We belong to a world where connectivity is a boon. You are known by your mobile number, email address, or even IP. Devoid of these three things you might even be considered a member of some primitive species. However, at the time of writing this article, everyone has at least one of the three above mentioned ways of connecting.
As a customer it is enough to have a mobile where you can order your purchases using some specific app. But from where to purchase? Of course from some business that is being presented on one of the apps. They remain hidden from the customers and suffer a loss. Google My Business lets you have the presence of your business felt on the internet so that customers can order purchases 24×7 thus increasing the ROI of your business.
Google My Business is a free service that allows you to use Google Search and Maps to promote your business profile and company website. You can view and communicate with your customers with your Google My Business Account, post updates to your business profile and see how customers interact with your company on Google. Some of the features of Google My Business are given below:
Features
- Manage the way a business appears on Google Search and Maps.
- Manage the business information by making changes to it
- Reply to customer’s reviews, queries, and messages
- Post new pics and updates about your business on specific events
- Offer discounts
- Know how customers reach out to your business
Differences
As there is an app for every website these days so there is an app for Google My Business as well. However, not all features of Google My Business are present in the app such as removing a listing or transferring the ownership of a business. The same is true for web application also. A business cannot see any of its followers on the web app while they can do so on the mobile app. For Android, the app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and for iOS from the AppStore. While the Android version has an extra Accessibility feature, the same is absent from the iOS version as yet.
Till date, there have been 5 billion restaurants, 3 billion hotels, 1 billion clothing shops, 600 million saloons, and 5 million coffee shop searches on Google My Business. At a time there could be more than 25K customers who might be searching for some business to purchase their desired products.
Latest Update
The last update of Google My Business came up with quite a number of features. These include:
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Profile Cover Photo
A business can add its profile cover photo to showcase its brand, However, this is not clear so far that the profile cover photo shows during the Google search or not.
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A Logo
Businesses can now add a logo to their profile (besides the profile pic mentioned above) that will appear in the top-right hand corner of the profile page.
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New Photos
Any pics that are uploaded by the business will appear instantly in the New Dynamic Module on the profile page. So far, these images are appearing without any caption but the caption might be present in the next update.
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Special Offers
This is a nice gesture from the businesses on Google My Business. To attract new customers, businesses are providing the customers with a one-time welcome offer the moment the customers start following a business such 5% off on Double Cheese Margherita if you start following Domino’s Pizza
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Stickers, Posters, and More
From Google My Business it is possible to download stickers, posters, and more such stuff to help a business profile create interesting posts to attract the customers.
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Short Name and URL
Google My Business allows the client business to create a short name and a url for them from the Dashboard. This url can be used by the customers to redirect them to the business profile straight away to place an order or post their reviews. The method also makes it much easier to connect to listings.
Let’s Wrap it Up
Google My Business is a tool that can help the local business in making their presence felt on-line as everybody is making use of Google Search and Google Maps these days. Google My Business has brought both business and clients near to each other. A number of updates have already come but for Google that is not the end of the road. Every review, every feedback on the app means a new update in the offing. So keep reviewing.