Google Business Profile and Social Media: How They Work Together

When someone in Tbilisi types “coffee near me” or “nail salon Saburtalo” into Google or Maps, your Instagram does not appear first. Your Google Business Profile does. When the same person wants to see what your place actually feels like, they often go to Instagram or Facebook next.

These two channels are not competitors. One helps people find you at the moment of need, the other convinces them. Here is how to make them support each other.

Understand the two different moments

• Google Business Profile answers practical questions: where are you, are you open now, how do I get there, what do others say, can I call. People use it when they are ready to go somewhere.
• Social media answers emotional questions: is it nice, is it my style, who are the people, what is new. People use it to decide and to remember you.

A customer often touches both before visiting. If one of them is empty or outdated, you lose them at that step.

Get the Google basics right

If you have not claimed your listing yet, do it first through Google’s own business tools and complete verification. Then check these basics carefully:

• Name: your real business name, without extra keywords stuffed in.
• Category: the most accurate main category, plus a few secondary ones if they truly apply.
• Address and pin: make sure the map pin is on the right entrance. In older parts of Tbilisi or Batumi this matters a lot.
• Hours: regular hours plus special hours for holidays such as New Year, Christmas on 7 January and Easter.
• Phone and website: a number someone actually answers. If you have no website, your Facebook or Instagram link is better than nothing.
• Description: a few plain sentences about what you offer. You can write it in the language most of your customers use, and many businesses here add a short line in English for tourists.

Use the same identity everywhere

Your name, address, phone and hours should be identical on Google, Facebook, Instagram and anywhere else you are listed. Small differences, such as an old phone number on Facebook, confuse customers and look careless. Pick one logo and one main photo style, and use them consistently, so people instantly recognise you when they move from Maps to Instagram.

Share photos across both channels

Photos are one of the first things people look at on a Google listing. The good news is that you are probably already making them for social media.

• Add fresh photos to your Google profile regularly: interior, exterior, products, team.
• Include an exterior photo that shows the entrance, so people recognise the building.
• Reuse your best social media photos, but skip the ones with heavy text on top.
• If your product photos are weak, our free AI product photo tool can clean up phone shots, and our guide to product photos with a phone covers the basics.

Turn happy followers into Google reviews

Reviews on Google strongly affect whether a stranger decides to visit. Your social media followers already like you, so they are your best reviewers.

• Create a short review link from your Google profile and save it.
• Occasionally post a simple request: “If you enjoyed your visit, a short review on Google helps us a lot.” Add the link in Stories or in the bio.
• Ask in person at the right moment, for example when a customer compliments you.
• Reply to every review, positive or negative, politely and in the language it was written in. Our article on responding to negative comments applies here too.

Do not offer discounts or gifts in exchange for reviews; it goes against platform rules and undermines trust.

Link the two in both directions

• Put your Instagram and Facebook links on your Google profile where the option is available, and your Google Maps link in your social bios or Highlights.
• When you post about an event or a new menu on social media, consider adding a short update or photo to Google too.
• In posts, remind people they can find you on Google Maps by your name, which is especially helpful for tourists.

Start this week

1. Check your Google listing: name, category, pin, hours, phone. Fix anything outdated.
2. Add holiday hours for the next upcoming holiday.
3. Upload five recent photos, including one of the entrance.
4. Post one friendly review request on Instagram or Facebook with your review link.
5. Reply to every review you have not answered yet.

Social media keeps your listing alive with fresh photos and gives people reasons to come back. If regular posting is the part you struggle with, SocialAI can handle the Facebook and Instagram side for you; Google Business publishing is on our roadmap but not available yet.