A Digital Marketer’s Guide to Google Posts

As digital marketers, we actively welcome new opportunities to communicate with our customers. Google’s social feature, Google Posts, allows businesses to update or alert customers of important information directly on Google Search. 82 percent of people rely on search engines to find local information, making it the ideal place to showcase your business. What are you waiting for? Here’s everything you need to know to start taking advantage of Google Posts.

What Are Google Posts?

Google Posts were first introduced in January 2016 for U.S. presidential candidates to use. By March of the same year, they were extended to businesses to use but were only available to a limited number of local entities. Since June of 2017, Google Posts have been available to any business that uses Google My Business.

Google Posts allow businesses to create ‘social’ content that appears in the local panel on Google Search and Google Maps. They pop up when someone searches a keyword associated with the business. For example, your Google Post would appear here in a user’s search results:

Each post can contain up to 300 words, a photo, a button to direct viewers back to the site, or dates and times if you’re broadcasting an upcoming event. They expire after a week unless you manually remove them, so you’ll need to update them continuously. Posts based on upcoming events will be removed after the event date.

Why Should You Incorporate Google Posts into Your Digital Strategy?

The Google Posts feature presents an entirely new list of opportunities for your business. Listed below are just a few of the benefits you can reap from incorporating Google Posts into your strategy:

1. Sharing daily specials or offers
2. Promoting current or future events
3. Directing traffic to a specific area on your company’s site
4. Highlighting new or best-selling products
5. Giving customers a one-click option to sign up, reserve, or purchase something
6. Tracking customer engagement
7. Announcing emergency updates or news
8. Posting available job positions

6 Quick Steps to Use Google Posts

So you’re ready to post, now what? If you already have a Google My Business account, login to get started.

1. Choose your desired location in the list and click on it.
2. Once you’re in the dashboard, click on the “Create Post” button at the top of the page.
3. Choose what type of post you’re going to create (What’s New, Event, or Offer).
4. Upload your photo or video, text content, and any other information.
5. Review the post before publishing to check for any mistakes.
6. When you finish, click “Publish,” and your post will go live.
7. Track the number of views and clicks your post gets from your dashboard.

A published Google Post should look similar to the following example.

Are you ready to start using Google Posts in your digital marketing strategy? The Front Porch Solutions team is ready to help with expert digital marketing knowledge! Contact a member of our team today to get started.