Customer feedback is one of the most valuable resources for any business. Understanding what your customers love about your products and services, as well as what they wish could be better, can provide valuable insight to both your business itself, and for future customers.
Research has shown that prospective customers look at reviews while considering buying products or services.
Customers may choose not to use your company and go elsewhere if you don’t have any reviews, even if your company does great work and has a great reputation.
How to Make it Easy for Your Customers to Leave a Google Review
Many customers often don't leave a review after having an experience with a business, simply because they were not encouraged to give feedback or they didn’t know how to. Providing a review link soon after they make a purchase or experience one of your company’s services will help generate feedback.
The review link brings them directly to your Google My Business listing where they can easily give their input on how their experience went. A little encouragement on your end can go a long way for your business’ future success!
Google offers an easy way to generate a review link direct to your Google My Business listing's review section - just follow these steps:
Step 1: Create your @shortname Log into your account to create your @shortname - a new feature Google added in the dashboard. This is an important part of your listing, so choose carefully. The best names will be simple and easy for people to understand and remember. By creating your business' short name, it will be contained in the link, instead of random letters / numbers.
Step 2: From the home tab, scroll down and you will see "get more reviews."
Click on this and you will have a couple of ways to share the link - if you click on 'email' you can copy the link for future use.
The review link will bring users to a page which looks like this:
If you need any assistance with your Google My Business listing or would like a Google My Business audit to see where improvements can be made with your listing, get in touch philippa@cre8ive.co.nz. Our audit also includes our comprehensive, step-by-step guide with our best tips and actionable tactics to help you get more visibility on Google, generate more leads and engagement.
Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool created to help businesses manage their online presence across the Google platform. A Google My Business listing (or account, or profile) can be considered a combination of an online directory listing and a social media profile. Not all businesses can have a listing however, those with physical locations, mobile businesses, individual practitioners and service area businesses are typical examples that can. Examples that can't are brands, organisations, artists and only online businesses.
A complete and optimised Google My Business listing is absolutely important for all businesses no matter the size as it directly impacts how many people find you on Google when searching for your brand, service or products.
Google My Business Provides Quick Information for Your Customers
A Google My Business Listing is important because it gives customers insight and information about your business. Phone number, address, photos, videos, business hours, website link and reviews are all readily available in one convenient place for your customers.
Often users are just searching for contact details, location, and business hours. When they do a search they will type in your business name. Mostly likely the information they will see first is your Google My Business listing, especially if they are searching on a mobile device. Therefore it is vital that all businesses claim, verify and update the content within their Google My Business listing.
Google Owns It, You Can Claim It
Claiming your Google My Business listing puts you in the driver’s seat. It gives you complete control –over what is seen here. It’s important to note that even if you haven’t claimed your listing, it is likely Google already has one made. Google is filling it with information they have gathered or that customers have added, which could include information that is inaccurate, and could potentially harm your business’ success. Therefore, claiming the profile gives you complete control over the information, which is displayed, ensuring its accuracy. You will see something like “own this business” or “manage this listing” about half way down the GMB box – click on this link and you will see whether the listing has been claimed, and if so, which email claimed it. Or it will show you that it hasn’t been claimed and you can follow the steps to claim it.
Verify Your Google My Business Listing
Once you have finished completing your information you will need to verify your listing. Until you verify, Google inputs information from other locations online that may not be accurate or up-to-date. Verifying is simple to do, and can help you control the information Google is providing to customers, which will benefit your business in the long run and you’ll be able to:
allow new customers to find you across Google
create promotional posts
track business analytics
respond to customer reviews
Anyone Can Make Edits to Your Listing
It is vital to complete your company’s information because anyone can suggest an edit to your business listing, including your competitors.
When someone clicks on “Suggest an edit”, it gives them the opportunity to make some pretty dramatic changes to your listing.
Many times, these “suggestions” are immediately made live on Google, even if you don’t approve them. That’s why it is of utmost importance to proactively monitor and manage your Google My Business listing.
Improves Local Google Search Rankings
Having a Google My Business listing also improves local search rankings. It’s known that the top three to five results of a google search are the most important – so how do get you get there? One step in improving your ranking is to, believe it or not, complete your Google My Business profile! This shows Google that your business is trustworthy and reliable, and Google will better align your business with accurate search results. Google also uses the primary category that you choose for your business listing to help better match your listing with what people search for, so it’s vital that you ensure an accurate category is selected.
