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The agency landscape has changed dramatically as a result of numerous challenges across the marketplace. Learn more about how we’re filling the gap for agency partners that have found themselves with limited media and research capabilities. In this episode of Fast-Forward the Conversation, VP of Business Development Fabio Ramos and Planning Strategist Misty Castellanos join President Zac Keeney to discuss the value Mindstream can provide not only to agencies but to their clients as well.

 

 


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New Performance Reporting for Google My Business

Google has kicked off the new year with updated Google My Business performance reporting. The new reports appear in the Insights section and include metrics detailing how consumers discovered listings and business profile interactions. The time frame has also been extended with data now available for up to six months rather than three months.

Insights

When listing managers log into their Google My Business accounts and view the Insights section, they will be greeted with a message that says, “Your insights are moving.” Once users click through to the new performance reporting they will see a pop-up window allowing them to choose a date range to view their metrics within a six-month timeframe.

Source:  Google

The number of business profile interactions including calls received and messages sent are displayed. A breakdown of search terms visitors used to find the business profile is included as well.

 

Source:  Google

Business Profile Focus

Google has released a help document to provide information about the new performance reporting and the refocus on the Business Profile. One of the changes within the updated performance reporting is a change in frequency. The searches detailed in the report will now be updated monthly, instead of quarterly. While metrics that are included in the current Insights, such as driving direction requests and website clicks, are not included in the new performance reporting, Google notes that this version of performance reporting is still evolving, and we will see the appearance of additional metrics in the coming months.

Source:  Google

What’s Next?

Google says that interactions within the new performance reporting are just the start. New metrics will be coming soon and the old versions will be removed from Google My Business. Although the new performance reporting is only available on Search, it will soon be available on Maps as well with the same six-month data timeframe.

We believe the evolution of these Insights will prove to be helpful in managing Google My Business profiles and evaluating the value they provide to our clients. Stay tuned for more updates to the GMB platform throughout 2021.

Tackling Restaurant Challenges Through the Pandemic

There have not been many industries more severely impacted by the pandemic than the restaurant industry. Coming into 2020, the restaurant industry was projected to gross $899 billion. As of the first week of December 2020, the restaurant industry was estimated to have grossed only $659 billion. This $200 billion shortfall impacts small business owners, restaurant workers, industry partners and subcontractors, and even advertising partners.

As an experienced digital marketer responsible for national restaurant campaigns at Mindstream Media Group, I wanted to share my learnings from this experience in order to help any restaurant or marketer out there in some small capacity.

It may be obvious to point out, but the pandemic has seismically affected user behavior, both in real life and online. Under normal circumstances, 60 percent of dining is done off-site. During the pandemic, that figure has swelled to 90 percent.

This shift in consumer behavior increases the importance of placing a greater emphasis on carryout, catering and delivery. Unsurprisingly, restaurants with drive-throughs have generated a noticeably higher portion of visitors and sales than those without drive-throughs. 90 percent of Wendy’s 2020 sales is attributed to their drive-through business.

Source:  Wall-Street Journal

Many restaurants were not preemptively equipped to handle this increase in carryout and drive-through business initially, so they got creative. Several restaurants we work with have added meal kits and unusual carryout items (like charcuterie boards) to their menus to help boost sales. Some restaurants are now selling wholesale ingredients to ensure their surplus inventory does not spoil. And I would say many of us are thankful that some restaurants now offer alcohol for carryout and delivery.

Adjust Keyword Targeting

With an additional 30 percent of diners choosing to eat at home, how does that affect their online behavior? Simply put, user search behavior has shifted to what is local, and what is available. Searches that include the words “available near me” have increased 100 percent globally year over year, and searches that include the words “restaurants open for” have increased 1,000 percent year over year.

Based on these statistics, one of the most important changes we’ve implemented in our client campaigns is to make sure keyword targeting reflects these consumer behavior changes, both for SEO and SEM. Some examples of these keywords include: “local restaurants open for delivery,” “restaurants open near me” and “nearest restaurant open.”

It is important to also keep in mind that other restaurants have taken this into consideration as well, which has led to a noticeable increase in SEM cost per click due to the increased competition among these keywords. In order to mitigate these cost increases, smart digital marketers are now looking for opportunities to add both exact match and longtail keywords and putting less emphasis on phrase match keywords. Another best practice is identifying variations of these more popular searches that are less competitive, by adding in the specific city or street name into campaign keywords.

Google Ads’ Keyword Planner can be used for ideas and estimates of keyword costs, as well as perform frequent search query reports within search campaigns to see which search terms are performing well, and which aren’t. If certain keywords aren’t performing well over a long period of time, the decision can be made to pause them, or look for opportunities to add negative keywords to the campaign.

Google keyword research also shows an uptick in search behavior that includes the words “safe” and “safety,” so those keywords are worth exploring as well. With that being said, I would encourage marketers to watch the performance of any ad text or messaging that focuses on “safety” closely. At the beginning of the pandemic, safety messaging performed extremely well. However, as the pandemic has continued, we are seeing across multiple campaigns that consumers have become less and less responsive to safety messaging, and more responsive to general brand messaging and Limited Time Offers.

Leverage Google Offerings

In addition to adjusting your SEM and SEO, it’s also critical that each Business Profile of all Google My Business restaurant locations are kept up to date. Make sure to update any changes to business information due to the pandemic, including hours of operation, menu limitations and safety measures you have taken. Users can reserve tables and order online through your business profiles, so this is just another avenue that can be can utilized to generate business and keep customers informed.

Another option Google offers small businesses that has helped greatly with the onset of the pandemic are Google Local Campaigns. Local Campaigns run dynamic creative across 4 different Google platforms: Google Search, YouTube, the Google Display Network and Google Maps to local customers in a business location’s service area. The campaign optimizes in real-time, mixing and matching the different headlines, descriptions, images and logos uploaded to the campaign, and automatically shows the best performing combinations. These algorithms utilize 7 million data points in a split second, determining when, where and to whom to show your ads, based on performance.

There is a caveat for running Local Campaigns: Google does recommend that a business run Local Campaigns with a Store Visit-focused strategy in an account that has at least 10 different restaurant locations, so this option lends itself more toward medium and large sized businesses. However, there is a separate bidding strategy for smaller businesses to run Local Campaigns: optimize towards phone calls and/or Google Maps driving direction clicks. So, while the primary option of Local Campaigns is to drive as much foot traffic as possible, Local Campaigns can use the same algorithmic data points to optimize towards driving customers to call and/or search for directions to your restaurant. Even during a pandemic, Local Campaigns remain one of the best digital marketing tactics a restaurant business can leverage – whether big or small.

Overall, marketing budgets are going to be much tighter in 2021 than they would be under normal circumstances, and marketers may not be able to execute all the digital marketing tactics they would otherwise. Being flexible and staying up to date with Google’s offerings and best practices can help businesses succeed and thrive in a changing environment.

Stay Creative

Saying that 2020 has been an unpredictable year would be an insulting understatement. It is difficult to tell if consumer behavior will return to normalcy in the long-term, or if this will drastically affect customer behavior permanently going forward. Regardless of that answer, it is important for all of us to remain creative and ensure that we’re not stagnant in our strategies. If I have learned anything from both digital marketing and 2020, it is that flexibility is imperative.

 

–Brian Pappas is a Sr. Digital Manager at Mindstream Media Group. An experienced digital marketer for over 7 years, Brian enjoys helping clients with their goals, voice acting and taking long walks on the beach.

 

Google’s Continued Investment in Local

2020 has been quite the year. Not only has it reminded us of the importance of accurate information in local listings, but it has also shown us how valuable local businesses are to Google. As such, Google has been busy releasing a number of updates to help businesses deal with COVID-19 and aims to continue updates throughout Q4 to help local businesses improve communication and engagement with consumers.

Local Business Messages Expansion

Since the beginning of the year, people have initiated more than twice as many messages to businesses right from Business Profiles on Search and Maps. In that timeframe, Google has continued to invest in upgrades in Google Maps and local search capabilities, recently releasing its expanded messaging feature, allowing verified businesses to message with customers directly from the Google Maps app. Once messaging is turned on, a business can start replying to customers on Google Maps from the business messages section in the Updates tab. Additionally, customers can also initiate a message from any Posts a business creates. Google is also now teasing, “soon you’ll also be able to see your messages right from Google Search (via the Customers menu on your Business Profile) and message customers directly from your computer.”

Source:  Google

Updated Performance Insights

This month, Google is expected to release more robust performance metrics giving businesses deeper insight into how customers discovered the Business Profile, starting with a more detailed list of the search queries used to find the business. Beginning in 2021, more updates will be released to the performance page showing whether customers found the business via Search or Maps, as well as their device usage.

Source:  Google

Google’s Community Feed

The Community Feed is a new “social feature” of Google Maps. Found under the Explore tab of Google Maps, this feature offers more opportunities for local business exposure and could eventually become an effective promotional tool.

The new Community Feed presents different types of content (lists) tied to a user’s location showcasing places and activities, which appear to be compiled by Google Local Guides, and resemble Instagram feeds. Examples are “Parks & Gardens in Paris” and “Best Dog Parks from Sacramento to San Francisco.” There is also a “Trending Weekly: [city]” list.

Source:  Google

The Community Feed is also creating more exposure for Google Posts. In early testing, Google found that users are seeing Posts from businesses two times more than before the feed existed. While individual businesses cannot be followed, users can save places and those Posts will appear under the Update tab on Google Maps.

