We discussed in a previous post why it’s important to manage your online image, but let’s talk about why Yelp stands out. Companies sometimes balk at getting involved with Yelp, wondering if it’s really worth their time or if they can just ignore the one-star diatribe from Henry M. and maybe it will go away.

The answer is that Yelp isn’t going away. For companies in service industries in particular, the site is too ubiquitous to ignore. Earlier this year, Yelp passed 41 million monthly visitors who have written more than 15 million reviews. That’s a lot of people basing their opinions of your business on the number of stars in your rating.

It’s important to remember that there are two sides to Yelp – the customer who takes the time to write a review and the customer who is checking out star ratings to decide where to eat or get their hair cut. Engaging on Yelp isn’t about giving power to the angry customer – it’s about showing your other customers what your business is all about so they can draw their own conclusions.

So how can you leverage all those visits and reviews to help your business?

1. Claim

The first step is to claim your business page. Go to Yelp.com, find your business page and look for the small text link that says “Work here? Unlock the Business Page.” It can usually be found beneath the business information.

Follow the steps to claim the page, making sure to use a stable email address. You will need to have access to the business telephone, as Yelp will robo-call the phone to verify ownership.

2. Prepare

Put together a plan. Who will be the point person responsible for monitoring the account? How often will they log in to engage customers? Which types of reviews warrant private or public responses? Will your business pay to upgrade to a slideshow, run Deals or use Ads? How should you publicize your page to your customers? Your PR professional or marketing team can help you come up with the best engagement strategy for your business.

3. Engage

Execute your plan and make sure you stick with it. If you say you’re going to log in three times a week, don’t engage five times a week for the first month and then forget a month. Stay consistent. It’s natural to become personally invested in the reviews, even defensive, but remind yourself to stay with your strategy, especially regarding which reviews merit responses. It doesn’t help your image to respond in kind to a critical reviewer, even if they did “get it wrong.”

4. Keep at it

Consistency and a long-term view are crucial. You won’t raise your star rating or flood your page with reviews overnight. Getting the word out about your page and encouraging customers to visit and review will help boost your numbers. Remember to stay positive – thoughtful reviews from diligent Yelpers count for more in the Yelp community than a review from one irascible customer who signed up just to post a rant. The more you are engaged with the Yelp community and your customers, the more success you’ll start to see.

With so many social media platforms, review sites and business listings out there, controlling your online presence can feel like plugging leaks in a dam with your fingers.

Since consumers increasingly rely on the wisdom of the crowd to make decisions, businesses need to know what the crowd sees and thinks. This is especially critical for restaurants, retailers and service providers, but useful for other industries as well.

Here are four reasons why you should understand and control your online image.

1.       Put accurate information out there.

If you are not in control of your content on sites such as Yelp, Foursquare or Google Places, your customers can and will put up information about your business that they believe to be true. “We don’t manage our page,” will not mollify an angry customer who showed up an hour after closing based on faulty information on Yelp.

By claiming your Yelp Business page or managing your Foursquare Venue page, you can ensure customers have accurate information about hours, location and services provided.

2.       Track and engage.

On sites with check-in features, such as Facebook and Foursquare, managing the business page lets you see how many people are checking in at your business. Each check-in promotes your business across the site to the user’s friends.

With a review site like Yelp, claiming the business page lets you receive alerts when site users post reviews. A savvy page manager can engage with customers by sending them private or public messages about their reviews, encouraging feedback and being first on the scene to remedy misunderstandings.

3.       Online advertising platforms.

Both review sites like Yelp and social media platforms like Facebook and Foursquare offer unique opportunities for targeted ads and promotions. Knowing how to fully utilize these sites means that you can market directly to users who will actively engage with your business.

4.       It’s easy and informative.

On most sites it is easy to register and free to manage the business page. Most sites also offer tracking to help you learn more about your customer – for instance, Foursquare breaks down users who check-in by gender and age, and Yelp allows you to see what other businesses reviewers are visiting.

Maintenance of the business page can be as easy as an automated email report in your inbox daily, weekly or monthly. You only have to log in if the business information changes significantly.

Pivot is experienced at managing a variety of social media and review sites. Call or email us to learn more about the importance of controlling your online presence.