Marketing 4 min read

4 new Must Know Social Media Features for Local Businesses

IB Photography | Shutterstock.com

IB Photography | Shutterstock.com

Local businesses are gaining more exposure with these four, semi-recent social media developments.

For some time, local businesses (check out campaign strategies for small business here)  have been somewhat limited in the amount of exposure they receive. More often than not, they are unable to reach beyond their physical location of operation.

To gain more exposure usually means setting up at a new location.

Not anymore, however, as this appears to be changing with the new development of social media commerce tools that are particularly useful for local businesses.

If you’re looking for ways to get more social media engagement for your local business, here are our 4 most helpful social media tools for doing just that

1. Google My Business API Update

Google has released version 4.0 of the Google My Business API. With this latest version, Google stated that “You can now create Posts on Google directly through the API.”. 

In case you were wondering what Google Posts is, it is one of Google’s latest features that allow people to share content with people who search for their names on Google. This means you have control to some extent over the latest information you want people who search for you to find out.

This latest update means now third-party developers can build apps to post directly to Google Posts just like how Buffer, Hootsuite, and other apps are able to post to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media websites.

2. Food Ordering on Facebook

Last week, Facebook launched a new “Food Ordering” service to its U.S. users. This new service will allow Facebook users from the United States to order food for takeout or delivery directly through its app or website.

In a blog post, the company wrote: “Facebook combines options from a number of food ordering services like EatStreet, Delivery.com, DoorDash, ChowNow, and Olo, as well as restaurants like Jack in the Box, Five Guys, Papa John’s, and Panera, so you don’t have to search through multiple places to find what you’re looking for.”

This new service is great for local restaurants because not only is the social media giant partnering with the big restaurant chains and food ordering services, it’s also connecting with local food joints as well.

They further stated: “From local spots to national chains, Facebook connects you with old favorites and new discoveries in just a few taps. You can even check out what your friends have to say about a restaurant before you order your food.”

This presents a new marketing opportunity for local businesses.

#Foodordering and #businesslisting for any spot can be taken care of by appsClick To Tweet

3. Google Local Guides Achieves Exponential Growth

Google Local Guides has grown 10x since last year. Compared to 5 million local guides last year, Google’s present 50 million local guides is quite astronomical growth.

Local guides are basically contributors who add reviews, photographs, missing places, new places and relevant information about places to Google Maps.

This exponential growth means more places will be discovered on Google Maps and the quality of information about existing places will improve as well.

At present, these 5 million local guides are adding 700k new places monthly to Google Maps.

4. Yext for Food

The ‘Digital Knowledge Management’ company Yext launched a new service called “Yext for Food” to help restaurants get more visibility and attract more customers.

The service will enable restaurants, bars, and cafes to show up in search results on not only Google but also other platforms like Facebook, Yelp, FourSquare and many more.

Chief Strategy Officer of Yext, Marc Ferrentino said: “Diners are searching for specific food items and details about restaurants, and that’s fundamentally changing the game for restaurants all around the world.”

“We built Yext for Food to put restaurants in control in this highly competitive climate, so they can be found when diners search for a menu item like ‘chicken parmesan’, or for an attribute like ‘outdoor seating.'”

Again, much like Facebook’s food ordering service, Yext for Food equally presents a new opportunity for local restaurants, bars, and diners to market their businesses.

Collectively, these new tools and services launched by social media and internet companies present new ways for local businesses to gain more exposure.

Do you own a local business? Are you using any of these tools or services? If not, what tools are you using and how are they working so far?

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  1. Saumitra M Ghotikar October 20 at 4:05 am GMT

    Yes.

    We use Google My Business to a great expect, and educate people to use that more and more.

    Post is fine but Reviews is somewhat more important. And don’t forget, it’s Google, so the AdWords Express is the next Cow.

    Google at present needs more and more content on GMB.

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