Melanie
The Monday Morning Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Esther of IPA Group, bringing premier online promotion to your business.
Esther
And Melanie of STOMP Social Media Training, who empowers business owners to manage social media and marketing for themselves. And welcome back to another episode of the Monday Morning Marketing podcast. Today we're talking about Google Business Profile, and I always stumble over that one because it used to be called Google My Business, which just flowed off the tongue an awful lot easier. But our expert is here with us today, a resident expert and co-host, Melanie Boylan, will explain the whole thing about why Google Business Profile is essential part of your marketing. Take it away.
Melanie
Wow, what a build-up. God, I hope I meet your requirements.
Esther
I'm sure you will. I have no doubt.
Melanie
Okay. Yes, Google Business Profile is a silent, silent marketing tool. It's horribly silent because so many people just forget it's there. They just forget what the point of it is, how to use it, how to access it. It's a mystery for most people. But most people these days go to Google stuff. They go to find things in a Google search and they go to Google. And any product of Google's, and I do mean literally any product of Google's will always be favoured before others, especially if it's being used properly. So you can't just have a very old, formerly known Google My Business profile that you've not touched for five years. That doesn't help. You have to have one that's active, that's being updated on a regular basis. And you keep up to date because you can change the hours and you can change pictures and all sorts of stuff.
Esther
Okay, so how do we open a Google Business Profile? Is it the same thing as having... If somebody googles you or you search for something and it pops up on the left-hand, right-hand side of the page? Which is right and which is left?
Melanie
Well, it's typically the right-hand side on a laptop or desktop. And then obviously it's not on any left or right-hand side when you're on your phone. So typically, when you get a website, your website designer will know, especially if you've got a location, will know to create a Google Business Profile so that they can add your map because there's Google Maps. And a lot of business, a lot of website designers will just automatically use that and plop it onto your website. And then, although they've set it up, the hope is that they've also given you access to it as well afterwards. And then you can create posts and updates from that account afterwards. Now, if you haven't got that because you don't have a map or it wasn't something you discussed at the time, then there may be already a remote profile already on there. People may have already recommended you or created testimonials. It's completely true. So you may need to claim your Google Business Profile because other people have already spoken about your business. So there are ways and means that you can get in to find your Google Business Profile. And again, that's a searchable thing. You can look it up. Do you know the great thing about Google business? Is it's completely free. You know there's Google Ads and there's-We like free. We like free. Oh, no, it's absolutely free. And I think if you could find your profile, if somebody has already talked about your business or recommended your business or created a testimonial about your business, then you can claim the profile and build it up. If you've already got a website that you've had a couple of years and you've got a map on it and you didn't even know you had a Google Business Profile, that again, you can just claim it that way as well. But if you don't have any of these, then you literally go to start or sometimes people use the word manage Google Business Profile, and that will help you bring up the right page in a search. And then you just put in your details. It's literally plug and play. You put in your business name, you put in your location, you put in if you've got numerous locations, you can do that as well, your phone number, your email address. And you then have to get it What's the word? I was going to say vetted, but that's not the right word.
Esther
Verified.
Melanie
Verified. So you have to get it verified. That can take a little while. It can take up to a week or so. If you haven't heard from Google in that time, so normally it's a postcard that you get through the post, then you've probably missed some post along the way. So I wouldn't leave it any longer than a couple of weeks. And then I'd try and get reverified again because it does get lost in the post. It's happened to me once.
Esther
Okay, so what if you don't have a physical location for your business? You don't have somewhere that people drop in to your business, or you are a virtual business, or you serve, like you say, lots of different areas. Your company is worldwide, but you don't have a specific location. How do you get that one onto the business profile?
Melanie
Well, that's actually not a stumbling block, because you When I first started my business, it's actually got even easier since then. But when I first started my business, I didn't want people coming to my house. I didn't have an office, and I didn't want people to come to my house. So you can just put in a service area, the area that you're prepared to work in. And it does get a bit more complicated when you're trying to go global because really, Google likes local businesses. So if you can be local to a whole country, but But it's a little harder if you're trying to go outside of your geographic area. So really, it does support more local businesses than international businesses, but there are ways and means, of course.
Esther
Okay. So you can put in your home address, for example, to get the postcard to, but you don't have to have that showing anywhere on the thing?
Melanie
No.
Esther
Okay.
Melanie
No.
Esther
Right. So when you have the postcard and you have all that information and you get it all verified, what can you put in your Google Business Profile?
Melanie
Fantastic question. Here you can put in so much information. There is product information you could put in, service information you can put in, your opening hours, you can put in your website, obviously, and any other Calendly or Acuity or any scheduling platforms you could put in there as well so that you can book appointments. And over time, as you start building testimonials, they get added as little tags to your account. And these tags then become suggested areas that you can work in. And over time, I've had to remove some because it's not been as relevant. So maybe I help somebody with SEO on their website, but I don't do websites, but the AI picked up websites, and of course, I don't do websites, so I removed that as a recommendation. So there is a little bit of work you need to do on it to make sure it's accurate. And the more you keep it up to date, the greater chance you have of being found in search.
