Businesses Are Posting Everywhere. But They’re Missing the Place People Are Actually Searching.
I have tried so hard to explain this to businesses.
Before you pay for ads.
Before you start posting every single day on every social media platform.
Before you pay someone for fake reviews, which please don’t even get me started on.
Can we please make sure your Google Business Profile is actually set up and running accurately?
I say this as a Google Local Guide and Google Consultant who has seen this over and over again.
Businesses are so focused on social media that they’re forgetting where people are actually looking for them.
If I’m visiting a new city and I want coffee, a hotel, a restaurant, or somewhere to go, I’m searching.
I’m looking at the location.
I’m reading the reviews.
I’m looking at photos.
I’m checking whether the information is accurate.
I’m trying to decide if I trust this business enough to physically go there and spend my money.
And businesses will spend thousands on ads while their Google Business Profile has the wrong hours listed.
It makes absolutely no sense to me.
Google is smarter than people think
This is the other thing.
Google knows.
Businesses think they can pay for fake reviews or find ways to make their profile look more popular than it actually is.
But Google is looking at locations. Patterns. Activity.
It’s far more intelligent than people give it credit for.
I have always believed businesses need to get this foundation right first.
But now there’s something else happening that I can’t stop thinking about.
TikTok.
More specifically, TikTok Go.
TikTok is coming for local discovery
I’m now involved in TikTok Go, and I genuinely think it’s brilliant.
Because TikTok isn’t just becoming a place where people watch videos anymore.
People are discovering places.
Hotels.
Restaurants.
Events.
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Things to do.
And TikTok is now pushing visitors toward booking through TikTok videos.
Think about that for a second.
Someone is watching a video of a hotel.
They see the room.
They see the view.
They see the pool.
They see somebody actually experiencing the place.
And they can move from discovery toward booking.
That is completely different from looking at a static listing.
And I think businesses, especially hotels and visitor hotspots, need to start paying very close attention.
This isn’t Google versus TikTok
I don’t think businesses should abandon Google.
Absolutely not.
Your Google presence still needs to be accurate, active, and trustworthy.
But I do think the way people discover businesses is changing.
Google is where I search when I know what I’m looking for.
TikTok is starting to show me places I didn’t even know I wanted to visit.
That’s the difference.
And that is why I’m so interested in what’s happening right now.
Because if you’re a hotel, an event venue, a restaurant, or a business in a visitor hotspot, I don’t think posting another generic graphic on social media is enough anymore.
People want to see the experience.
They want to discover you naturally.
They want to feel like they found something.
And TikTok understands that incredibly well.
I’m currently exploring this much deeper through TikTok Go, while also building automated SOP systems for founders and CEOs.
Two completely different things on paper.
But actually, they’re not.
I’m obsessed with systems.
I’m obsessed with how people find information.
And I’m really interested in what happens when technology changes the way we’ve always done something.
Right now, I think we’re watching local discovery change in real time.
And I have a feeling I’m going to have a lot more to say about it.
