Yelp uses consumer generated reviews, and generates traffic to reviews through people. Users give each other compliments directed either at the person, their reviews, or their style. Yelp function as a social network, where the “active members can see information about and follow the work of other reviewers who interest them.” (Saul Hansell,2008) Different from other websites, Yelp spent most of its energy attracting a small group of fanatic reviewers. As Saul Hansell said, “It didn’t subordinate the users’ contributions to professional reviews, as on Citysearch, or to directory information, as on yellow-pages sites”. Instead, Yelp focused on motivating people through the praise and attentions that their reviews receive from others. It understood that a small group of people can create something that people can take advantage of.
“Customers refer to Yelp business pages to learn about a business before going out to visit in person. If the information on the Yelp page is incomplete, it gives the impression that the business perhaps cuts corners.”(Samuel Axon, 2010) The customers are likely to move on to a competitor that provides more details simply because “they’ll better know what to expect and are less likely to be surprised, be disappointed or have their time wasted. Yelp helps businesses to provide the information the customers are looking for”.(Samuel Axon, 2010) Thus, they are more likely to become reliable and paying customers.
“Yelp published an easy-to-use guide to constructive user review responses on its website. It includes examples of how not to respond to user reviews and how best to.”(Samuel Axon, 2010) In addition, when a business creates an offer or announcement on Yelp, “Yelp will allow the business to share special offers and announcements not just with the people who visit your page, but with members of the larger community who might not even know about the business.”(Samuel Axon, 2010)
Moreover, “Yelp provides badges that the business can embed on their websites that show that the business is on Yelp and engaged with the community. These badges give potential customers the impression that the business has existing satisfied customers, so they’ll be more likely to trust the business.” (Samuel Axon, 2010)
“It costs between $300 and $1,000 per month for the business to advertise on Yelp. It’s worth to advertise on Yelp because it will increase the business’s exposure, by making the business appear at the top of the list when users perform a search related to the industry.” (Samuel Axon, 2010)
Moreover, Yelp also started to hold social events for its frequent reviewers. An important factor that made Yelp popular is that Yelp is not aggressive to add advertising on its site. Instead, yelp uses some relatively subtle advertising formats. For instance, “businesses can pay to have their companies listed first on search pages. And they can pay to add photos and a little other information to the page about their business.” (Saul Hansell,2008) Local social network site like Yelp allows businesses to create listings with all the necessary information for a consumer to find businesses, while other customers can review and comment on the businesses. “Consumers use local social networks to find businesses, but also to get a social proof when making a decision. They use comments and reviews to go with the “best” listing. Because of the demographic these sites target small businesses can see a great return from local social networks.” (Samir Balwani,2009)
“Responding to criticism from business owners that some user reviews are unfair, Yelp also introduced a way for the business owner to send a message back to a reviewer. If the reviewer doesn’t choose to write back, the business owner can’t send a second message.” (Samir Balwani, 2009) Moreover, “Yelp has given companies the ability to respond publicly to critics on its site and provides tutorials to educate companies that may doubt the integrity of its rankings.” (Peter Burrows and Joseph Galante, 2010)
[1] Saul Hansell, Why Yelp Works, The New York Times, http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/12/why-yelp-works/
[2] Samir Balwani, 5 Easy Social Media Wins for Your Small Business, http://mashable.com/2009/07/28/social-media-small-business/
[3] Peter Burrows and Joseph Galante, Yelp: Advertise or Else? Bloomberg Businessweek, http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_11/b4170027355708.htm
[4]Samuel Axon, Yelp for Business: 4 Steps for Success http://mashable.com/2010/03/20/yelp-for-business/
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Tags: Yelp
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