The process for scheduling GMB posts is similar regardless of which tool you are using. At this time you cannot schedule posts directly within Google My Business. You need to use one of the tools mentioned below plus the following list to create and schedule GMB posts.
There are multiple software solutions to help you schedule posts to your Google My Business account. In this post we will go over three of the most common solutions. Now there are even a couple social media post schedulers that have integrated Google My Business now like Social Pilot. The other option is something like Local Viking, which we go over in more detail below. A tool like this is built for managing Google My Business accounts in bulk and is better suited for SEO agencies or multi location businesses. First you may want to optimize your post using one of the on page SEO tools listed in this post.
Google My Business Post Scheduler
Social Pilot - The Social Media Scheduler With Google My Business
Social Pilot is one of the best ways to schedule out your GMB posts since you already need to be posting to social media. You may as well post to all of your accounts to one place. It is a SAAS app, so you don’t need to download any software, but they do have optional Android and IOS apps that can help you create posts, edit images, come up with content ideas, etc. Currently Social Pilot can schedule posts to the following profiles or accounts.
- Google My Business
- Linked In
- TikTok
Social Pilot also seems to be on the cutting edge of social media and implementing new and upcoming platforms that offer good organic growth, like TikTok, sooner than their competitors. Social Pilot is the best GMB posting tool for any one who also needs to manage other social accounts. We prefer to keep it simple and manage all of our social media posts from a single location. Social Pilot has a 14 day free trial, that you can learn more about here.
Local Viking - The Google My Business Management Tool For Agencies
Local Viking is another great tool for helping manage your Google My Business posts at scale. It is also a SAAS, or software as a service. One main difference is that is geared toward multi location businesses or agencies since the base plan allows you to manage up to 10 locations within Google My Business. Its the best option for local SEO agencies by far. In addition to uploading images, geotagging photos, and scheduling GMB posts, you can also manage and edit all of the standard Google My Business listing details from within their dashboard.
Local Viking also includes a unique grid style rank tracker that gives you a great overview of how you are performing for keywords in specific locations within your city. There is an example grid below. You can also track organic search and maps rankings traditionally within Local Viking. They also import your GMB insights giving you a true all in one GMB management platform. When you first login you give it access to your Google accounts and it allows you to turn it on or off for each of the locations that are associated with that Google account.
Local Viking has the most features out of all the Google My Business posting tools we have tried so far. If you run or work for a local SEO agency you have to try it out. It will save you time and help you get your clients better results and visibility on Google Maps. Its probably overkill for a business owner that only has a single location though.
Sendible
Sendible is another social media post scheduler similar to Social Pilot. It has similar features but does have some additional blogging platforms that you can connect and schedule posts to.
- Google My Business
- Linked In
- Youtube
- Additional Blogging Platforms: Medium, WordPress (self hosted), WordPress dot com, Blogger, Blogspot, & Tumblr
As you can see Sendible has a wide variety of platforms, however it may not be the best solution for you unless you actually need any of the additional platforms they include. They did remove some platforms some functionality in December so I think they are moving in the right direction, but still have a way to go before they are focused enough on the key platforms that most businesses are using most. Right now I think Social Pilot has a better combination of platforms than Sendible. Sendible has a free 30 day trial that does not require a credit card.
Things To Keep In Mind Before Scheduling Google My Business Posts
- Type of GMB Post: offer, event, news, etc
- Google My Business Post Photo Size: Minimum 400×300 pixels and 10 KB (JPG or PNG). Maximum: 10000×10000 pixels and 25 MB. Videos can be up to 100 MB.
- Title: Describe your post in under 58 characters
- Post Description: up to 1500 characters to describe the post.
- Call To Action: Buy now, Learn more, Book Online, Call, Visit, Etc.
- Schedule the post for a specific date and time using one of the tools below.
Good luck automating Google My Business posts with one of the above GMB post schedulers. If it seems overwhelming, keep in mind there are done for you GMB posting services offered by companies like Three Rivers Marketing that are reasonably priced.