Show up in Google’s Local 3-Pack
Simply creating a listing increases your odds of showing up in the Google Local 3-Pack list which appears before all of the organic results so it greatly increases your visibility. About 44% of all clicks go to the 3-Pack.
Google Online Reviews
Arguably one of the most important features of the Google My Business listing is the section specifically for feedback. Potential customers who search for your business can read reviews from your other customers – this helps them make the decision whether to do business with your company or not. You can encourage feedback from customers to be posted on the Google My Business listing by providing them with a quick review link.
Note: if your listing is deemed 'equal' in terms of value (rated by Google) with a competitor's listing, if you have more quality reviews than your competitors, then your listing will appear higher.
Once you have a review – whether positive or negative, you must respond. Use your responses to build your brand; affirm positive experiences and addressing negative reviews helps change the perception of the reviewer and reader, shows you care, gives the reader insight on the issue and ultimately helps your online brand reputation.
Google My Business App
Managing your Google My Business listing can now be done via the Google My Business App (for iOS and Android) which allows for easy editing on the go. Share information on upcoming offers and events, engage with customers in the review section, and quickly upload photos or videos directly from your smartphone or tablet.
Overall, creating and optimising your Google My Business listing will…
Give customers all the information they want in one easy location, including reviews which could convert more visitors into paying customers
Improve your Google ranking – help your business to appear higher in local search results
Increase engagement – drive more traffic to both your website and physical location
Star ratings help establish trust, credibility and will boost your appeal
Provides another platform for you to stand out from your competitors
A Google My Business listing is basically free advertising space on Google
Build your brand, increase visibility, and grow your business
Google My Business Audit
If you are unsure about how to best optimise your Google My Business listing, we offer an audit of your listing which will show you where improvements can be made. You will also receive our comprehensive, step-by-step guide with our best tips and actionable tactics to help you get more visibility on Google, generate more leads and engagement. We can also assist with Google My Business graphics and optimisation of your listing, email us to find out more cre8ive@cre8ive.co.nz.
How do businesses navigate this new landscape of professional and personal challenges due to COVID-19, which begs the question:“What’s next for marketers trying to create successful marketing and social media campaigns after a crisis?”
1. Communicate
The most important factor for any business is to simply keep up regular communication - whether it’s via social media, email or the website. Let your customers know what you’re doing to help them, not add to their stress. If appropriate let them know of any increased safety and cleanliness measures you’re taking in whatever way makes the most sense for your brand.
RELEVANT - Focus on what is relevant to the audience and do so with empathy and understanding.
BE CONCISE People are receiving a lot of communication right now, so be sure you get right to the heart of what you have to share.
SHARE POSITIVITY Feel-good stories are especially appreciated in trying times. If it feels appropriate, share positive or inspiring stories that give your audience hope and reassurance.
2. Leverage Your Social Media Channels
Develop genuine relationships with less focus on selling. Social media is where you want to engage with your audience - talk with them, not at them. It’s time to review your content strategy and refocus to the new norm.
3. Exceptional Customer Service - Online and Offline
Whether you are interacting on social media, email newsletters, online chat, on the phone or in person at your bricks and mortar premises - all of these interactions must be continually about providing exceptional customer service.
4. Be Intentional and Have a Clear Strategy
Marketing during a crisis is about showing your customers who you are as a brand. Developing a clear plan is even more critical to being a responsive and focused brand.
Digital Marketing is critical during times of uncertainty to help your business or organisation continue to connect and ultimately generate revenue.
5. Adapt for Now, Plan for the Future
Currently, there is still much uncertainty regarding the COVID-19 pandemic - how far it will reach or what the final impact will be. Regardless of what the uncertainty surrounds - whether a virus, earthquake or other impact that occurs beyond our control, for marketers and business leaders, it’s important to be flexible and adapt for now, but to continue to plan for the future.
If you’re using Facebook ads or you plan to use them in the future - this is the one key tool you should start using right away.
