Google has rolled out its business messaging capabilities to Google Maps.
Messaging was first rolled out to Google My Business last year, which lets users initiate text conversations with businesses through their GMB profiles.
When a text conversation is started messages are sent and received through SMS.
Users now have the option to send messages through the Google Maps app instead if they prefer.
Messages will appear in the side menu of the Google Maps app and can be initiated by tapping the ‘Message’ button on business profiles.
Google says this should assist users with keeping personal messages separate from their conversations with businesses.
This change will also open up the GMB messaging feature to more countries. Initially, it was only rolled out to select countries.
For businesses, this could potentially result in more messages being received, which is important to be aware of.
Messaging is an optional feature and is turned off by default. So businesses who aren’t interested in receiving messages can simply not turn the feature on.
Those who wish to enable messaging can do so from the Google My Business dashboard.
Businesses who actively engage in messaging with customers will be able to see stats over time, such as the number of clicks on the message button, number of conversations, and the number of total messages.
If your business has another team member managing your GMB profile, such as social media manager, they must be designated as a manager of the GMB listing in order to send messages.