Google My Business – Learn and Network

We were delighted to host another virtual gathering, learn and network event for members and guests last Tuesday. As usual, we started with a round of elevator pitches.  Inviting attendees to give their elevator pitch is a wonderful way to ensure that everyone is properly introduced and their business is well-represented. Finally, Eimer Duffy of FIT Social Media introduced herself and the topic of learning Google My Business.

For the next 30-40 minutes, Eimer took us through a tour of Google My Business. She pointed out the many benefits of this powerful free tool from Google and how best to utilise them. She gave us plenty of practical advice to help everyone get started right away. For those already using Google My Business, there were excellent tips on how best to optimise and maintain a strong presence.

Now is the time to optimise Google My Business

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, local searches have increased dramatically. This increase is mainly due to local lockdowns and greater dependence on online shopping. Therefore the ability to be found on Google Search and Google Maps has become more important than ever. And with the trading online voucher bringing more businesses online, it’s crucial that your business stands out.

Speaking of the Trading Online Voucher, have you recently improved your website? Well, now is the time to utilise Google My Business to gain more website visitors.

Eimer took it tab by tab, showing us how to best use every section of Google My Business. In this way, we could more easily see how to optimise it fully to showcase our businesses. 

Benefits of Google My Business

• Google My Business is a free tool to promote your business profile AND your website on Google Search and Maps.
• It helps your business to be more visible online, getting noticed and building trust. The more you optimise your presence on Google My Business, the more visible you become. 
• You can see and connect with your customers, post updates and monitor customer interaction with your business.
• Customers can ask a question of your business that you can answer publicly. Eimer offered a great tip here… Decide what question you would most like to answer publicly and ask that yourself!
• Customer Reviews:
  We all know that the best tool to sell your product or service is a genuine testimony from a happy customer.  Because of this, we were greatly interested in Google My Business’s ability to send customers a link requesting their review. This review shows on your Google My Business presence but can also be copied and pasted into website reviews or graphic quote cards for social sharing.

Audit your Google My Business presence

Eimer also showed us how to do a quick audit of your Google My Business and so we split up into breakout groups to review a business in this way. We worked through a checklist of items to optimise and it was hugely beneficial to see how quickly this can be achieved. As well as the handy checklist, Eimer also gave us a number of ways to optimise our Google My Business profiles whether using desktop or phone devices.

Contact Eimer Duffy of FIT Social Media Training

If you would like social media training for your business, whether that’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Google My Business, then do reach out to Eimer.  She can be easily found on any main social media platforms (of course), or you may instead like to visit her website at the following link: FIT Social Media Training