YELP
Yelp hosts 20 million reviews of local businesses.
The site averages 53 million unique visitors a month.
THOUGHT: That’s a lot of reviews.
If you haven’t yet paid attention to Yelp maybe you ought to start. It appears to be the de facto king of local reviews.
If you’ve got a local presence, start by seeing what people are saying about you there. Pay attention to your fans and your critics alike and see how extensive their networks are, not just on Yelp but see if you can find them on Twitter and Facebook and Google Plus. Do they have a blog?
You should also think about the different ways people will come across your establishment’s Yelp reviews.
People will search the Yelp site itself by your company’s name, certainly, if they already know who you are but also by your business category.
That’s how I found a new BBQ joint nearby in Saint Paul.
I searched the Yelp iPad app for BBQ and it returned a map with a bunch of locations nearby with star-rated balloons.
My first criteria was proximity, then the number of stars. Selecting a location brought me to a full Yelp page for the business with all the specifics like location and hours but also photos and full-length reviews.
The place I chose was apparently a community institution that I’d never heard of and reading the reviews made me feel like I should know about it.
Clicking on directions gave me the route and I was off.
Once there, I can use the phone app to snap a picture and upload it directly to Yelp and even write a review, if I’d be so inclined.
With all these tools at customers’ disposal, though, what I’m not seeing very often in on-location prompts for customers to review an establishment on Yelp.
Remind your customers to spread the love and they’re likely to be happy to do so.
KEYWORD WEDNESDAY: Only three of the top twenty searches at Google right now are not related to sports. With Major League Baseball teams trading to shore up their rosters for a second-half playoff push and with NFL free agency in full swing after the lockout has ended, the public is hungry for sports news. Among the top searches today are “Donovan McNabb” who is reportedly close to being traded to my Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Vikings receiver “Sidney Rice,” who may sign with another team, and “Minnesota Vikings,” who, of course, are involved with both the aforementioned players.
Thank you for automation.
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