As a successful retailer, you know how important your Google My Business listing is to getting new business. You know that 87% of your customers search a product before they buy. You know that you need to be in the top three “Map Pack” to get them to see your store.
But, if you’re like most retailers, you aren’t using the “post” function of GMB. This is a huge missed opportunity.
According to recent research by Moz.com, nearly 100% of searchers click on posts and many will view multiple posts. This is an insane level of engagement. You need to get your message in Google posts.
Here’s how to create a great Google post
Go to your google my business page https://business.google.com/.
If you haven’t claimed your page, click on the “start now” button.
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Pick a topic
Post can be about what’s new, an event, an offer or a product. Google wants posts that are “brief, useful, and inspire action”.
Post often
Event posts have a start and finish date. All other posts are up for 7 days, so keep up a steady stream of posts. Keep some evergreen posts that you can use to talk about your product when there aren’t any new arrivals or events.
Post compelling photos
Post good high resolution photos that are clear, well lit and with good framing. Photos should be compelling and representative of your brand (bright colours do well). Aspect ratio should be 4:3, a 1200px by 900px image is perfect.
Name your product offer or event
In the case of an offer or event make sure your title inspires action. In all cases make sure that you use as many keywords as you can while still sounding natural. Use your city’s or neighbourhood’s name so you get found in local search. So for example “Ottawa Rib Festival” is better than “The Big Pork-out”.
Describe your product or event
You have 1500 characters but Google says the ideal length is 150-300. Here too you want to make sure you use the right keywords and your city or neighbourhood name. The more you tell Google you have what the searcher wants and that you’re near them, the more your store will appear in search.
Use the best practices that you’ve learned from the copy writing module of your Retail Mastery System. Forget about “we”, “us” “our store”, make it about “them”. Make sure that you have call to action.
A quick word about Keywords
Keep in mind that the important keywords for your business aren’t always what you think they are. You may think that customers are searching for “swimsuits” but if they’re searching for “bathing suits” your store is less likely to come up in their search.
Here’s a great article from Hubspot on how to find the right keywords to use: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-do-keyword-research-ht
Now Just Do It
It’s easy, it’s free, it’s a powerful tool to get new customers, so get posting!
