Google My Business: The Platform Investors Can’t Live Without

It may sound like a lot of hyperbolic hoo-ha to say Real Estate Investors can’t live without Google My Business. After all, there are plenty of investors who have a solid business going without even knowing the first thing about GMB, but man are they missing out!

What is Google My Business

GMB is simply the way Google gets local businesses, both figuratively and literally, on the map. Whenever you search for driving directions to a destination, or even if you’re looking for a restaurant, gas station, or dentist, Google Maps will show you all the businesses that are nearby.

What Google My Business Is Not

First, GMB is not a social media network though, it acts like one in some ways. GMB allows businesses to post updates, business hours, and reviews much like Facebook. But, this is not the place to show off your recent lunch or family vacation. No, this is the place where you get to blatantly and unapologetically advertise and market your business. 

The 80/20 rule for social posts (80%) versus selling (20%) is completely thrown out. Google knows that if a searcher is looking for a business that matches the keywords, it’s because they are potential customers. In our case, they are potential sellers.

GMB Delivers Motivated Seller Leads

Yes, you read that right. GMB delivers motivated seller leads.

GMB isn’t going to collect likes or fans for you. But it’s going to do something that those other platforms can’t: Show your business on Google. And by that,  we mean with the right optimization, you will get to rank on Google’s first page.

Unlike other social media platforms, Google My Business pushes searchers to take action through seven different calls to action including, Call Now.

Like everything else on Google, GMB relies on keywords to serve up GMB listings. That means if a motivated seller is looking for a cash offer, you have a good chance of coming up in their search when they’re ready to talk. Of course how high up in the search depends on if your profile has been optimized correctly. We’ll cover optimization in-depth in a future post.

GMB is very much a local search engine. This is why it makes sense for REIs to be on this platform. Investors are not marketing and serving an entire state or the entire US, local searches can be very targeted to a city or zip code. In fact, once you determine your favorite market to work in, that area should become one of the keywords you use in your GMB posts.

Getting Started

The first step is to sign up for a free GMB account. Google will send a postcard to verify your address. Don’t worry, if you have a home office you don’t need to display it publicly, you’ll just choose a service area when you get to that step.

Once your business is verified, you can begin posting to the platform. You’ll want to post every 7 days to keep your listing current.

Get the free Google My Business Quickstart guide from our Facebook Group! It has all the details about how to sign up and what to post.

Ready-to-Post Social media

REI Social posts are ready to be posted on any social media account including Google My Business with a  simple resize button. Level-up your marketing with REI Social’s monthly content.