With the onset of the Coronavirus, here are several ways to leverage the platform to ensure delivery of timely and accurate information with your customers during the COVID-19 crisis.

---

1 Update Business Description

Add information at the beginning of your description to orient searchers to new updates.

Google provides several recommendations for modifying listings. Some recommendations, like marking your business temporarily as closed, adding special daily hours, or holiday hours, are potentially difficult to manage with hundreds of locations.

 

2 Monitor Q&A

Ensure Q&A activity is responded to quickly.

Google is currently blocking the publishing of new reviews, review responses, and Q&A. We are in contact with Google Support and are actively monitoring this situation.

3 Create Response Macros

Providing fast and accurate responses is critical during a crisis. Load your approved messaging into the platform to ensure your response team is equipped. Add custom macros by tenant or location directly to the platform, or reach out to your CSM for bulk imports. ( Download Starter Responses)

4 Auto-tag COVID-19 Mentions

The platform includes a new Insights category* to auto-tag survey and review comments related to the COVID-19 crisis. Use Insights Explorer to drill into mentions, or automate delivery of reports filtered by COVID-19 category.

5 Create Social Posts

Social Media reach can help get accurate information to your community as quickly as possible. Leverage the Asset and Content Libraries to ensure your team is selecting appropriate imagery and content. Avoid images that provoke fear (e.g., needles, blood, etc.). Create posts for multiple channels and locations to provide status updates to your followers.

All GMB posts expire after 7 days maximum. Can post to <10 locations per post. Must have unique credentials in the platform for each set of 9 locations due to Google’s current API limitation.

 

6 Get Keyword Alerts

Set keyword alerts for any comments on your social posts–or for chatter across the web in reference to your brand (Social Listening) Reply to them at scale from within the platform.

7 Create a Dedicated Queue

Ticket automations support your evolving crisis workflow. Using the Actions solution, add new queues, tags, escalations, and notifications to support incoming COVID-19 tickets.

8 Display Alerts on Pages

Broadcast important information on your own web pages. Pin a message to the top of your pages that directs customers to dedicated resources.