We’ve previously discussed how important Google My Business is for Local SEO. If you’re a local business, creating and claiming your Google My Business listing is one of the first steps you should take to improve your business’ online visibility. It serves as a powerful FREE advertising tool with the potential of attracting more customers to your business AND also a key local ranking factor.
So what are GMB Posts?
Google introduced Google Posts in 2016 to add more substance to Google My Business. Google Posts are a micro-blogging element in the GMB listing. A GMB Post allows you to share valuable information and connect with your audience. You can include a photo, a CTA (Call-To-Action), or a link to your website or a specific landing page.
There are several types of Google posts: What’s New, Events, Products, Offers and Welcome Offers.
What’s New – This is great for sharing general business updates or highlighting anything new with your business – new menu, change in business hours, new blog post etc. You can even feature your client’s reviews or feedback to showcase how great your business is. It’s also an excellent way to give potential clients more information about what makes your business special.
A What’s New Post will be highlighted and shown on your GMB Knowledge Panel for 7 days.
Events – Promote any event you or your business is involved in, attending or supporting. Event posts require you to publish a start/end date and time, place of the event so your audience won’t miss anything. You can also add an Event Title to make your GMB post pop up more.
Offers – Offer posts allows you to promote your business’ upcoming sale, specials, discounts to encourage your customers to visit your website or store. Add a bright yellow tag to attract more customers! And you have an option to include a coupon code, a link to redeem offers or the terms and conditions of the promotion.
Products – If you have a retail business, this post is perfect for you. You can create a collection of products to showcase. Product post requires a title and a photo. A Call-To-Action button is automatically added to every product collection.
This feature is still in Beta, so it might not be available to all business types.
Welcome Offer – This was released recently as a way for businesses to attract and thank new customers. Provide exclusive offers, freebies or coupons your new customers can use. But do note that the Welcome Offer is only visible for people who have opted to “follow” your business in Google Maps app. A CTA button is also automatically added for Welcome Offer Posts. Please note that this feature can only be created on GMB’s mobile application.
All posts have a maximum length of 1,500 characters. You can add a Call-To-Action on all these posts and attach a video or photo to go with the content.
How To Make an Effective GMB Posts
You can follow our straightforward guide on how you can start posting on your Google My Business here
Select the Proper Post Type – Since there are different type of posts, make sure to choose the most appropriate. Remember that some posts are only visible for 7 days while some can appear for months.
Length – Although 1,500 characters are allowed for each post, the ideal length is somewhere around 150-300 characters. Generally, only the first 100 characters are visible in the search results. Make sure that the most critical information of your post is in the first paragraph.
Images – According to Google, it is recommended to take a high-resolution photo to make your post stand out.
“For Photos, they should be in-focus and well-lit, with bright, vibrant colours. Photos should have a minimum resolution of 400px wide by 300px tall, in JPG or PNG format.”
“For Videos, the following file formats are acceptable: AVI, MP4, MOV, FLV, WMV, MPG, M4V, MKV, M2TS, and MTS. It should not exceed 100 MB.”
Strong CTA – A great CTA can encourage potential clients to visit your store, and it can also lead to a direct increase in your website traffic. Include words such as “Learn More”, “Buy”, “Book Online”. Choose the Call-To-Action that best communicates the action you want your audience to take.
Be Professional – Since Google My Business is focused on the business side of things, your posts should be kept professional. Avoid posting anything personal and use a conversational tone. Remember that the idea of these posts is so that you can communicate with your target audience and potential clients.
Google Posts Coming Soon on The DigitalMaas Platform
Our Digital Marketing Platform, DigitalMaas will soon have the ability to publish Google Posts so you can easily manage all your locations in one place. We are working tirelessly to make this happen and excited to share this to you very soon.
Get Ready To Post
Now that you know about GMB Posts, it is time to create one and start posting! And if you haven’t already claimed your Google My Business listing, then you should do so right away! DigitalMaas can help you create, claim and optimise your Google My Business profile. Contact us today so our marketing experts can help you. Happy posting!
