Posts on Google for Small Businesses: Make Your Business Stand Out From the Crowd

Haven’t got a Google My Business Account yet?

 

You better sign up!!!

Businesses, brands, celebs, and everyone else has been posting content on Google previously as well, but with Posts on Google, the search giant has recently introduced a completely new way to do so. Released on June 22, 2017, the all new Posts on Google feature offers you a new, better way of sharing fresh content with the target audience and everybody who is searching you online.

We know you may have read or heard of the feature already, but do you exactly know what it packs for the local businesses? Not only freshen up your online visibility but Posts on Google can  help your local business improve and pitch new customers too!

Hop on and go through this complete post to understand every nook and cranny about Google’s new posting feature.

 

Who Can Use Posts on Google

The feature was initially released during US election for candidates to post relevant content. Later, it was made available for a few categories only, including:

• Sports teams
• Museums
• Sports leagues
• Movies in the US
• Musicians in brazil

As per its commitment, Google lately made the feature available for small businesses as well. That’s the main part of the story.

Posts on Google for small businesses is the hot topic in the local business sector. But to use it, there’s one condition that you need to fulfil, i.e. you must have a Google My Business account.

For those who already have an account on Google My Business, it is a one-click process to use the feature. For the unregistered users, they will first need to sign up for the service and then continue.

 

How to Use Posts on Google

 

Using the feature is no less than a cakewalk. In case you don’t have a GMB account, here’s a breakdown of steps to use Posts on Google:

• Go to https://posts.withgoogle.com/gb

• Click on Request Access

 

 

• You will see a form asking some details, fill up the form according to your purpose with right information

 

 

• You will see a popup that reads “Thank you for joining the waitlist to Posts on Google.”

 

 

• If you want, you can also submit a new response to Posts on Google.

NOTE: For businessmen, select Business from the list of categories. Once Google reviews your request and permits you the rights, you can start using the feature to make your brand more lively online. The interface seems similar to that of uploading a new post on Facebook. For those who already have a registered account on Google My Business, their page will look somewhat like this:

Posting on Posts on Google is very easy. All you need to do is just type in the text, add images or several call to action buttons to your post. You can also schedule posts or create events. Another interesting feature is that you receive full updates regarding the views and interactions on your posted content. Here’s what options you get while posting new content:

• Option to add media, including Image, GIF, or video
• Description – maximum 300 words
• Event title
• Start and end dates, and times for the event created
• Learn More – to add your website link
• Call-to-actions – Buy, Reserve, Get offer, Sign up, Newsletters

The post you upload instantly shows up on both mobile and desktop.

 

How Google Posts Looks in SERPs

 

Well, the posts do not show up in Google+ rather after creating a new post, a new column adds to your business listing in the SERPs. The effect is immediate and shows all of your latest posts (two posts at a time). Below is an example of how the new posts look on your business listing in search results.

 

 

What it means for small businesses?

 

With majority of people searching for local info online (i.e. via search engines like Google), the best place to promote your business is Google Listing (Not using it yet? Sign Up here). In the positive case scenario, where the audience already knows the business it is searching, they will anyway want to know detailed information on what the business offers and everything interesting about it. That’s exactly the reason why Google My Business has introduced Posts to local businesses. By doing so, Google has offered the small businesses a simple way to drive new customers and establish stronger relationships with the existing ones.

 

How it can benefit small business?

 

Posts on Google helps businesses in a number of ways, some of which are:

• Share Daily Offers: Sharing daily discounts, offers, current or temporary promotions that not only motivates new and existing customers but also lures them to try your offers.
• Promotion: Great way of promoting products, services, events meanwhile informing customers about upcoming events at your location.
• Products: Best place to display your products as well as list the new additions.
• Connect With Audience: Options available to connect with the audience right from Google Listing. These options include – giving audience a one-click way for reservation, signing up for newsletters, get info about new offers, and buy particular products from your website.
• Better Click-Through Rate: The feature will help businesses achieve improved click-through ratio from business listing.

 

How Small businesses can use it?

Around 82% of people use search engines for finding answers of their queries and 70% people research different businessmen before taking a final decision. With Posts on Google, businesses will be able to share regular, relevant updates and info on Google Search and Google Maps in order to help their businesses become visible to customers from the crowd. With the ability to add call-to-action phrases (like “Reserve,” “Sign up,” “Learn more,” “Buy” or “Get offer.” ) to business listing, you can even decide the way you want to connect to your customers and target audience. As already mentioned above, registered Google My Business users can start using the feature directly. You can create Posts anytime, anyplace with the help of Google My Business app for Android, iOS, and web. If you haven’t signed up for Google My Business account yet, sign up today to get started with managing and improving your business listing on Google. Once Google verifies your business and details, you will be allowed to start posting content.

Anything else to know about Posts on Google?

 

Link Posts: The most interesting and probably the most important feature of Posts on Google is that it lets businesses link their posts to their own sites. This way, it can be used as a medium of driving more traffic, more sign-ups from newsletters, and more potential customers to particular product pages.

Postscript: One thing to note here is that the posts you upload are only visible for a week. After seven days of posting them, these posts automatically expires. Businesses all over have reported that they received a notification a day before saying the Google Post will expire.

 

 

Additional features

 

One good thing about the new feature is that Google has made it even simpler to use by offering a Help Center. So just in case you find yourself stuck with the options or anywhere while using the feature, you can simply visit the link above to get assistance.

Why You Should Start Using Google Posts Right Now…

• The first and the best thing about Google Posts is that it’s available for free. Businesses can use it without actually paying a penny! It’s a part of your business listing options and all you need to spend is only your time.

• Google loves fresh content and although nothing can be said if Google really follows it, yet the past experiences with rest of the Google features and services hints a little. When you post an updated listing and regularly post informative content on the search engine, the listing tends to show better in SERPs as compared to the ones without any update.

• Who doesn’t love its own features! Google too loves it when you use its services and features. Being a business owner with a thought of expanding your business online, you gotta do what Google wants you to and Posts on Google seems no exception to that.

 

What this means for your Google Business Page.

 

Well, with the advent of Posts on Google, it seems more like Google’s effort to bring back its lost repo in social media marketing. Even though that does not mean that you will see Google+ coming back in form again, but it’s definitely something that can help businesses (especially local or small ones) maintain a better online presence and share relevant info/content with their customer base.

Google seems to be putting more power to business owners with the way they handle their search presence and customers. According to me, the feature can be somewhat more fruitful when combined with the targeted keywords in the text part of the posts. For more promotional benefit, even the media could contain links you think are good for your business.

From the customer’s’ point of view, the feature seems a new and better way to find latest info, offers, products, and services in their local region. This could be a plus for overall user experience not only from the business’ perspective but also for Google.
Our suggestion is to use the feature on a regular basis like weekly strategy for marketing your business. Then of course, sum it up with fresh content, call to actions, and active communication in your selected media outlets.

There’s no word if the feature would be a forever free service or the search engine will charge you for using it. But you can expect new enhancements to Posts on Google and introduction of many more interesting features to Google Business Page in near future.