The Facebook pixel is code that you place on your website that helps you measure the effectiveness of your Facebook marketing campaigns by understanding what users do on your site. The Facebook tracking pixel data helps ensure your ads are seen by the people who are most likely to take your desired action.
The Facebook Pixel is generated within your Facebook Ads Manager account. The default pixel will help you in three main areas:
Conversion Tracking: identifies conversions to Facebook traffic (e.g. conversions could be a download of a PDF, a video watched, email link clicked or a sale on ecommerce website).
Optimisation: After installation, you can set up automatic bidding to target people who are more likely to convert.
Remarketing: Create custom audiences based on groups of users who came from certain ads or, for example, added a product to the cart but didn’t purchase or those that watched a video. Then you can show your ads to such audiences. It also gives you the option to create lookalike audiences
Facebook Pixel - Option to Create Lookalike Audiences
Facebook can use its targeting data to help you build a lookalike audience of people who have similar likes, interests, and demographics to people who are already interacting with your website. This can help expand your potential customer base.
Even if you’re not using Facebook ads yet, you should install the Facebook pixel now. It will start collecting data right away so that you don’t have to start from scratch when you’re ready to create your first Facebook ad.
You Can Use the Facebook Pixel to Collect Data on an "Event"
An “event” is simply a specified action that a visitor takes on your website, like making a purchase. Facebook has 17 predefined standard events and can be used to log conversions, optimise for conversions and build audiences
Facebook has predefined a set of 17 standard events.
You can set up custom events yourself.
Facebook Pixel Standard Events
The standard Facebook pixel events for which you can simply copy and paste standard Facebook event code are:
Website action
Description
Standard event code
Add payment info
Customer payment information during a checkout process. For example, a person clicks on a button to save their billing information.
fbq('track', 'AddPaymentInfo');
Add to cart
The addition of an item to a shopping cart or basket. For example, clicking an Add to Cart button on a website.
fbq('track', 'AddToCart');
Add to wishlist
The addition of items to a wishlist. For example, clicking an Add to Wishlist button on a website.
fbq('track', 'AddToWishlist');
Complete registration
A form completed by a customer in exchange for a service provided by your business. For example, signing up for an email subscription.
fbq('track', 'CompleteRegistration');
Contact
A telephone, SMS, email, chat or other type of contact between a customer and your business.
fbq('track', 'Contact');
Customise product
The customisation of products through a configuration tool or other application your business owns.
fbq('track', 'CustomizeProduct');
Donate
The donation of funds to your organisation or cause.
fbq('track', 'Donate');
Find location
When a person finds one of your locations via web, with an intention to visit. For example, searching for a product and finding it at one of your local stores.
fbq('track', 'FindLocation');
Initiate checkout
The start of a checkout process. For example, clicking a Checkout button.
fbq('track', 'InitiateCheckout');
Lead
A submission of information by a customer with the understanding that they may be contacted at a later date by your business. For example, submitting a form or signing up for a trial.
fbq('track', 'Lead');
Purchase
The completion of a purchase, usually signified by receiving order or purchase confirmation, or a transaction receipt. For example, landing on a Thank You or confirmation page.
A visit to a web page you care about. For example, a product or landing page. View content tells you if someone visits a web page's URL, but not what they do or see on that web page.
fbq('track', 'ViewContent’);
Facebook Pixel Custom Events
You can use custom events in place of standard events, or to collect more details than Facebook pixel standard events can provide.
For instant, you could use Facebook pixel tracking to record views of a specific category on your website, instead of tracking all views. Perhaps you want to separate kitchen renovation interest from bathroom repairs based on which sections of your building company's website they viewed. Or you could filter all purchases to measure just those of women’s shoes over $40.
Custom events use URL rules based on specific URLS or URL keywords - this extra code is called parameters.
These allow you to customise the standard events based on:
Each user’s News Feed is like the front page of a personalised newspaper. It includes recent popular updates both from their personal Facebook friends and from the businesses they follow.
If Facebook displayed every single update, users would be overwhelmed by the mountain of content. Instead, Facebook uses an algorithm to predict what each user will find most interesting. In other words, the more popular the content is, the more likely your fans will see it.
The algorithm’s job is to determine how much power a particular post has.
