What Are Apple Business Showcases?

Apple Business Showcases, also referred to as Showcases, is a new feature in the Apple Maps place card on Apple Business Connect. Apple Business Showcases allow businesses to publish promotional posts, product discounts, event announcements, and other updates on their Apple Maps listings and place cards. Showcases are similar to Google Posts.

Courtesy of Apple

This new feature helps you keep local consumers up-to-date on promotional content and offers. 

Think of Showcases as a social media post promoting your business but on Apple Maps. For instance, if you’re a restaurant with an upcoming promotion or new menu item, you can publicize it in a Showcase.

How Showcases Can Improve Your Apple Maps Listings

Increase Consumer Engagement

Apple Business Showcases can improve your Apple Maps Listings by keeping local customers up-to-date about your business. Showcases allow you to feature timely, actionable content that can boost engagement with your audience.

Increase Website Traffic

Showcases may also help you boost your website traffic and conversions. If a user lands on your Apple Maps listing, they’re likely already further down the conversion funnel but are considering options. If they see your recent Showcase with a strong call-to-action (CTA), such as a seasonal menu item, that could move them to choose your business over another. 

Requirements for Apple Business Showcases

Now that you understand the benefits, let’s get into some of the requirements you must consider when creating Showcases.

Character limits and text types:

Headlines should be a minimum of 5 characters and a maximum of 38. The body has a maximum of 58 characters. Dynamic text or special characters aren’t allowed, only simple text.

Headline and message formatting:

Headlines and body text can’t contain only numbers, there must be letters. Headlines also can’t contain website URLs.

No overlapping posts:

Only one post per location is eligible at a time, and a date range cannot overlap. Note, you must set a start and end date for each Showcase. Showcases expire automatically 30 days after their first appearance.

Image specs:

Images must be square and in a 1:1 ratio in either a HEIC, JPEG, or PNG format. Images must be between 492 and 4864 pixels. Also, Showcase images will be titled on your Apple Card; however, the photos themselves shouldn’t contain text. Visit Apple Business Connect photo guidelines for more detailed information.

CTA buttons:

Apple will have a preselected drop-down list of calls-to-action (CTAs), known as ‘Actions’, depending on the business type. These Actions, such as ‘Call Now,’ ‘Get Directions,’ or ‘Share this Place,’ live on a Place Card.

Place Cards can also have custom Actions that allow users to interact directly with your own app or website or through Apple’s third-party partners, like OpenTable, Instacart, and others. For instance, a restaurant might have the Actions ‘Order Now’ or ‘See Menu’ 

Review period:

Apple has a three-day review period for each Showcase. The first level is programmatic — correct image size, available CTA, no special characters, etc. The second level is a human review. Editing a showcase during the review period might delay its approval.

Status and monitoring:

You will receive one of the statuses or updates after you submit a Showcase. Note, if your post is rejected, ensure you’re not breaking one of the previously mentioned criteria. Here are the different Showcase status updates:

• Error/Rejected – did not pass review 
• Pending – pending review 
• Published/Approved – approved and published
• Skipped – if an overlap exists, the overlap will be marked “skipped.”

It’s worth mentioning that before you publish Showcases, you must ensure you’ve claimed your listings on Apple Maps. If you need assistance, read our article, “How to Claim Your Listing on Apple Maps.”

Why Multi-Location Businesses Should Use SOCi for Showcases

If you’re a multi-location business, it can be challenging to publish Showcases across all your Apple Maps listings. That’s where SOCi comes in.  SOCi can help you quickly publish various types of Showcases across 100s or 1,000s of listings!

SOCi’s recent integration with Apple Business Connect allows multi-location businesses to easily publish their Showcases to listings through SOCi’s platform. Furthermore, SOCi’s platform allows you to track critical metrics and gain insights into your locations.

Below is an example of what scheduling a Showcase looks like through SOCi’s platform.

Request a demo today to learn how you can utilize SOCi to schedule Apple Business Showcases and further promote your products, services, and offerings on your Apple Maps listings.