Michael Guberti: Nine ways to reach more people on Google My Business

It”™s been reported that “4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find local information.” You can use a platform called Google My Business to reach more people on Google.

Google My Business can include your website, office address if you have a physical address, phone number, photos, videos, posts about offers, events, reviews, services, products and other information. If you have researched a restaurant or hotel to read its Google reviews, you have interacted with a Google My Business account. Here are nine ways to reach more people with Google My Business:

1. Create your Google My Business account or claim your existing account
If you do not have a Google My Business account, create one by providing your business information and completing the prompts that Google provides. If you have a Google My Business account, make sure you claim it before someone else tries to.

2. Update your hours if they change during the year
If your business has fewer hours in the summer and more hours in the winter, update your hours on Google My Business. This can prevent your customers from checking your Google My Business account, seeing that you close at 6 p.m., arriving at your office at 5:30 p.m. only to discover that you close at 5 p.m. because the hours were not updated. You can also indicate whether you”™ll be open or closed on certain holidays.

3. Publish posts, and upload pictures and videos
Google reports that “businesses with photos receive 42% more requests for driving directions to their location from users on Google and 35% more clicks to their websites than businesses that don”™t have photos.” One study determined that “businesses with more than 100 images on Google My Business get 520% more calls, 2,717% more direction requests, and 1,065% more website clicks than the average business.”

4. Check any pending edits
Anyone, including your competitors, can suggest an edit to your Google My Business account. Therefore, if someone wants to say that you are closed on Wednesdays and do not offer a particular service, they may be able to submit an edit. Check the pending edits to your Google My Business account.

5. Include a business description and list your services and products
Write a description of your business. Consider addressing the following questions in the description:

Ӣ What are the primary benefits of working with your business?

Ӣ What transformation do your services and products provide?

Ӣ What services do you provide?

Ӣ What important values or principles do you stand for?

Ӣ How long have you been in business?

Ӣ If applicable, what products do you offer?

Ӣ What are the benefits of those products?

Ӣ If applicable, how do you give back to others?

6. Respond to reviews
If someone leaves you a positive review, thank them for their positive feedback. If someone leaves a review that is less than positive, consider responding to them by encouraging them to contact your business to resolve the issue.

7. Check the people who have access to your Google My Business account
If your Google My Business account was made by someone besides yourself, or other people were given access to it at one time, check that only people you trust have access to your Google My Business account. I”™ve seen cases where people who no longer work with a business still have access to the company”™s Google My Business account and other online platforms.

8. Monitor your Google My Business insights
You can identify how many website visits, direction requests and phone calls were generated from your Google My Business account. You can also see the words that people use to find your account.

9. Leverage the Questions and Answers section of your account
Publish questions that people ask you about your business. You likely receive multiple questions from customers. Publish and answer your most frequently asked questions (FAQs) in the Questions and Answers section of your Google My Business account. You can also monitor if other people ask questions and respond to them.

Bringing it all together: Your Google My Business account is a representation of your business on the world”™s largest search engine. It can showcase your reviews, pictures, videos, service and product information and other items. Leverage this platform to reach more people on Google.

Feeling overwhelmed? Schedule your free strategy call and let”™s help you win on social media in 2020 and beyond at MichaelGuberti.com/Schedule.