In May of 2018, Adam Zobel wrote a blog explaining all about Google My Business. He also made it clear that it is not the same as Google+. Please take a moment to read his post from last year, and below I will give you a couple brief reminders on what to keep up on in 2019 when it comes to your Google My Business (aka GMB) site.
Tip 1: Make Google My Business Part of a Weekly Checklist
Make sure someone on your team is reviewing your listing each week. I would strongly recommend putting this on a checklist system or calendar event so it is not forgotten. I use Things 3 to remind me to review my own listing each week.
Tip 2: Keep Up Your Hours of Operation
One of the most important things any business should do on their GMB listing is update their hours of operation.
If you are having an important company meeting on a Friday afternoon, for example, make sure GMB is updated to reflect an early closure. Or, if you’re working over a holiday when people might assume you’re closed, update your listing so that your availability is clear! It’s easy to do.
This tip is most important for retail stores. However, it only takes a minute to update, and I would strongly recommend contractors get into the habit of updating this area of GMB too. Google is pushing GMB more and more in front of the consumer using Google Maps. It is very frustrating for a consumer to call or drive by a location on a typical day and find out the business was randomly closed. Don’t make your customers wonder if you are open or not!
Tip 3: Regular Postings
As Adam exampled in his previous post, regular posting should be a part of the strategy and is very easy to do! You can upload only 1 picture (at this time) and a short paragraph. That is really all you need anyway. These are considered micro-posts. Once again, this is great for retail stores to post regular updates of what is going on in your place of business. Why can’t the contractor do the same thing? It keeps your business alive and active!
Tip 4: Respond to Reviews and Questions
When you get a positive or negative review, make sure you have a good system in place to respond. If the review is neutral or negative, try not to respond and justify anything. I would first recommend a call or private email to see what you can do to make a customer happy (if possible). If all attempts fail, reply as graciously as you can!
When you receive a positive review, just take a moment to thank them.
Sometimes a user might even ask a question. You can respond to that question and make it public.
Tip 5: Pictures from You and Your Customer
This might piggyback a bit on Tip 4. If a customer mentions that he or she will write a Google review, see if a few photos can be uploaded into the review.
When you are active on Google My Business, you will begin to see more traffic coming your way! You can review the Insights Tab each week or month to see how many visitors came across your GMB listing and what they did: asked for directions, clicked to go to your website, or something else.
Note: I didn’t touch on the Chat feature on Google My Business in this post. I’ve had this turned on for a number of customers and have been testing it for over a year. I rarely see a chat request come in the door, but it does not hurt to give it a try yourself.