Google My Business fully released its posts feature to businesses in 2017. Despite that, many small business owners don’t know about it or don’t take advantage of it, not realizing how potent GMB posts can be.
Whether you own a restaurant, roofing company, or law firm, GMB posts will help you reach more people, answer common questions, and inform the community about upcoming sales, discounts, and events. Read on to learn some effective GMB post tips to help your small business grow.
1. Publish updates regularly
Google My Business posts no longer expire after seven days, which means they can have a longer-lasting impact on your conversions. Nonetheless, Google still archives most posts after six months, unless you specify a date range when publishing them.
That’s why publishing updates regularly is still crucial. You can always delete a post later if you feel like it is clogging up your feed, or you can specify a date range for the post if it is highlighting a one-time event.
By frequently posting updates, you show that you are active. Customers will trust you more and will feel more comfortable calling or emailing you with questions. It is especially important now, as many businesses have shut down due to economic problems brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent shutdowns.
Some Google My Business profiles from those businesses still exist, despite the businesses being shuttered. If a customer visits your GMB profile and sees that you recently published a post, they’ll know you are still serving customers at your place of business and won’t hesitate to drive to your shop.
2. Keep it short and simple
While you can include up to 1,500 characters in each post, Google recommends not exceeding 300 characters. For many of your posts, a few lines will be ideal, depending on the post content.
Much of the text may get cut off if you write too much, so users won’t see it unless they manually expand the post. Keeping it short and simple allows you to get your message across quickly, even to those skimming through your post feed.
Pay extra attention to your opening line, as that is what people will see first. An eye-catching opening line that captures people’s attention will help you boost your conversion rates.
While you can highlight new sales, events, or products, don’t be overly promotional or use too many exclamation points or uppercase letters in your opening line, as that can look spammy.
You can publish a few longer posts with tips and helpful advice here and there as well — just don’t make all of your posts like that.
3. Switch up your content
There are a few different post types you can publish on Google My Business. Switch up your content and write different posts to make things a bit more interesting and keep things fresh. Make sure you select the right post type when creating and publishing a post.
Here are the post types currently available:
- What’s New: For general updates
- Offers: For limited-time offers, sales, discounts, and promotions
- Events: For limited-time events and activities
- Products: To add a product to your product tab
- Covid-19: For Covid-19 updates, such as hour of operation changes, safety requirements, delivery options, etc.
Bear in mind that posts under the “Products” category won’t show up in the posts feed — it’s only for adding a product to your products tab.
4. Use local keywords
Targeting local keywords in your posts can help you rank better in local search results. You should also include keywords talking about the services, products, and facilities you offer, both in your posts and on your website.
Many times, people will search for specific products or services, and Google will prioritize businesses that explicitly mention those services. Often, Google will display a business’s GMB profile in the local search results and highlight, in bold, the keyword that they searched for.
That keyword may have shown up in reviews, in the description, or even on the website.
5. Include images
Insert pictures into your GMB posts to make them more visually appealing.
The minimum size for images is 400×300 pixels, with a minimum 10 KB size limit. The maximum is 10,000×10,000 pixels, with a 25 MB size limit.
However, if your image is too large, much of it will get cut off, so use smaller images. A size ratio of 4:3 seems to work best.
Use different types of images, such as:
- Photos of yourself and your team
- Pictures of the interior and exterior of your store
- Images showing satisfied customers
- Photos of products
- Banners announcing events
When posting banners and other images containing text, be aware that much of the text may get cut off, depending on the size of the image, so also include some text in the post description.
6. Use a CTA
At the end of each post, always include some sort of call-to-action. Google offers several CTAs you can add to posts, including:
- Learn more
- Sign up
- Call now
- Buy
- Book
- And more
I’d suggest trying out different CTAs and seeing which ones bring the best results. Certain types of posts will warrant specific CTAs — for example, if you’re announcing that appointments are now available, use the “Book” call-to-action.
7. Highlight reviews
When you get an awesome review on your profile (and you will if you offer a quality service), why not highlight it in a post? Highlighting testimonials is a great way to provide social proof and build trust.
8. Track engagement
Finally, use the insights provided by Google to track engagement. You can view engagement for individual posts or all posts in the last week or month.
Some things to consider include:
- How people react to different post types
- How images affect engagement
- Whether posting at certain times or changing your post frequency improves engagement
Final thoughts
If your GMB profile has been inactive, our GMB Premium Posts service will be a big help. We’ll provide 16 captivating Google My Business posts per month, including different post types, so you can keep things fresh and drive more interactions.
