6 Killer Uses for New Google My Business Posts
Did you know that you can make your Google My Business listing stand out? You may be wondering what Google posts are?
You can now post daily specials, promote events and even showcase your newest products all through your Google business page. The new feature is called Google my Business Posts.
With Google adding Google Posts functionality to Google My Business, many business owners and webmasters are scrambling to figure out what opportunities the new feature offers.
Because the feature does not fit neatly into existing channels such as social media or blog posts, it can be challenging to identify the fantastic opportunities available to those willing to take a risk on a new approach.
If you are a Google My Business user, you can start posting right now. Posts can be created on-the-go using the Google My Business Android and iOS apps or website.
Ready to expand your local search marketing strategy? A simple tutorial on how to create a Google Post is below:
Look for the new posts tab on the left-hand side of your my google business account.
After Google My Business login, Click Posts
Click, posts, create a post. Select a quality attention-grabbing image, then write 100-300 word description. Note the ideal google posts image size is 750×750. 250×250 is the minimum size.
Google Posts Examples with a CTA button
After publishing your post, this is what it looks like in the search results
How to use google posts to drive customers
Here are just six ways savvy early adopters are putting this new Google My Business feature to work—and making a killing doing so.
#1 Grab Early Adopter Attention
Acting quickly, while posts are still a hot new thing, gives you an inherent advantage—even if you are not quite sure how you want to put it to use yet. The sooner you set to work making posts a part of the way you interact with the web, the more significant the advantage you will be able to seize from the feature.
Early advantage
The primary benefit of grabbing early adopter attention will be visible in the initial days of posts. If your local SEO competitors are not taking advantage of the Google posts feature, and you are, it is naturally going to give you an advantage until they catch up. In fact, we implemented posts for our Search Engine Consulting clients within 48 hours of its announcement.
Depending on your industry and the type of customers you are appealing to, the advantage may be stronger than that, as prospects may view your company more favorably purely as a factor of your status as an early adopter.
Long-term relationship building
While early adopter status does not last forever, it benefits might. If you form a positive brand perception in enough customers while the opportunity exists, it will not matter if the advantage slips away in the months and years to come.
That positive view of your company can place you above your competitors in the eyes of potential customers. That is something that can influence how your business is perceived and talked about for years to come.
#2 Show an authentic face on Google Search With GMB Posts
The design of posts allows you to adopt the sort of open, relaxed, friendly content that lends itself to highly authentic engagement with prospects and customers. Make sure you have someone on your team that knows how your company works and how Posts works. That is the only way you will get the maximum impact from the opportunity available when you show up on the desktop, maps, or mobile search results.
Provide a Personal Touch By Using Google Posts
If the person you put at the helm of your posts can muster the right blend of digital marketing and authenticity, it is an excellent tool to put a human face on your company. It is important that your posts account for two critical factors if this is your goal: what makes your company uniquely satisfying on a personal level, and whom you are specifically trying to appeal to.
There’s no one-size-fits-all niche, but you can find one that appeals to enough of your prospects to generate authority and brand loyalty or attract new customers.
Generate Natural Organic Traffic
Organic traffic that enters your site as a result of authentic content posted through Google My Business posts will help your site in some ways. It can help you preserve a more natural traffic pattern—more on that in the SEO section—and it can help you find where your ‘natural’ customers are. At which point you can either refocus your marketing for maximum appeal to that group or retarget to find a higher value set of prospects.
#3 Improve SEO
Of course, the first question anyone should consider when Google offers a new product is ‘How will this affect my search engine results?’ We all know it is taking longer and longer to rank for Google organic listings.
Any component of the Google Local Search Engine ecosystem offers your company an opportunity to put on a good face for the search engine juggernaut, generating backlinks and attention in the way most closely adhering to what their algorithms desire. That does not mean good post content guarantees a high position in search engines, but it is indeed a value-add to your strategy.
Trigger backlinks
People do not often link to company websites unless something is exciting or personal shows up. Posts are a great way to throw compelling content at the wall and see what sticks with your market segments. Once you have a few successes generating inbound links across the internet, the entire process will take on a life of its own, creating more and better backlinks. Of course, this is reliant on quality posts and relevant content.
Present a complete picture for Google
Google seems increasingly interested in a comprehensive overview of the sites it recommends through its algorithms. If you do not take advantage of the posts feature, you are missing a critical opportunity to help Google ‘get to know you’. Google will still rank sites that aren’t taking advantage of this feature, but why give up an opportunity to improve your digital perception?
#4 Agility
Google Posts functionality provides you with a highly agile way to change the face you put in front of the world.
Propagating a new message through other means can be difficult.
When someone searches your business or your industry, they are going to see your newest Post—even if they are not digging any deeper at the moment. That is the power you can leverage to promote upcoming events or highlight new specials.
Seize opportunities
Perhaps a news story that is relevant to your company? Something happening in the world, the nation, your city? Good weather, bad weather? Industry shifts?
All of these can create opportunities for a company that maintains awareness, an opportunity that’s easy to capitalize upon with a Google My Business post.
Adjust to data
External information is not the only factor which should be guiding your company to make rapid shifts. Internal analytics can also offer critical insight and push your marketing approach in different directions—and few mediums provide the agility of Google posts, making it a perfect test bed for new methods.
Tweak language, offers, and other factors until you obtain the best results. Then, propagate that improvement through your other marketing channels.
#5 Diversify Marketing Mediums
It is always worth it to find a new way to deliver content to your audience — the more mediums you use to provide a coherent, consistent brand, the better.
Posts are interesting in that not only does it present a new place for customers to see you, but it also gives you leeway to deliver content in different forms. Think of it as existing somewhere between search engine results and social media posts.
Make Your Post Memorable
When you see the same message in multiple formats, it sticks with you better; that is the nature of memory. Taking advantage of Posts to do something a little different, but still, on brand, can have a high multiplicative effect on any other marketing from you a particular prospect may have already seen (or might see in the future). Consider your copyrighting, check out my copyrighting tips.
Stay Versatile
Some market segments react better to messages from certain mediums.
Posts are versatile enough to allow you to deploy content tailored to the people most likely to come across it online; a powerful tool in shoring up weak areas of your online marketing approach.
You can reinforce what needs strengthening, make stronger pushes for unique short-term opportunities, do research and testing during traditional industry downtime.
#6 Minimize barriers and maximize customer actions
Google Posts create a new place for customers to take immediate action—so make sure you leverage the medium to the fullest, making it straightforward and enticing to act immediately. Share timely relevant updates including custom calls to action.
A correctly delivered post makes sure the person seeing it wants to act and doesn’t run into any headaches in the process. Do it well enough, and you will not even have to compete—they will take action before they see what the competition has to say.
Break Down Barriers
You want it to be easy to take action. That means accepting as many forms of contact as possible; calls, email, contact via a web form, etc. Integrating a brief sign-up form into a Post can work wonders for local business listings. Figure out what works best for your business model, industry, and prospect base.
Entice New Customers with Regular GMB Postings
Posts allow a picture, so make sure you start with a good picture—something that grabs attention and pulls in prospects. From there, you will want to offer something that makes taking action now worthwhile, versus waiting and getting around to it sometime later. That means time-limited deals or coupon codes, exciting events, and similar rewards.
Think call to action.
Want to learn more about Google My Business Posts?
You can find out more about the potential of Google My Business Posts, or any other aspect of your web marketing strategy, by contacting us today.
Our digital marketing team will help you put together the perfect plan, integrate the right tactics, and deliver the right message to maximize high-value lead generation through your web presence.
