Are you getting great engagement with "stories" on social media? If so, or if you have products and services that lend themselves to visual marketing, Google Web Stories might be the next online marketing frontier for your business.
What are Google Web Stories?
Google Web Stories are similar to Instagram Stories. They can contain images, videos, audio, text and interactive elements, and users can tap or click through the pages on their screen. But Google's version, which is an upgrade to the old AMP option, has benefits social media platforms haven't yet perfected. That includes:
- Responsive design that lets people view Stories on mobile or desktop devices easily. Although you can view Instagram Stories on a desktop, they show up as a small window mimicking the shape of a mobile device. Google Stories fill the entire screen.
- Linking and selling options don't have requirements. Instagram and other social platforms make you cross thresholds on follower count before you get swipe up linking privileges for Stories.
- Being indexed in the search engines. Google Web Stories are still web pages, which means search engines will crawl them and they can help boost your SEO.
- No hard expiration of stories. Social media stories usually expire in 24 hours. Google Web Stories don't expire until you remove them, providing more long-term options for messaging and SEO.
- Stories are published on your own site. This gives you greater control over the content and improves the value of your site.
- Potential for appearing on Google properties. Google Discover and mobile home pages show select Google Web Stories, which can potentially expand your reach.
How window and door businesses can use Google Web Stories
How you use Google Web Stories depends on your business needs and the preferences of your target audience. Some options to consider include:
- Makeover stories. Quickly demonstrate what your products can do for consumers by showing what they've done for someone else. Create a series of stories that shows the before of a window or door, a couple of in-progress shots, and a final product. Alternatively, you could show before and after with a follow-up story about which products or services were involved in the makeover.
- How-to stories. How-to content helps demonstrate your expertise. Create a series of stories that shows people how to effectively clean windows or choose the right door to boost curb appeal, for example.
- Gallery stories to sell products. Curate a set of gallery images with text and other interactive elements to get people engaged. Then offer a link so they can buy the product.
- Gather information. Google Web Stories can include polls, questions and other interactive elements. Get user feedback on services and products by asking questions. For example, window decor firms could do this-or-that polls asking people to vote different decoration concepts up or down.
Should Google Web Stories replace your current website marketing strategy? No, this is only one tool—but it might be one window and door businesses can use to boost SEO, onsite engagement and conversions.
