Kara a Google Community Manager announced that Google is doing away with the Google Business profile feature to follow a local listing in Google Maps or Google Search and also dropping the welcome offer feature. There is no date on when this is happening, so it might be happening now or already happened depending on the roll out timing.
Kara said in the Google Business Profile Help Forums "Soon, customers will no longer be able to follow businesses on Google Search or the Google Maps app. You will not be able to send new welcome offers. If you already sent customers a welcome offer, that offer will work until it expires."
I am not sure when "soon" exactly is, but it is soon.
Here is a GIF of these featured from a 2019 blog post from Google:
The follow feature was live in 2018. So I guess it is not getting enough traction and Google is ditching it.
Kara said if you still want to engage with customers you can:
- Share promotions, events, and announcements.
- Get feedback and build trust.
- Hold conversations with your customers.
Forum discussion at Google Business Profile Help Forums.
