One of the most useful reasons for joining your local Chamber of Commerce is the authoritative listing in the Chambers online directory. However most people don’t come close to getting the most of this feature by filling out their chamber business profile.
At the time of writing, the Oregon City Chamber members have completed collectively around 40% of their profiles. In 2021 we want to bring that number closer to 90%
With that in mind I’ve created this guide to help people through some of the more unexplained sections of their business profiles. The aim is to give people the context to fill in their profile correctly.
Logging in
You change your business information through the Chambermaster MIC (Member Information Channel). To access this you can log in through the chamber website.
If you have forgotten or didn’t receive your password, you can reset it here.
After logging in you will see a percentage number of the right of the screen that tells you how complete your profile is.
After logging in you will see a percentage number of the right of the screen that tells you how complete your profile is.
Personal Information
Your personal information does not contribute to your overall profile completion percentage. It has more to do with the backend of Chambermaster.
It is, however, super easy to fill out so I recommend doing so. Treat it as a warm up!
Company
This is the section that contributes to your overall completion . You can track your progress on the profile summary section which will tell you what sections you have yet to finish.
Organizational Information
This is mostly your business contact information and most people will be able to fill them out easily. However there are a couple that people may be tempted to ignore if they don’t have the information available.
Established Date: The date your business was started. If you don’t know this exactly try giving a ballpark date. It doesn’t make much difference.
Full-time/part-time employees: Again, feel free to give a ballpark number if this is likely to change.
Employees
I recommend adding one employee, even if it’s just yourself, to get to 100% completion. It’s not absolutely necessary but helps the chamber staff with admin.
Website Information
This is the information that will appear on your business profile. The first section is easy because you can tick a box that uses the information you already entered in the organization information tab.
Social Network Services
Tick the social media networks where your company has an active presence and copy the link to your business profile. For the majority of businesses that will be some combination of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Yelp, and Linkedin. Here is how to get the link for each:
- Facebook – Find the URL for a Facebook Profile or Business Page
- Twitter – How to Find Your Twitter URL
- LinkedIn – Find Your LinkedIn Public Profile URL
- Yelp – How do I find my Yelp Listing URL
- Pinterest – What is my Pinterest url?
Web Description / Text Content
Description: This is the main description for your business. Feel free to lift this content from your website or social media profile. If you don’t yet have a business description we have a guide for you. Choose this guide if you want an effective business description.
Search results description: This is the description that appears in, amongst others, the Google search page. Make it short and snappy. Recommend taking the most important parts of your longer business description and inserting them here.
Hours of operation: simply write when your business is open and any caveats to that.
Driving directions: You’ll need to complete this to get to 100%. If your business doesn’t take visitors you can state that here too.
Highlights: This section is for highlighting various areas of your business and linking people to those areas on your website or social media profile. It’s a very effective section to use for potential customers.
Keywords: These help with search engine optimization. List 10-20 words that have some significance to your business and customers. For example, a plumber might list clogged drains, water leaks, repipes, water heaters etc.
Logos
There are two logo sections, but only one of them should be your logo.
Cover photo: The top image section is for a profile cover photo. Cover photos are like your cover photo on your Facebook profile. Ideally they should be 1200x225px in size. I recommend the free tool Canva.com for creating a cover photo if you don’t have one.
Logo: Your standard company logo. If you dont have a company logo consider using your profile photo.
Photos, Videos, and Map Pins
Photos: Upload photographs of your business, your office, your staff at work, popular social media posts etc. Use this section to humanize your business and let potential customers know who you are in person.
Videos: If you have uploaded a video to Youtube, you can provide the link to it here and it will appear on your profile.
Map service: If you appear on Google maps we recommend using selecting that service to display your business. Otherwise you can upload a map or select to have no map at all.
Search results pin placement: Here you can double check your map pin to make sure it’s correct. If not, you can manually set coordinates using longitude and latitude. Use this guide to find the exact coordinates of your business.
Address to display on map pin: Most people will be able to check the box that says “Physical Address from Organization Info” to copy the address from the previous pages.
We recommend taking the time to use the dropdowns at the bottom of this page which asks what point of interest category your business is in.
Conclusion
Although there are other settings and areas on the MIC, this post has covered everything non-obvious you need to get your profile to 100%.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions