If you’re running a physical business, you’re probably already familiar with the ups and downs of turning digital marketing into real traffic. Today we’re going to take a look at one of the easiest and most direct ways to stay in touch with your customers: posting a Google Business (formerly known as Google My Business) profile.
Every month, Google serves 5 billion search queries for “restaurants”alone. It’s one of the first places your customers look when they need to know opening hours, location, availability, and the latest news. And last but not least, Google is also the place where new and potential customers come to get a feel for your vibe, customer service, and offerings.
Unlike content for other major social platforms, your Google Business Profile posts are for people who are already looking for you. You are not competing with small animals or scary headlines. You don’t need to draw attention or pluck your heartstrings. You just need to state the facts (preferably with great visuals and flawless writing).
But after you’ve optimized your Google My Business profile with all the latest data, what’s next? Is it worth the time and effort to incorporate your Google Business Profile into your social media calendar and social media customer service strategy? Short answer: probably.
Medium answer: GMB is pretty much the opposite of, say, starting a YouTube channel. The rewards are high, but the time, know-how and associated costs are low.
For a detailed answer, read on.
In this post, we’re going to look at best practices for creating the best Google My Business posts to communicate directly with your customers, resulting in an improved experience for them and your bottom line at the same time.
How to post to Google Business Profile
Google My Business posts are short, simple updates to connect with people who are actively looking for information about your business (or companies like yours).
One of the reasons why GMB messages are so important is because Google prioritizes quality data in their search results, so make sure you give your customers what they want, which can improve your search rankings. For example, if you run an ice cream shop in Seattle, you’ll be more likely to appear in search results when someone searches for “Seattle ice cream shop.”
Let’s walk through the steps for posting to your Google Business Profile.
1. Set up and optimize your GMB profile (if you haven’t already)
Once your Google Business profile is set up and running, you can post by logging into Google My Business, downloading the Google My Business mobile app, or using Hootsuite to integrate your GMB strategy with your other social media marketing channels (we have more details on this later).
2. Choose the best post type for your purposes
From the menu, click Messages and select a message type.
At a minimum, every GMB post contains an image, text, and a clear call to action. Some also include time limits. Depending on your goals – is your summer terrace open? do you do autograph sessions? – select one of the following options:
- What’s new: Announcements and general information about your business.
- Events: List your live or online events (your post must include start and end dates and times).
- Offers: Announce coupons, discounts, promotions or sales with a limited duration (again, you will need to provide a start and end date, and you can also provide a coupon code).
- Products: These posts will help you present one or more of the products available in the Products tab (which you will need to set up separately).
Note. As of Spring 2020, GMB also offers a COVID-19 Updates tab, where you can update your opening hours; Adjusted service options (i.e. pickup? takeaway only? free delivery?); and other appropriate social distancing measures.
3. Create your post
GMB messages don’t have to be flashy: chances are your audience is actively looking for the information you offer. But some methods are better than others, so here are our top tips to keep in mind.
Text
While posts have a 1500 character limit, try to keep everything short and direct here. The first 7 or 8 words will appear at the top of the page and users need to click to read more, so get your message across as quickly as possible. Try not to write longer than 150-300 characters unless you have a good reason.
Pro tip: Hashtags are unnecessary and inappropriate in GMB, but a few branded emojis can be a nice touch.
Visual effects
The photos and videos you upload for your posts should be professional grade, or as close to professional as you can afford.
An eye-catching portrait of your award-winning croissant or a sullen golden hour angle on your vine wall could very well be the deciding factor for a new customer trying to decide between you and the establishment down the street. Show off your best qualities to turn searchers into customers. (Scroll down for Google My Business image size guidelines.)
Call to action
Google offers a range of CTA buttons. The options are varied and depend on the type of your post, but all standards are represented: Learn More, Order Online, Buy Now, etc.
You will definitely want to make sure you are linking to an effective (i.e. seamless and crawlable) landing page. If you’re not linking to your own page, make sure it’s a site you trust so you don’t violate Google’s content policy.
Pro tip: Consider using UTM parameters for your links so you can measure how much of your site’s traffic comes from Google compared to your other marketing efforts.
Date range
If you are listing an event or offer, you must include the times and dates for which it is valid.
Pro Tip: According to Google, if a post doesn’t have a specific date range, all posts are archived after 7 days.
4. Post
Click Preview to see what your post will look like, make sure you copy, edit and customize it, then click Publish. Your post will appear in three places:
- On mobile: Updates o Overview tabs in your business profile (both in Search and Maps).
- On a computer: in the From Owner section of your business profile (both in Search and Maps).
Google My Business websites (also known as low effort websites that Google helps you create if you don’t have your own)
5. Don’t forget to check your analytics
Unsurprisingly, Google has a lot of cool ideas that you can check out after you have a few posts. Look at your post views and see how your customers interact with your profile. Then give them more of what they like.
Pro tip: Consider quality as well as quantity. According to consumers, companies that respond to reviews are 1.7 times more trustworthy than those that don’t. So make sure your digital customer support strategy keeps track of your Google My Business reviews as well as your other social media listening habits.
Image sizes for publishing on Google My Business
When it comes to posting visuals in Google My Business posts, you need to keep these guidelines in mind:
- Picture Size:
- Minimum: 400 wide x 300 pixels high, 10 KB
- Maximum: 10,000 x 10,000 pixels, 25 MB
- Video Size: File sizes (AVI, MP4, MOV, etc.) can be limited to 100MB.
5 Great Google My Business Post Examples
1. Promotional messages about events
While in-person events aren’t back in vogue yet, this is a great example of how the local bookstore keeps everyone up to date with what’s happening at their two locations.
2. Update messages
Nouveau Palais is not usually a takeaway restaurant, so implementing an online ordering system and announcing their opening hours to customers was a wise move during the lockdown. And even at the best of times, posting enticing photos of your offerings and keeping your watch updated all the time is a great look.
3. Advertising posts
If you have a coupon or promotion that you want your customers to know about, also post it here.
4. Human posts
Google is not Instagram. You are not necessarily here to win hearts and minds. Posts are quite functional. But I have to say that this post from a local institution in Montreal was quite touching, perhaps in a way that a post on a platform where everything is split-tested to be as touching as possible can’t be compared.
5. Or, if all else fails, just post great visuals
The great thing about photos (and videos, as reported by Etat de Style Boutique below) is that Google will use them for a variety of purposes: in your photos, in Google image search results, etc. So grab a sunny day and bribe your photographer friend to come. above.
Best time to post on Google My Business
While Google doesn’t provide statistics on the best time to post on Google My Business, we have some tips to help you find your own best practices based on your unique audience.
Post when your audience sees it
Take time to think about your audience habits, time zones, commuting schedules, and so on. This applies to both online and real habits. For example, if you run a pizzeria with regular weekend hype, post your offerings before people start looking for you, say Thursday or Wednesday.
Test the same posts at different times and view analytics
With GMB, your evergreen content — say, mentioning that you have access to that rare brand of imported oat milk — can be posted every week, as posts disappear on their own after 7 days. Figuring out when to post means you can experiment week after week to see what times work best.