What You Need to Know About Google My Business
It may appear to you, as it does to many, that every time we turn around there’s a new local initiative from Google. Now it’s called Google My Business, and before I get any snarkier, let me say that it looks as if this one is quite useful.
Google My Business looks like it’s useful and a genuine help to your local business. The quest to bring it all under one roof is a long time coming, but appears to be worth the wait.
Essentially Google+ is now the platform, and all else revolves around this.
5 Reasons Why You’ll Want to Create Your Local Presence on Google My Business
- GMB allows you to easily update your information from one place – Once you claim your listing on Google My Business, you’ll get to update anything you wish regarding your business or online presence. You also have the ability to add pictures and even virtual tours if you would like, thus making it simple for people to get a real idea about your place.
- Connect with your customers through Google+ – You can talk to fans and customers directly through your company Google+ page, sharing content, and news. You can even start and conduct a Hangout on Air.
- Manage customer reviews – This one is the most talked about feature: the ability to see, respond and manage reviews on Google from one centralized location. Make sure you have a plan for handling your customer’s reviews, good or bad, and make sure anyone who will be posting to this page understands what you want to accomplish.
- Run your business on the go – Using the Android and iOS apps, you can access any part of the Google My Business platform wherever you happen to be.
- Customer Insights – Another cool feature. GMB shows you a number of useful statistics, such as where your customers are driving from. This can be useful when planning new campaigns. Another plus is that you can easily integrate your Google Analytics account into GMB. This is also true for Google Adwords.