What Local Guides means to me: A quick and efficient response to questions**, troubleshoots and free** advertising**.**
A quick and efficient response to questions
At the beginning i just saw it as a hobby for my free time. I used to post pictures of all those places I’ve been in and had a great time with my family. It was fun, but I didn’t think I could use it for anything else. Over the time I realized its true usefulness and started using it more and more frequently, wether it be to find out if there was any parking lot where I was going, or if there was a gas station on my way there. It’s really amazing the way you can visualize a place before going there, or calculate the distance and how long it would take you to get there. You can also check the reviews to make sure the place is actually what it looks like, or communicate with someone who can give you a quick response to you questions, wether it be another local guide or the owner of the establishment, in just a few minutes or less they will clear your doubts. For example, a few weeks ago my daughter had to go the mall and she needed to know if the parking area was for free, so I asked the local guides if they knew and they answered just a minute latter, before I could even call the mall.
P: can anyone tell me if the parking area is for free?
R: yes, it’s completely free and Nor center (another mall) too!
Troubleshoots
During this COVID-19 quarantine it allowed me to find shops near my house where I could buy gluten free products, since I am celiac and the store where I usually shop was out of stock. Truth is, without Google Maps it would have been much more difficult to find an open store, and i I also would have walked a lot more until i find one, exposing myself and putting my and my family´s health in risk.
This store was the only one open, the owner was very nice, I could buy everything I needed, and they also answered the phone very quickly. My review was great, and I hope it help others!
Excellent attention*,* both telephone and personal!!! And the prices are very good*!* It’s open in the quarantine also*.*
Free advertising
Another interesting thing i could do was adding locations that did not appear on the map. For example, the stores that my relatives or friends own. They weren’t on the map, so when I added them people started giving their reviews and it turned out a very helpful tool, since several costumers told them they found out about them thanks to Google Maps. I like to call this free advertising for small business, since I regularly give good reviews of the places that I visited and liked, and actually a lot of people do this too. A good review, a couple likes and cool pictures can be really helpful for your business. In fact all the pictures that I have posted have been seen 70.902 times, and only one of them have been seen 8.315 times, which makes me really happy because I was able to help the owners get more visibility. Even thought I’m just a beginner, this numbers are very shocking to me, which encourages me to keep on going!
Your reviews have received 465 views*.*
Your pictures have received 70.902 views*.*
The locations you’ve added recently have received 1.829 views*.*
It’s also very useful to choose wisely the hotel I’m going to spend my next vacations in. I check the reviews of every place I’m considering to make sure it’s as pretty as they say so. This is a very important thing to do when you have any children, because I need to make sure they have good wifi, a swimming pool, a big playground area, a tv in their room, and even table games in case the wifi isn’t working; you need to keep them busy in order to have a peaceful vacation. I also check the activities we can do near by and the touristic spots we can visit, so we never get bored. I’ve also kept in touch with a few owners of the cottage complex I’ve been in with my family; making new friends is another really cool thing about this program!
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