Most users picture Google My Business (GMB) as a platform that allows your business a local directory listing. This is true – GMB is a great tool to use to get your business address, phone number, reviews, website, and more in front of customers –but it also does so much more.
GMB is a powerful tool that allows businesses to stand out on Google, easily manage their business listings online, respond to customer reviews, post updates for customers, and receive insights on how their business is being interacted with.
Stand Out With Google My Business
When you create a GMB profile, you set your business apart. People searching for your products or services can easily find directions to your brick-and-mortar store (via Google Maps), link to your website, or maybe most importantly, contact you. Users can use your GMB to call you directly or message you right from your listing. These online messages are delivered to the business owner as text messages, allowing easy engagement between the customer and the business.
GMB accounts also have the freedom and flexibility to adapt with your business. New hours? An easy fix! Change in a website URL? Done! Being able to adjust your profile allows you to keep your customers and prospective customers informed with the most up-to-date information about your business.
Customers are significantly more likely to engage with and utilize a business that they feel is reputable and trustworthy. Providing customers ways to learn about your business and contact you is a great way to begin building trust.
Responding to Customer Reviews
GMB is also a great resource for users to leave honest reviews about an experience. For an owner, this feedback is extremely important. Great reviews can promote your business and win over prospective customers. However, bad reviews can scare away new customers and hurt your company’s image.
It is important to engage with both positive and negative reviews on GMB. Interacting with positive reviews shows you appreciate your customers and helps you continue to build a relationship with them. Responding to negative reviews also shows that you are dedicated to resolving problems and helps you rebuild the trust that may have been lost due to a negative experience.
Additionally, GMB allows you to dispute reviews that you believe are not left by reputable customers. If a competitor has left a negative review on your page that is unwarranted, you can dispute the review and have it taken down.
Posting Updates with Google My Business
Another fun feature of GMB is the ability to post to your customers. Businesses can post updates, upcoming sales and promotions, and more! These posts can include links to specific places on your website. Update posts are another great way to engage customers and get them excited about your business.
You can also allow customers to support you online by providing links to purchase gift cards if they are unable to visit the store. This can help your business financially while also spreading brand awareness to anyone that receives these gift cards.
Utilizing Insights
Insights on GMB allow business owners to see how consumers are interacting with their profile. Utilizing these insights can help you determine how to best optimize your GMB profile as well as understand how consumers are finding your business.
GMB provides the following insights: queries used to find your business, methods with which your business was found if customers are viewing your listing in search or maps, customer actions, and more.
Each insight can be used differently to help users grow their businesses. Understanding the queries that bring people to your profile is a great way to optimize keywords on your website and in your posts.
Understanding what methods users are utilizing can also help you recognize what is driving customers to your business. GMB insights define three methods – direct, discovery, and branded.
Direct methods include customers who find your listing by directly seeking out your business name or address. Discovery methods include consumers who find your listing while searching for a specific product or service. And finally, branded methods are customers who find your listing when looking for a brand related to your business
If customers are viewing your listing on maps rather than searching, it is possible that you are enticing more local clients rather than online clients. Understanding the customer that is attracted to your profile can help you best cater to the customers you are drawing in.
Customer actions allow you to see what kind of buzz your profile is creating. Are consumers visiting your website, requesting directions, or calling your business? Understanding these actions can be integral to not only your marketing plan but your business plan as a whole.
Get Started Today
Media Venue can help you take advantage of the great features available on GMB! We’ll create an online presence for your business that optimizes the return on your marketing investment. We have the resources, experience, and creativity to help you create compelling content for your customers to engage with. We can help you create a profile you are proud of.
