It may never occur to most Google reviewers how much free potential we have at our finger tips. I never knew that I could affect small businesses and large businesses with a few pictures and a quick review. That all started to change around one year ago…
While training on a business mastery class, the teacher decided to do a Google My Business audit on all of our GMB pages. I had never really thought getting a grade on my GMB page. I knew that I used Google Maps everywhere I went, local and internationally, but I never really thought about the fact other people were writing these reviews that affected me going to a restaurant, attending an evening show, or even checking out a park or museum. It was during that class the instructor pointed out that not only do we need to have our own Google My Business page with photos, posts, events, and updates but we also need to review others. What?! Though I was a little confused at the new information, I listened. That day I became a Local Guide.
Though I live in a smaller town - Bismarck, North Dakota, USA with a population of only 79,000; I started something new. I took pictures of where I was. Nothing fancy, just my food, the front doors I was walking through, and images of front desks, walls, bars and more. As a life long gamer of role playing games (Final Fantasy fans anywhere?) earning a point here, a few points there was pretty cool. I was just enjoying ‘leveling up’ my Local Guide level. I didn’t think much of it. My favorite restaurant - Buffalo Wild Wings - even though it’s modeled the same everywhere, I took pictures. Our largest mall - Kirkwood Mall - took pictures, even though it is the MAIN mall of our area. Subway - literally identical down to the yellow wall paper, tile floor, and wall hangings - took pictures and wrote a review. This was the status quo until something unexpected happened…
“Your picture is now the cover photo.” What?! My picture? Of the hardware store??? I had no clue that was a thing. That is was even possible. I just figured that all the big stores took their own pictures or handled it with Google. When my picture of the paint section of Ace Hardware become the main photo, I was speechless.
It didn’t stop there. All of you reading this probably know this but I didn’t know that your pictures were counted either. My paint picture didn’t just go to number one, it started being seeing - a lot. Pretty soon I was getting notifications that 1000 people saw my photo. Then 5000 people. Pretty soon over 10000 had seen my photo! I couldn’t believe it. Little old me from little ole Bismarck was having over 10% of my whole town looking at MY pictures. That was pretty cool.
That is when I realized that these ‘simple’ pictures and reviews can matter and do matter. If I could take a picture of my favorite paint dealer and have that many views, how much could I help a small or new business?
I had to find out. I started reviewing like crazy. Dallas, Texas - reviews there. Paris, France - reviews there. Fargo, North Dakota - reviews there. As my Local Guide points rose, so did my views. I started taking pictures and writing reviews everywhere. Then I came to the next realization - why don’t I help my friends with their businesses?
I stuck out my neck and taught a group of friends how to set up Google My Business pages. There were only about eight of them in the class. (If you don’t believe me, check out my GMB page). After setting half up and waiting for the other half to be verified, we did the next big thing - wrote reviews for each others’ businesses.
It’s been almost exactly a year and I haven’t stopped. In fact, as I write this, I’m about to break into 1,000,000 views of my pictures. That’s more views than there are people in my ENTIRE state! I’m a level 6 Local Guide and I can’t wait to break into level 7. Just this weekend I took a picture of a brand new bar started, owned and operated by US Veterans - of which I’m a huge supporter - and just like that, my pictures became their main photo. I also helped them get placed on the map. How much did that cost? Other than the $3 happy hour White Claw…nothing. Just some time and genuine interest in their business.
Oh yeah, and from the first Google My Business class, one of my friends started his own GMB page. Now if you search for business technology solutions in my town, he pops up first on Google. The second result, the business he works for.
I think this is so cool. Who would have thought we could help these business owners, event promoters and more just by snapping a few photos and telling the world about our experiences. I’ve hit up my friends’ small start-ups to writing a review for the Louvre in Paris. Have fun with it, do some good, and I look forward to seeing your reviews as I travel!