The number-one factor is engagement. If the algorithm sees lots of people engaging with your post, then the algorithm shows the post to more people.
Your post gets some initial reach in the first few seconds. Maybe 1% of your fans or friends see it. If that engagement is high, more people will see the post.
The number-two factor is the content. If other people are interested in the content of your post, it gets a bit of a bump. This includes:
The number of people interacting with the post
The number of reactions, comments, and shares
Posts coming from friends or family
Engagements also have relative power. An example of relative power is when a story appears in your News Feed because one of your friends liked, shared, or commented on it.
Low Engagement with a User
The Facebook algorithm gives credit to Pages who have received feedback from a particular user (posts, comments, likes, tags, and shares). So, if a user consistently interacts with a page, more page posts are likely to show up on that user’s page. However, if a user rarely interacts with a page, the opposite is true, and page posts tend to be rarely seen by a particular user. Therefore, a Fan may be reading, even enjoying, your page posts, but unless they engage with you, your posts will not end up in their News Feed.
That’s why your job is not only to post content regularly, but figure out what kinds of updates will get your fans to do something. The more you can inspire your fans to click 'Like' on your updates, to leave comments, or to click 'Share' to spread your words to their friends, the better your 'reach' numbers will be.
Then it becomes a cycle; you post content that gets 'Likes' and comments, appears in News Feeds, increasing the chance of more Interactions.
Tactics to Mitigate the Facebook Algorithm
Here are some tactics to help with your organic reach:
Ask questions in your post - aim for closed-ended questions, those with a yes/no true/false type answer so your audience doesn't have to think too hard
After you post, like your post
If you have another Facebook page, share your post to this page, if appropriate.
Respond to every single comment, preferably with ANOTHER question for the commenter to make them comment again.
When you respond to comment, tag the person in it for extra notification on their homepage.
Click 'like' on every comment, even your own.
Post when your fans are online (your Facebook Insights will show you this)
Example of the Business Page Admin replying to a customer which has lead to the customer replying to this comment.
Essentially you want to make it appear there’s a ton of 'activity' happening on your post, and Facebook will reward your efforts with more organic reach, in other words, increased reach into people’s News Feed.
BONUS - if you achieve a good organic reach for a post, it will impact positively on the next post. On the other hand, a post with low engagement will negatively impact the subsequent post. That is why you are better to have one dynamite posts than many low-engaging posts.
Content that your Fans Love
There’s no substitute for content that is of value to your fans to increase your reach and engagement. Stop posting content that you think is important and instead focus on what your Fans want to see. Although Facebook's algorithm is skewed to show more posts from friends than business pages, you can still get around it with good content. Here is an example from Lululemon who consistently post informative, interesting posts for their fans.
Show Your Human Side
People don’t do business with businesses - they do business with people. Make sure you profile your staff, customers and other personal sides to you and your organisation. Take this example that Nadia Lim, the New Zealand celebrity chef, entrepreneur, food writer and television personality posted on her Facebook Page to celebrate Father’s Day that gained excellent traction with engagement levels.
If you employ these tactics in your overall Facebook strategy, your Page will be in a better position to maximise as much organic reach as possible. And remember, if you have an important message that needs to be seen by your Fans - you need to pay! Facebook is no different to paying for an advert on the radio, TV or newspaper.
Google My Business is a free marketing tool businesses can use to manage their online presence and visibility. Instead of clicking through to the website, Google is making it easier for searchers to do almost all of their research about a company without leaving the search results page.
Having a fully optimised listing that shows all available information about a business has been shown to increase calls and enquiries. If your business is listed in Google My Business, you should take the necessary steps to claim and verify your business.
There are three easy steps to claim and verify your GMB listing:
1.) log into the Google account you want linked to your business
3.) enter your business name, address, and details (this is where you’ll indicate whether you deliver to your customers, choose your business category, and add the contact number and website for your business).
There are several methods for verifying your Google My Business listing. A good option is to have a code sent to the business’ phone number or have a postcard sent to the business address. Once you have claimed and verified your business, you are able to manage your listing and take advantage of the features offered by Google My Business. If you are a new business, one of your first steps should be to create your GMB account.
