Being in online business reputation and social media I get a lot of question from current and potential customers on how to utilized Google My Business or GMB as we say in the biz. A lot of us are busy and don’t have the time to research and read how to use Google My Business but I will share 7 simple Google My Business tips to help you get started or to update your GMB listing.
- Respond to All Reviews: By responding to all your review within 24 hours no matter good or bad shows that you’re available and that you appreciate your reviews. This also helps to get ahead of your negative reviews to give you a chance to contact them and maybe raise your rating. Did you know that 30% of consumers say they’ve judged a business based on its responses to reviews?
- Ask your for reviews: Google encourages business owners to ask their clients for review on their GMB but you cannot bribe them for a five star rating. Did you know that consumers read an average of 10 online reviews before feeling able to trust a local business?
- Fill Out Your Business Description: This is the perfect place to use all 750 characters on your business description to inform your clients about the product or service you provide and to highlight important information about your business.
- Add Content: Did you know that a picture is worth a 1000 words but a video is worth a 1000 pictures? By adding relevant pictures and videos it will help your clients find you or maybe one of them might strike a interested in your company. Tip: Once you add four videos on your GMB that are less than 30 seconds you get another sub-tab for your videos.
- Add Q&A: This is the perfect place to add questions with answers that you hear from your clients and potential customers. Sometimes its something simple that would get a customer to visit your website or business. Tip: Google has said that up voting questions can make them more visible.
- Add Logo W/Pictures: To look more professional add a watermark logo to all your photos and videos, it shows professionalism and helps with your branding. Did you know that 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations?
- Use the Free Post Feature: Use the posting feature on your GMB to promote events, offers, content or even updated information about your company. Did you know that posts only last only 7 days? Make sure to post at least once a week.
These are a few tips to help get your Google My Business optimized and start having a place for potential clients and current customer to engage with you, look up your information or find you on Google Maps. Remember, by having a completed GMB is only one piece of your building block you will need to build a solid foundation to get the traffic you would need for your business, no matter if your a brick and mortar or web biased. The three essential pieces are: a professional website (built by professionals), a Google My Business (filled out entirely and actively posting) and SEO.
Carpe Diem~