sure to follow our blog to learn more about marketing your business.
