Do you have a Google My Business page? Do you make regular changes to it and respond back to reviews? You can now do all of this on-the-go with the new update to the Google My Business Mobile App! Google have recently announced an update to their Mobile App which now includes even more features!
Google My Business has recently replaced Google Places (also known as Google Local) and Google now offers business owners the chance to make edits to their page on-the-go with the new (updated Google My Business Mobile App). Business owners have always been able to log into their Google My Business page on a desktop and this has always been the same, even when it was Google Places. Since then Google have updated how the page is shown and what information needs to be added to the page.
Now let’s take a look at the features of the Google My Business Mobile App:
Edit Your Business Profile
You can now edit your business profile wherever you are and you don’t need to be in front of a computer to do so. The Google My Business App allows you to edit each section of your business profile, just the same as being on a computer. You can edit every aspect of your business page very simply and it is in the same layout as being on a computer. This makes it so much easier to change business details. For example if you know your business hours are going to change for a short while, you can log into your App and simply change your working hours.
As you can see from this image you are able to change anything on your Google business profile. You can edit your introduction if you feel it needs updating. Also you are able to add more categories if your business starts to offer more services. (Making regular updates to your Google My Business page is extremely important as Google will recognise the updates therefore giving your page a higher ranking)
Read here to learn 5 Google places ranking factors to improve your local business marketing
Respond To Reviews
The newest feature of the update to the Mobile App is that you can now respond to reviews. This is a great new feature as it means that no matter where you are; you are able to respond back to reviews left on your Google My Business page!
Due to the fact that the new feature allows you to respond to customers will really enhance your businesses customer service. This is because once a customer has commented on your Google My Business page you can respond instantly meaning that you don’t have to wait to reply and the customer doesn’t have to wait for an answer.
The App also allows you to change the date range and view analytics, which can give you a greater insight as to how your business is doing in regards to reviews. If your page has a very small number of reviews then this is something which you can take action on. Any customer that buys from your business or uses your services, can be sent a thank you email, and within this email you can include a link to your Google My Business page asking them to leave a review on it. You can also set notifications up on your phone meaning that every new review you get you will be notified, meaning you don’t have to keep checking the App every hour to see if you have had a new review.
It is very simple to respond to reviews as you can see. Once you start getting more reviews and are replying to them as they come in, you will then start to get used to which is the best way to respond to the customers reviews and how to best respond to customer reviews.
View Your Business Insights
You can now check your pages insights easier than ever with the new update. The App allows you to view insights the exact same way as you would on a computer. It tells you the amount of views your page has had over a certain time period. You can change this from the last 7 days, 30 days, 90 days and all the time your page has been verified. This is very helpful because it can give you a clearer understanding of how effective your Google page is. You can also view the amount of clicks your page has had, again you can change the date from the 7 days, 30 days, 90 days and all the time your page has been verified. Not only can it tell you how many clicks your page has had, but it can also tell you how many people have clicked for driving directions to your business.
The insights section of the App is very easy to see and it allows you to change what information you want to see.
Update to Mobile App and Desktop Version
Google have also recently added a new feature to both the Mobile App and desktop version, which allows you to see the call analytics for your business page. This will show how many people have called your business directly from your Google My Business page on their mobile. This will give you a greater insight as to how many people are taking action from your business page and calling you. If you are not receiving any calls from your business page this is not a problem, as you can add into your introduction some text saying ‘call us now to talk to one of our experts’ or something similar which fits around your business.
Conclusion
The new Google My Business Mobile App is very useful to business owners and can save a great amount of time. At the minute the App is only available for Android users, however it will be rolling out to Apple Users in the near future. If you are a business owner it is certainly worth downloading this App as it will help you manage your Google Business page in every possible way.
Article by: Adam Jones