There are two places you want to be found in local search: the map section and the organic listings underneath the maps. The businesses that appear in the Maps section tend to get 33% of the clicks on any given search and the organic listings get 44%. There are a number of factors that contribute to your local Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and proper Google My Business optimisation is one of them.
How to take advantage of GMB features to optimise your listing
Manage key information on your business profile
Properly managing your listing involves making sure it includes correct and relevant information to your business that users will see when they search for your business. Your listing should include your business location, phone number, hours, a business category and description. If you offer multiple services, make sure you include multiple categories. In your business description (750 characters) you will definitely want to include your category keyword and your city in this description, preferably a few times without looking artificial or spammy. This is vital to help your rankings in local SEO.
Completely filling out all of the necessary information and making as many additions as possible helps give users a better idea of your business and the products/services you provide. It is important to note that your listing should maintain an identical name, address, and phone number (also known as NAP) as all other webpages associated with your business to help with Search Engine Optimisation purposes or, in other words, assist with your online visibility. Following these steps will help to outrank your competition in Google Maps.
Share photos and videos
Uploading photos is a necessary step to improving the credibility of your business; customers are more likely to view your listing if there are photos related to the business that they are able to view. A logo should be included so customers can easily recognise your business. You should also choose a cover photo that you want Google to feature and display at the forefront of your listing; uploading a cover photo to your listing should make it the preferred photo, although Google may opt to show another image if it deems it more relevant.
Additional photos should be added to showcase different features of your business; additional photos can include interior/exterior photos, product photos, staff photos, etc. Within your GMB listing, you can specify what images are from the inside or outside as well as photos of your team, photos of your work, and even specify photos of food and drink for restaurants. Include several for each category that you can. For extra ranking ‘points’, make sure to change your photo file names to contain your business name, category, and location.
Google’s standards and sizes for photos:
Format - JPG or PNG
File size - between 10KB and 5MB
Minimum resolution - 720 x 720 pixels
Quality - the photo should be in focus and well lit, and have no significant alterations or excessive use of filters
Size for each image type:
Profile image - 250 x 250 pixels (minimum 120 x 120; maximum 5200 x 5300)
Cover photo - 1080 x 608 pixels (minimum 480 x 270; maximum 2120 x 1192)
Shared images - 497 x 373 pixels (minimum width 497; maximum 2048 x 2048)
Since 2018, you can add video to your listing. Just like photos, videos can be uploaded to share through your listing to add variety and give you a competitive edge. Video is a great way to show people what you do and what to expect when choosing to do business with you, in an engaging format.
Google’s video requirements:
Duration - up to 30 seconds long
File size - up to 100MB
Resolution - 720p or higher
Publish custom posts
Just as you publish posts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. so can you post on Google My Business. Small posts (limited to 1500 characters which translates to about 250 words) including an image and a call-to-action button can be made to share things like promotional information, updates, announcements, etc. Posts essentially act as mini-ads for your business. There are several different categories for your post including “What’s New”, “Event”, “Offer”, and “Product”. GMB also offers a variety of call-to-action buttons to incorporate in your posts like, “Book”, “Order Online”, “Buy”, “Learn More”, “Sign Up”, and “Get Offer”. Posts automatically expire one week after posting but can be republished.
Once your post is created, it will show up in your GMB listing so that it can be viewed and shared by Google users. See the Pegasus Rental Cars example below.
Make use of the Questions & Answers feature
By enabling the Q&A feature on your GMB listing, you allow people to ask any questions they may have regarding your business. If you choose to have this feature activated, it is important to take the time to regularly monitor and answer any queries that are posted to your listing. It is also important to note that both you and other Google users can answer questions, so you will want to keep tabs on questions already answered as well to make sure the information provided is correct. To answer a question, navigate to your listing and opt to “See all questions (#)” under the Q&A section then select the question you wish to answer. Keep in mind the profile you have made the Google search under, as Google will include “Owner” in parentheses following the company name if you are using the Google account that is tied to your business account; this will let customers know that your business has personally responded to the query.
Respond to and encourage Reviews
Each business listing also gives customers the ability to post public reviews of your business. Operators should regularly read and reply to customer reviews. Replying to customers is strongly encouraged, as it demonstrates that you care about what they have to say and the experience they had with your business.
