Your restaurant or small business needs to be on social media. You know your friends, family and customers are there – and if you aren’t, you’re missing out on a cost effective, affordable marketing opportunity! Here’s how you can use Yelp! to boost your business:
One of the most important things you can do to generate more traffic and sales is to actively manage your Yelp account. Yelp reviews are powerful and can sometimes make – or break – a restaurants reputation. And the most important fact to remember is that even if you don’t have an account, customers can and will review you. So be proactive and manage your Yelp account to make it work for you instead of against you.
Ok, Smaht guy…. so how do we do that?
Add as many details as you can on your Yelp page:
- Lots of quality photos
- Your accurate NAP (Name, Address, Phone)
- Map to your location
- All of your menus
- Your price range
- Stuff that makes you stand out:
- Outside patio
- Entertainment
- Gluten Free
- Free WiFi
- Delivery
- Function rooms
And once that is done, make it a regular habit to monitor and respond to ALL feedback, both positive and negative. Don’t make the mistake of getting into an argument with a negative poster – just handle them like you would in person, polite, professional and ever the gracious host. Just thank them for the feedback, recognize their comment and how you plan to improve in the future. Depending on the content of the feedback, you may want to contact them privately and offer them a return free meal, gift card or the like in order to get them to give you a second chance – and a better review.
Other Yelpers will see these types of responses and realize that you really care about the customer experience and are a quality, reputable establishment that values their opinions.