Looking Forward

There is no doubt that Google will continue this trend into 2021 and will most likely work even harder to safeguard its relationships with local businesses. As we look forward to 2021, many industry experts speculate Google will make a greater effort to provide leadership in uncertain times by becoming a stronger partner to businesses, educators and healthcare providers while extending its reach and providing some measure of certainty, while trying to be a more purposeful brand.

One thing is certain, consumers are seeking local information. A robust GMB profile is not only a great way to connect with them, but certain features even impact rankings in Google search results. At Mindstream Media Group, we have the solutions and insight to fast-forward your business by designing and executing sophisticated media strategies. Connect with us to learn more about the role your local business data plays as part of a holistic media plan.

Google Seeks to Improve Local Search UX with AI

In mid-October, Google held a livestream event, Search On, where they announced new AI-powered features aimed at improving user experience. These new features make search more sophisticated in an effort to help users better navigate the physical world around them. One of the biggest announcements from Search On was that Google is now using their natural language understanding algorithm, BERT, on almost every search query in English. This will help the algorithm better understand user intent and therefore serve more relevant search results.

In addition to BERT, there were three other features that stuck out to local search professionals: ‘Busyness,’ AR in Google Maps and Google Duplex.

‘Busyness’ Accuracy Update

With COVID-19 drastically affecting local businesses, Google has opted to discard pre-COVID popular time data when showing a business’ ‘Busyness’ on their Google listing. Google is now using “more recent data from the previous four to six weeks to quickly adapt to changing patterns for popular times.” Google is still using real-time mobile user data to populate “Live Busyness.”

AR Use Case for Google Maps with Live View

Last year, Google rolled out augmented reality walking directions on Google Maps. Named Live View, this feature overlays navigation on top of Google Street View data so users can navigate to their destination in a real-world view.

Source:  Google

During Search On, Google spoke about a variety of use cases for AR technology with one of them relating to Google Maps. The idea is to use AR in Google Maps with Live View to show users a location’s Google My Business listing when the user points their camera at the physical location. This is an idea that Google has been working on for nearly a decade and one that requires highly accurate location data. With AR, Google hopes to make this idea come to life.

Google Duplex Updates Local Business Data

Google Duplex is a virtual assistant originally designed to help users make appointments or reservations at local businesses. Last year Google began using this feature to directly reach out to business owners to confirm local business information they have on file for their business. Google announced this at Search On and said that Duplex has been instrumental in “over 3 million updates to businesses like pharmacies, restaurants and grocery stores that have been seen over 20 billion times in Maps and Search.”

Between 50-60 percent of Google My Business profiles in the U.S. are owner verified. However, even listings that are claimed are sometimes not updated with accurate business information. Google Duplex is helping to close that gap by utilizing their technology to verify data with business owners.

 

Need help managing your brand’s local business information? Mindstream Media Group can help. We have the solutions national or franchise brands with hundreds or even thousands of points of distribution need to manage their local presence. Contact us today to learn how we can help your locations be found easily when consumers are seeking information to make buying decisions.

Health and Safety Measures Coming to Google My Business

The COVID-19 pandemic has made business difficult for both proprietors and consumers in 2020. Several states are now allowing physical visits again, but consumers are often confused about the safety protocol at their favorite local businesses. Google has developed a new solution aimed at helping patrons understand what to expect.

Attributes

Earlier this month, Google launched a new set of Health and Safety attributes businesses can add to their Google My Business (GMB) profile to help communicate the coronavirus protection measures they have in place. Although these new attributes have not been appearing in Search and Maps yet, it is believed that they will appear soon.

There are currently six options available for food, retail and service businesses: Appointment required, Mask Required, Staff gets temperature checks, Staff wear masks and Temperature check required.

Research data suggests that consumers are more likely to visit stores that communicate these health and safety measures as they prefer to patronize businesses that require masks. In August, GatherUp and Mike Blumenthal researched nearly 40,000 reviews across nine different business types after a business commented in the GMB forum that they had received an unfair negative review related to their efforts to enforce mask compliance. Results showed few anti-mask reviews. In fact, most negative reviews revolved around businesses not requiring masks or the lackluster enforcement of them being worn properly inside stores by both employees and shoppers.

Key Takeaways

Throughout the pandemic, Google has searched for ways to make displaying safety information easier. As consumers begin to venture out into their usual store locations and health facilities, businesses that use the Health and Safety attributes have a new way to communicate requirements. Informing consumers of safety protocols prior to arriving at a business could lead to positive reviews and more frequent visits.

These Health and Safety attributes are the most recent tool GMB has developed to help local businesses stand out from the competition and provide essential information to consumers. As experts in the local space, we’re constantly on the lookout for features like these to help our clients optimize their listing to stay visible in search results. If you’re interested in learning more about the Health and Safety attributes or GMB, reach out to connect with our team.