Hello Everyone
I started my journey as a Google local guide three years back when I first reviewed a hospital which I visited for medical consultation. Impressed by the expertise received in this medical facility, I started reading the reviews posted by the other local guides on the Google maps related to that hospital. At that very moment, I decided to share my positive/negative experiences related to the places which I visited on Google maps, to help my local community on better decision making.
One of my key mission during the local guide journey is to always look for Small-Medium sized enterprises (in my community) which are not listed on the Google maps and explain those SMEs on the importance of listing their businesses on the Google maps and help them in adding their places on the Google maps. The following figure illustrates the number of views received by the places added by me on the Google maps in terms of the working sectors (Data extracted from the Google maps application):
There is one particular event in my life which is cemented in my mind and will remain forever. This event happened during our summer vacation trip in India (State: West Bengal). Me and my friends were on our way to the Airport during the evening hours. We were looking for a religious site (Mosque) on the Google maps to offer our evening prayers. Unfortunately, we did not find any mosque closeby to our location (on the Google Maps), So, we started asking the local people about the location of any nearby mosque, fortunately, the local people showed us the way to nearby mosque. The mosque was located in a slum area with a very weak infrastructure. So, as a responsible google local guide I decided to add this place on the Google maps and later we shared the map location with the various charity organizations to get the funds in building better infrastructure of that mosque.
There is another wonderful local guide experience which I would like to share in this article. I happened to visit a new mexican restaurant which was opened in my community (Alkhobar, KSA). I was impressed with the taste of the food, restaurants’s interiors and seating arrangement.
I spoke to the restaurant owner and encouraged him to add his business on the Google maps. I added the restaurant on the maps through my account and explained him the procedure to verify this business. Later, after 2 years when I saw the same restaurant on the Google maps, I was amazed to see 100K views of the restaurant. Excited by the accomplishment, I visited the restaurant to learn how the the owner have used the Google maps in marketing his business. The owner was delighted to see me and thanked me for adding his businees listing on Google maps. He shared with me the strategies which they utlized for the restaurant promotion/marketing through the Google maps. The following figure demonstrate the approach made by the business in increasing their customers:
