How To Add Social Media to Google Business Profile: A Fail-Proof Plan to Elevate Your Brand Awareness

Connecting your social media profiles to your Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) can provide tremendous benefits for local businesses. With the rollout of a new feature that allows you to directly add links to your profile, it’s now easier than ever to showcase your social presence alongside your business information in Google Search and Google Maps.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about adding social media to your Google Business Profile, including:

• How the new link-adding feature works
• Where social media links display
• Why they matter for your business
• Best practices for managing social profiles
• How to complement social media optimization with local SEO

Overview of New Feature Rollout

In the past, Google Business Profile didn’t allow businesses to manually add links to their social profiles. Instead, Google would automatically display relevant and popular social media profiles on business listings. 

Now, Google has introduced the ability to add links to the following platforms in your Google Business Profile:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• TikTok
• Pinterest

This gives you control over which social profiles appear and are linked to your Google business listing in Google Maps and Google Search.

Benefits of Connecting Social Media to Google Business Profile

Here are some of the key advantages of adding social media links to your Google Business Profile:

• Connects customers to your social profiles: Having direct links makes it easier for customers to find and follow you on social platforms.
• Provides additional business information: Your social profiles give customers another place to learn about your brand, products/services, events, etc.
• Manages online reputation: Social media gives you a channel to interact with customers and respond to reviews quickly.
• Showcases brand personality: Visitors get a better sense of your brand vibe and culture through social media engagement.
• Drives traffic to the website:  You can share website links, offers, etc on social media and drive traffic.
• Builds authority and trust: Active social media profiles add credibility and show customers you’re established.

Now let’s look at how you can add links to each of your business’s social platforms in Google Business Profile.

Key Takeaways

Here are some key points to remember:

• Added social links display prominently in Google Search and Maps, making it easy for customers to find and follow your brand.
• Managing and optimizing your social accounts is crucial to effectively utilize the visibility in Google. Create engaging content and respond promptly.
• Showcasing your social presence builds trust and credibility by highlighting your active online presence.
• Combining social media optimization with other local SEO factors (citations, links, GMB, schema) ensures maximum impact.

How to Add Social Media Links to Your Google Business Profile

Adding social media links is a straightforward process in GBP:

Access your Google Business Profile – Go to google.com/business and sign in to your account. If you are already “Signed In” click the “Manage Now” button.

Go to your business profile.  If you have more than one, click the “See your profile” button next to the profile you want to edit, or just click the pencil to edit the content from the business.google.com screen. 

Click “Edit Profile” in the upper left corner of the screen

The option option to edit social media won’t be at the top, so scroll down until you see “Social Profiles”  This should be near the middle of the “Contact” tab. We prefer the first option because it makes the text larger and easier to read.

Navigate to the social profiles section – Hover over this section and a pencil will appear. Click on the pencil, select from the social media profile, and enter the URL for the social media channel.

Add links for each social platform

Click Save – Be sure to save your changes once all links are added!

Now, your update will go under review.  If it is accepted, it will show on your Google Business Profile for customers to see and follow.  If it isn’t immediately accepted, try again later.  Do not spam updates to your profile.  That is just a bad practice in general. We just did this for one of our clients and the profile was live in under an hour. They had just Facebook before. We added Instagram at the time of this writing.

Where Do Social Media Links Display?

Once added to your Google Business Profile, social media links will appear in these locations:

• Google Search results page
• Google Maps listings
• Knowledge panels in Google Search and Maps

Having your social media links displayed in these prominent areas makes it easy for customers to find and connect with you on social platforms.

Why Adding Social Media Links Matters

There are several benefits to connecting your social profiles to your Google Business Profile:

Connecting social media provides additional touchpoints for customers to engage with your business. When potential customers see your social media links in Google, it provides them with more opportunities to interact, follow, and learn about your brand.

Showcasing your social presence also builds trust and credibility. It shows customers you have an established online presence and are committed to engaging on social platforms.

Best Practices for Managing Social Profiles

To maximize the impact of showcasing your social media profiles, keep these best practices in mind:

• Keep social profiles updated with new content
• Post engaging content that connects with your audience
• Build your followers and encourage engagement
• Drive traffic to your website with links and posts
• Respond to all customer inquiries and reviews
• Maintain a consistent brand voice across platforms

By managing your social media profiles properly, you can leverage their visibility in Google to connect with more customers.

Editing and Removing Social Media Links

After adding social media links to your Google Business Profile, you may need to make changes occasionally. Thankfully, editing or removing links is straightforward.

How to Edit Social Media Links

To edit an existing social media link:

1. Access your Google Business Profile and click “Edit profile”.
2. Navigate to the “Social profiles” section.
3. Click the profile link you want to edit.
4. Update the URL/web address field accordingly.
5. Click “Save” to apply changes.

The updated link will now display on your Google business listing. From what we can see, so far, you can only edit social media profiles that you add manually. If Google added a social media profile for you before, you cannot edit or delete it.

How to Remove Social Media Links

If you need to delete a link, follow these steps:

1. Go to your Google Business Profile and click “Edit profile”.
2. Scroll down to the “Social profiles” section.
3. Next to the social profile you want to remove, click the “Trash” icon.
4. Click “Save” to remove the link.

That social media profile will no longer be displayed or linked to your listing.

Where Else to Update Social Media Links

In addition to your Google Business Profile, remember to update links on these other properties:

• Your business website footer or sidebar
• Google My Business listing
• Facebook Business Page information
• LinkedIn Company Page details
• YouTube channel about section

Keeping your most up-to-date social media links across all platforms ensures consistency and visibility.

Why You May Need to Edit Social Profiles

There are a few scenarios where you may want to edit your social media links displayed in Google:

• You changed social media usernames or profile URLs
• You want to showcase different social platforms
• You need to temporarily remove a compromised profile

Proactively maintaining links ensures customers can easily reach your current profiles and engage with your brand.

Where Social Media Links Display

Once you connect your social media profiles to your Google Business Profile, it’s important to know where those links will be visible. This allows you to understand how they will impact visibility and engagement.

The social media links added to your GBP will primarily appear in these two places:

Google Search Results

When your business listing shows up in Google Search, your social media links will display prominently alongside your contact information.

This puts your social profiles right in front of searchers who are looking for businesses like yours. Having convenient access to your social pages allows customers to easily follow or connect with you to learn more.

Google Maps Listings

In addition to Google Search, social media links added in GBP will also show up on your Google Maps listing.

When customers search for local businesses on Google Maps, your profile can list links to directly connect them to your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social platforms.

Enhanced Visibility in Knowledge Panels

Google may also display your social media links in knowledge panels that appear in Search and Maps.

Knowledge panels highlight popular and authoritative information about businesses. Showcasing your social media presence here enhances your visibility and reputation.

Why Visibility in Google Matters

Appearing prominently in Google Search and Maps ensures your business surfaces for relevant queries and geographic searches. Listing your social profiles makes it easy for interested customers to follow you on their platform of choice.

Driving social followers directly from Google allows you to expand your audience and reach. Whether it’s connecting on Facebook or subscribing on YouTube, the convenient links make engaging frictionless.

Take advantage of this visibility to build your brand and social community!

Why Social Media Links Matter

Connecting your social profiles to your Google Business Profile provides a variety of benefits that can impact your visibility, reputation, and bottom line.

Expanded Visibility

Linking to your social pages gives customers more opportunities to find and connect with your brand online. The additional exposure and followers gained from Google listings can dramatically boost awareness.

Reputation Management

Social media allows you to interact with customers in real-time. This gives you a chance to respond to reviews, answer questions, and resolve issues quickly. Demonstrating responsive customer service helps build a positive brand image.

Insight Mining

Monitoring social conversations and comments provides valuable insights into customer needs and interests. You can use these learnings to improve products, services, and marketing.

Lead Generation

Social platforms provide more digital real estate to promote your business, highlight offers, and drive traffic. The additional touchpoints can increase website visits and capture more leads.

Brand Building

Creatively showcasing your brand identity and culture on social platforms allows customers to form meaningful connections. Humanizing your business fosters loyalty and advocacy.

Return on Investment

Ultimately, having a strong social media presence linked to your Google listings provides tremendous ROI. The brand awareness, reviews, and leads generated justify the investment.

Optimizing Social Impact

To maximize the benefits of connecting social profiles to your Google Business Profile, focus on:

• Creating engaging, shareable content
• Responding promptly to comments and inquiries
• Promoting your social channels in marketing activities
• Analyzing performance with social listening tools
• Driving conversions by promoting offers
• Building an audience with social media advertising

Sufficient management ensures your social platforms perform to their full potential.

Best Practices for Social Media Profiles

To maximize the impact of showcasing your social profiles in your Google Business Profile, you need to properly manage and optimize those platforms.

Keep Social Media Accounts Updated

Your social media profiles must be kept active and fresh to build trust with visitors from Google. Routinely post new content like:

• Status updates
• Photos
• Videos
• Stories
• Livestreams
• Deals/promotions

Frequently updating your accounts shows customers your business is vibrant and engaged.

Craft Engaging Social Media Content

Creating content your audience genuinely cares about is key. Tailor posts to align with their interests and needs. Use a mix of:

• Industry news and tips
• User-generated content
• Polls and surveys
• Responses to followers
• Links to blog content
• Behind-the-scenes footage

Engaging social followers in your niche helps drive brand loyalty.

Grow Your Audience with Paid Ads

Beyond organic content, you can quickly expand your social media followers by running paid ads. Options include:

• Facebook ads
• Instagram promotions
• YouTube video ads
• LinkedIn sponsored content
• Twitter campaign

Paying to reach targeted users helps rapidly grow your community.

Respond to All Mentions and Reviews

Actively listen for brand mentions and reviews on social media. Be sure to promptly respond with:

• “Thank You”s for positive feedback
• Apologies and resolutions for complaints
• Answers to questions

Managing your online reputation provides better customer service.

Complementing Social Media with Local SEO

While connecting your social profiles to your Google Business Profile is impactful, it should be just one part of a comprehensive local SEO strategy. To fully maximize your presence and rankings in local search results, you need to apply additional optimization techniques.

The Importance of Holistic Local SEO

Adding social media links helps connect customers to your profiles directly from your Google business listing. However, there are limitations to how much this alone will improve your overall local SEO.

For example, social media links have little influence over other crucial ranking factors like citations, reviews, local links, and on-page optimization. A mistake some businesses make is solely relying on social media links for local SEO.

To appear prominently in the coveted Google 3-pack and map listings, you need a holistic approach that combines social media optimization with other proven local ranking factors.

Citations – Establishing Local Relevance

One of the most important elements is aggregating citations, which are directory and listing sites that display your business name, address, and phone number (NAP).

By creating consistent NAP citations across dozens of sites like Google My Business, Yelp, Yahoo Local, and others, you demonstrate relevancy in the local market. Search engines determine the legitimacy of local businesses in part based on how many citations they have.

Ideally, you want to build citations on authoritative sites relevant to your industry. For example, a restaurant would want to be listed on Zomato and TripAdvisor, while a plumber should be on HomeAdvisor. The more niche authority you have in your sector, the better.

Earning Locally-Relevant Links

Another factor is obtaining high-quality backlinks from local websites, such as partners, directories, publications, or review sites. Securing links relevant to your geographic area helps validate your business and improves local SEO trust signals.

For instance, a Dallas-based law firm may pursue backlinks from the Dallas Bar Association site, Dallas Eater’s blog, or D Magazine – a local publication. The locally-targeted domain authority passes more link equity.

Leveraging Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profil listing serves as the foundation of your local optimization efforts. Be sure to completely fill out and optimize your GMB profile with keywords, photos, videos, posts, offers, and responses to reviews and Q&As. This helps drive visibility in local pack and map listings.

An optimized GMB profile signals that your business actively maintains its local online presence and engages with customers. Follow best practices to outrank competitors in the 3-pack.

Implementing Schema Markup

Finally, adding schema markup to your website can help search engines better understand your business information. Relevant schema includes LocalBusiness, ContactPoint, OpeningHours, and Services – all providing structured data about your local operations.

With a strategic combination of social media links, citations, link building, GMB optimization, and schema, your local SEO efforts will be well-rounded.

Final Thoughts

Connecting your social media profiles to your Google Business Profile provides tremendous benefits for visibility and engagement. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can easily add links to platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn directly within your GBP.

Benefits for Small Businesses

This new feature provides tremendous value specifically for small businesses looking to expand their reach.

Populating your Google business listing with social media links makes it easy for potential customers to connect with your brand. This level of discoverability used to only be available to larger companies.

Driving social followers directly from Google is extremely useful for small businesses with limited marketing budgets. The additional exposure and engagement come at no extra cost.

Next Steps

We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to showcase your social media presence alongside your business info on Google.

Start by auditing which of your social profiles are most active and relevant to promote in your Google Business Profile. Focus on 1-3 core networks.

Then, carefully add your profile URLs for each platform within the GBP social links section. Use your updated links and consistently engage followers.

Finally, combine managing your social media links with our other local SEO recommendations to maximize visibility and leads!

Get Expert Help Connecting Social Media to Google

While adding social media links to your Google Business Profile is fairly straightforward, if you encounter any issues, the team at Web Leveling is here to help!

We are specialists in local SEO, social media marketing, online reputation management, and everything related to optimizing Google Business Profiles.

If you need assistance properly connecting and showcasing your social profiles within Google, reach out for a consultation. Our experts can audit your current setup, identify areas for improvement, and take care of optimizing your social media links.

We also offer ongoing social media management and local SEO services to maximize the impact of linking your profiles.

Contact Web Leveling to Improve Your Google Presence

Don’t leave the visibility benefits of connecting social media to Google on the table. With Web Leveling’s expertise, you can seamlessly link your profiles and complement them with other optimization tactics.

To learn more about collaborating, contact us today! Our digital marketing consultants are ready to help take your local SEO and social media presence to the next level.