In a survey from research firm Dimensional Research, 90% of consumers who recalled reading online reviews claimed that positive reviews influenced their decision to buy. In order to boost your review numbers, you should actively encourage customers to review your business; make it as easy as possible and provide them with the link. When reaching out to your customers, try and stagger your requests so that you have new reviews coming in periodically and not simultaneously. Keep in mind that having fresh reviews makes your business look even more credible.
Engaging with customers through reviews is an easy and valuable tool when communicating with former, current, and future customers that allows you to cultivate a relationship with your client base.
If you need any assistance regarding your Google My Business account, feel free to send us an email or call 03 474 1075
Every business that operates offline or online must have a Google My Business listing. Your first step in creating an account is to check that you don’t already have one as Google could have created one for your business already. If this is the case you will need to claim it. Search for your business name and if nothing appears on the right hand side, then you will need to create your account.
If it does appear with the words “Own this business?” you will need to click this link and claim your business.
Go to www.google.com/business to set your account - you will need a google account to move forward at this point. Follow their instructions but if you would like some more help, here is a video that walks you through the process:
To create a Google My Business page simply follow the instruction within this video. When you get to the end of setup and you haven’t validated your business using a mobile number, then you’ll need to request a postcard containing a code from Google.
When you get this code you can validate your business and finish updating your listing so that you can:
allow new customers to find you on Google Search and Maps
promote your business with photos and posts
track analytics
respond to customer reviews
Once you have set up your listing, you'll want to make sure it is fully optimised to ensure your business appears higher in local Search Engine Optimisation.
Introducing our new Senior Digital Designer Adeline Michon. Adeline has Visual Arts Degree and a Higher Certificate in Graphic Design, Publishing and Advertising from France. She has worked with clients such as L'arc National Theatre, L’Embarcadère Culture and Congress Centre, International Antarctic Centre and Natural Ozone.
Adeline designs with a holistic perspective, ensuring that there is a connection between her designs and the client’s brand story. She is excited about being able to tap into and learning more from the cross-disciplinary resources at Cre8ive.
When she’s not at Cre8ive, you will find her dressed in snow gear hitting the slopes or skydiving, or closer to home enjoying the theatre. We are so very ‘heureux' to have you at Cre8ive Adeline and the touch of ‘Frenchness’ you will bring to our agency and clients!
The world’s largest social media marketing resource, Social Media Examiner® helps millions of businesses discover how to best use social media to connect with customers, drive traffic, generate awareness, and increase sales. They offer original and comprehensive articles, expert interviews, original research, and the news businesses need to improve their social media marketing.
They received a variety of feedback from their fan base - some were shocked and disappointed as they don’t view YouTube as a social platform. However, most applauded the move because they don't watch videos on Facebook. Instead, YouTube is their preferred place.
Founder Michael Stelzner likes to use this analogy “it’s kind of like putting a TV show on a highway and expecting people to watch it as they go zipping by. And Facebook is a highway"
The Results
They published the behind-the-scenes documentary called "The Journey" exclusively on YouTube. It's their ongoing story about how they market. Each show is about 7 minutes long and offers a peek into the real struggles and discoveries made by their marketing team.Their results showed that on YouTube, about 50% of the people who watch each episode actually make it to the end. That is exceptional compared to Facebook, which is almost always less than 1% for the exact same content.
The misleading part:
It "looks" like a lot more people are watching on Facebook because the view counts are deceptive. Facebook counts what's really a drive-by impression of 3 seconds as a view. On YouTube, a view is 30 seconds or more (although this has recently been changed to 10 seconds.)If you receive 5000 video views on Facebook and 1% make it to the end, that's 50 people. If you get 1000 views on YouTube and 50% make it to the end, that's 500. That's a 10x improvement and the Social Media Examiner team decided they would rather have 500 people make it to the end, not 50.
YouTube is where people prefer to watch videos that are longer than a few minutes. Here’s what a typical video’s retention looks like for Social Media Examiner on Facebook:
This pattern they witnessed over and over.
Despite the fact that Social Media Examiner has a significant fan base of 534,000 on Facebook and a small but growing one on YouTube (23,000), the data is clear. It's YouTube for the the long-form video content from now on for them.
