Customers rely on search engines, city guides, and review sites to find new businesses and provide easy and accurate ways to connect with a business. Websites and online directories pull local business listings to fill in this information. A local business listing is an online profile that contains your business name, address, phone number, and other relevant information. Ensuring your business’ listings are correct and consistent across these directories, is a crucial way to improve reputation, increase brand visibility, improve your online presence, as well as boost local SEO. However, updating this information across 100s or 1000s of local pages is time-consuming, and not scalable for multi-location marketers. Enter, Listings from SOCi.

Why Add Listings to SOCi? 

By adding Listings as a part of SOCi’s Presence offerings, multi-location marketers can easily manage all aspects of their business in a single platform. The goal is to provide a simple way to update and sync listings, delete or suppress any duplicate listings, and view the status of the listings across all locations. SOCi Listings solution empowers multi-location marketers to manage their business listings at scale and effectively optimize online presence and local search rankings. With SOCi, it is our goal to become to all-in-one localized social marketing solution for multi-location businesses. 

How to Optimize Your Online Presence & Improve Your Local Search Rankings with Listings

Devices make it easier and easier for customers to find local businesses, and search continues to evolve. Consider these stats: there has been a 200 percent growth in the past two years for searches using the terms open, now, and near me. And 82 percent of U.S. smartphone users have performed a “near me” search. 

Consumers are now searching during the path to purchase – not just research in the early stages of the sales funnel. Consumers search for products and services online before buying them in-store – this business cycle begins with search results, and ends with reviews. And mastering every step in the new business cycle for consumers is more crucial than ever. However, how do you easily manage and maintain the accuracy of 100s to 1000s business listings across leading local directories that fuel these local search results? With SOCi Listings, you can: 

• Update and sync listings
• Suppress and delete duplicate listings
• Track and analyze listings metrics (impressions, clicks, photos, search queries)
• Approve or reject profile suggestions

Google

Ensuring the accuracy of your listings impacts local search results in the world’s top search engine – Google. When you employ a listings provider, and ensure all local business information is accurate, you’re making your listing more relevant for the user. The consistency of business data, including name, address, and phone number, indicates to Google that the business exists and increases the familiarity. In combination with the distance of the user searching, accurate information helps the listing to show up higher in the local search results (showing the listing in the Local Pack‍ and Google Maps).

Facebook

With more than 1.71 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most popular social platform. Additionally, the platform is continuing to expand its offerings to serve as more of a general and local business directory. Local Facebook Pages offer multi-location companies unique possibilities to build their brand and connect with local consumers worldwide. Ensuring your local business page is claimed, and local information is up-to-date, consumers can engage with your company in a variety of ways –  customers can search for your page, check-in at your business, leave recommendations, engage with your content, and more. 

As we covered, in today’s world, consumers rely heavily on search engines and city guides to find local businesses. Inaccurate business listings can damage a brand’s local presence, brand awareness, and online reputation. Accurate and consistent business listings are no longer a “nice to have,” they are vital for customer acquisition and overall ROI. With the sheer number of directories that exist today and the level of trust consumers place in local search engines – keeping local business records accurate and consistent is a must; and utilizing a partner, like SOCi, to make this process scalable for multi-location marketers is the key to success. 

To learn more about SOCi Listings, request your demo today.