Esther
And how do you keep it up to date? Just by updating your opening hours, like if you're off on a bank holiday Monday or something or?
Melanie
You've probably mentioned that because you get a reminder.
Esther
You do. It is. It's like, are you open on?
Melanie
It's coming up to St. Patrick's Day. Are you open? Yes. So no, that is mentioned directly from Google. And that's like a prompt just to make sure that you're keeping things up to speed. But no, I post to my Google business profile and you can actually do that directly and you can do that through some third party apps, not every third party app. But I haven't actually... I mean, if anybody's heard of one that does it for free, I'd love to know if there's a third party app that posts to Google Business Profile for free. But I haven't actually found one yet. So by posting on a semi regular basis, it doesn't have to be every day. It just, like a website, gives you new posts and pages that help you get found in search. I put up videos, I put up images, I can send links to my website or to events I'm part of. So, yeah, it's pretty much like a broad website.
Esther
And you can ask people to leave reviews there. So it's not just...
Melanie
Yes.
Esther
You can't add people's reviews to it.
Melanie
Oh, no, no, no. You can't add other people's reviews. So that's what makes it a lot more authentic. And one thing I've noticed is that the more, obviously, good reviews you have. So let's say you had 50 good reviews and I had 60 good reviews. We're both in the same space. Obviously, we're not in the same geographical area, but we're in the same space. Then I would probably be seen first because I've got more good testimonials. But it doesn't mean you don't get found in the search. It's just I will rank above because I've got more. It's a case of just trying to maintain it, and it's another flipping social profile that you've got to get your head around. I do appreciate that, but it does pay for itself. When I moved from County Wicklow to County West Meath, I was found immediately, literally immediately, because I started talking about being in the area and talking about other businesses and getting testimonials straight away. It was a no-brainer, and it didn't It cost me a cent.
Esther
Like you said, it's another social media platform, so it should be... Should you be posting to it in the same regularity as our other major ones, Facebook, Instagram, X?
Melanie
Well, yes and no. I've said to people because it's such a, oh my God, not another one. So I've said to people, look, if you can just get into the habit of posting to it once, once a week, just once a week. Anything you're going to post on Facebook, just post it there as well. Pick a time, say Wednesday lunchtime. What did well this week? Yeah, that one did fairly well over the last few days. And then post it up on Google Business Profile. And just by posting up just that once a week, you start to get into good habits. There was one lady who I did a Supported Digital Marketing Strategy Training course. I am working on the name, with a few years ago, and she was a nutritionist near me, and she was blown away with it. She said she'd never really used it other than just as a map for her website. And I introduced I introduced her to it, and it became her platform. She was previously on Facebook, but obviously, it was very difficult to get around organically. She was spending a good few Euro, I'd say on that every month. And it was working, but it was expensive. So I introduced her to the values and magic of Google Business Profile. And she basically moved everything over to Google Business Profile because there's messaging, there's testimonials. Like I said, you've got your diary in there as well, and you can book appointments and everything through it because, again, it's another Google product, so Google Calendar. And that became her biggest platform. And she was making a hell of a lot more money because she wasn't spending it all on Facebook ads.
Esther
And like you said, very few people are actually utilising it properly.
Melanie
Very few.
Esther
Or utilising it at all. So getting in now, then you're more likely to get seen by using it, whereas if you wait a couple of years and more people have adopted it and it has been around a long time.
Melanie
Oh, yes. I mean, Google My Business was around for a very long time. Then it got sunsetted four or five years back now. And Google Business Profile was quite different, I won't lie, from Google My Business. But honestly, I think it's actually easier to navigate around. Now, it previously had its own little app, and that was again sunsetted. So now you can access it through Google Maps, so on your phone or on your laptop or tablet or whatever you use. So you can go into Google Maps and access it there. And once you've signed in to your account, which is a Gmail account, you can access it anywhere in the little head that you have in the top right-hand corner on your phone or your laptop or tablet. And it'll be one of the options. It'll be business. And it looks like a canopy. And once you get into that, you and access everything that I've just discussed.
Esther
Okay. So we've got homework to do. Obviously, as the podcast, because Melanie schedules a lot of stuff for the podcast, it's already on it. I'm sure our opening hours are quite weird because we're open on a Monday. That's about it. But do go and check it out, guys. And if you have any questions or any concerns or need to figure out how something works or what to post or need somebody to help you with any of it, do contact Melanie. How do people get in touch with you, Melanie?
Melanie
The best way is to contact me through email, which is melanie@stomp.ie. I respond to that all the time. But if you want to meet me on any of my other platforms, so on Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Facebook. But really, I would say just email me. It's much faster.
Esther
There you go. Thanks, guys. We'll be back next week with another episode of the Monday Morning Marketing podcast. Until then. Bye-bye.
Melanie
Bye.
I sounded really excited there, didn't I? Bye.
Esther
Well, it is a topic that you love so much, so it's obvious you're going to be excited.
