We’ll go into detail on each type of Posts in a moment, but for now there are six basic types you should be aware of.

1. Offers: These are promotions, sales, and the like. You can use the Offer type to announce a special deal over a period of time.
2. Products: Google includes Products as a type of post as they show up similarly to the user, but we won’t cover them here since we already covered them in the Products / Services Section.
3. What’s New: This type of post is great for building hype around new products, services, and announcements about your business.
4. Events: These are specific events that occur in time. A bar could add a live music event, for example.
5. Covid-19: These are updates specifically about pandemic changes – things like hours and showroom access.
6. Hours Update: This one is pretty simple. When you update your hours Google will automatically post an update to make sure people see that hours have recently changed.

To create a Post, you can click one of the two “Post” buttons in the Google My Business dashboard. You will be able to choose the type of Post on the subsequent screen. We explain these types in detail below.

As mentioned above, Offers are effectively temporary promotions that appear on your business’s Google Search and Google Maps listings. An effective Offer Post has a few key elements:

• Title: You can’t have too many words in your Offer title because you are limited to only 58 characters here, so keep it short and punchy. Think “Memorial Day Sale” instead of “Attention All Deal Hunters: We will be hosting a sale at noon this Memorial Day … “
• Start / End Time: You can specify certain dates and times of day when your offer is active.
• Photo: Only use high quality, visually appealing photos. Photos are the single most important factor that determine how many people click on your Posts. You can add up to 10 photos. Minimum resolution is 400px wide by 300px tall and photos must be posted in JPG or PNG. You can also post videos if you like.
• Call to Action Button: If you add a link to a webpage with more details on your Offer, your Post will include a “Redeem Offer” button.
• Coupon Code: A Coupon Code is optional, but we advise you to use one so your Offer feels more exclusive and valuable.
• More Details: You won’t immediately see the option to add More Details. You must click the small “expand” arrow shown in the picture below to see this field. We suggest that you add between 50 and 75 words here to describe your Offer. Be sure to include “call to action” language that prompts people to engage with your Post.

Here are a few sample Posts from Google. Note the strong calls to action at the end of their Offer descriptions.

What’s New Posts include many of the same features as Offers, but they are a bit simpler. These Posts include an eye-catching headline, image, and a button intended to direct a potential customer to your website.

• Title: This field has the same character limits as the Offer Title, so keep it short and sweet.
• Photo: Follow the same tips as mentioned in the Offer Posts.
• Call to Action Button: Whereas Offers only give you one button type (Redeem Offer), What’s New offers a small list of options that you can use to significantly increase the likelihood of someone clicking on your Post. If you choose “Call Now,” you can provide a phone number and the Post button will begin a call if your potential customer is browsing on their phone. All other What’s New buttons will require you to provide a URL link to a webpage.

Events combine some of the best features of Offers and What’s New Posts. Our bullets from above cover what you need here, but remember to add the time of the event if it matters. Definitely add a call to action button too … you can trigger a phone call in the same way as What’s New Posts.