Lindsay Casey

YelpBanner

Yelp is Awesome. 5 Ways To Make It Work For Your Small Business.

About a week ago, Amy’s Baking Co. in Phoenix had a massive social media meltdown after they appeared on an episode of Kitchen Nightmares. It was actually pretty painful to watch, but amusing, because it was just so completely insane. The couple now claim their Twitter and Facebook accounts were hacked and have apparently gotten law enforcement involved. Anyway, it brought up this article, Amy’s Baking Co. meltdown begs the question: Is Yelp bad for small business?

yelpiconI have the answer. No! No, no, no, no! Yelp is awesome for small business! Of course, it might be bad news for businesses who don’t purvey good products or give a crap about customer service. For everyone else, Yelp is a great tool to see who your brand ambassadors are and to reach an already engaged audience.

1. Claim Your Account. Seems pretty obvious, right? You’d be surprised how many accounts go unclaimed. Claiming your accounts means you can stay up to date with reviews posted about your business and can reply in a timely fashion. Make sure all your business information is filled in correctly so potential customers can easily find what they’re looking for.

2. Add Photos. When I read a great review of a restaurant or similar business, the next thing I want to see is an awesome photo. If a positive review has whet someone’s whistle, a killer photo gallery might seal the deal. Invest in a professional photographer, it is well worth the cost.

3. Respond. Only you can make it right. If a customer posts a negative review, you have the opportunity to respond and win that customer back. A swift, positive response from you can win over even the most disgruntled patron. Make sure you respond to the positive comments as well, a simple ‘thank you’ can go a long way.

4. Have a Special. Someone browsing Yelp for a specific product or experience is looking to buy. You can entice them further with a discount or special offer. Make sure it’s easy for your customer to redeem your coupon though, nothing is more sure to leave a sour first impression than a frustrating redemption process.

5. Advertise. Once you have received a few reviews, you might want to invest a few advertising dollars into targeted ad placement. There are quite a few options for small businesses, from deals (Groupon-esque coupons) to monthly advertising. There’s even an option to place your ad on a competitors page. Make sure you do your research and choose the best option for your business

Do you you use Yelp for your small business? Share your own tips in the comments.

 

Lindsay Casey

My Favourite Social Media Tools

As a news junkie and fanatic web-startup-watcher (is that a word?), I’m always reading up on crazy new tools to measure this and monitor that. I’ve tried a lot of them but so many are just shiny toys; they do something neat that’s really fun for a few days until I forget about it and curse its icon for taking up valuable iPhone/iPad space. But there are some tools that have genuinely made my life easier. 

I read a lot of blogs, so many that I can’t possibly remember to check them all every day, so I rely on Zite and Flipboard to feed me articles of interest. Both apps are similar in that they learn from what I like and, over time, produce personalized content, but incredibly, they rarely send me duplicate content. Flipboard also lets you create your own, shareable magazine, which is a cool new feature they added recently.

So, now that I’ve found all this great content, how do I share it?

Buffer is a simple social media scheduling app. It’s genius. Seriously. There are more complicated apps, sure, but nothing beats the sheer simplicity of reading an article, enjoying it and emailing it to your Buffer account to automatically schedule a tweet or Facebook post. It also integreates with a lot of other useful tools like IFTTT, Pocket and more. I also really admire Buffer as a company. Leo (pictured left) and Joel are kind of my internet heroes. They’ve been incredibly transparent since day 1, which is super refreshing and they also publish a fantastic blog on productivity and user experience.

Another tool I use a lot is Sprout Social. It’s a paid social media monitoring app that offers quite a lot more than scheduling. The most useful thing Sprout Social does for me is curate my ‘smart inbox’ so that I can find conversations and keep up with everything that’s going on for my client. I can monitor conversations, track keywords and export engagement reports.

I’ve also got to give an honourable mention to Paymo, which is way high in my list of favourites because it helps me to track my time and get paid for it! There are plenty of online time tracking applications, but I especially like this one as it has a free iPhone app that syncs to the web version so I can accurately track my time wherever I am. Now THAT’s a useful tool!

I do use other tools, but these are a few of my . These tools save me time and help me produce better content for my client and audience. I hope you will find them useful as well.

Those are my secret weapons. What other tools are in your social media arsenal?

Lindsay Casey

Why the Boston Marathon Tragedy Gives Me Hope in Humanity.

I’m sitting in front of my TV, as I’m sure most people are right now. I’m watching coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing. I visited Boston about a year ago. Stayed at the Fairmount Copley Square. Right where today’s bombing happened. I can’t imagine the scene.

What a terrible jolt to a day that for so many is the result of months of determination, blood, sweat and tears. A day that is supposed to be about fulfilling your goals, beating your personal best and proving to yourself that you CAN do it.

Imagine, as you come to the finish line, you’re about to cross – you’re exhausted, emotional, proud, you’re feeling any number of other emotions, your adrenaline is pulsing through your body and you are in your element. Then… Then a bomb goes off. A body part flies past you. You see blood everywhere and everything turns into chaos.

You’ve got to find the positive in every situation. It’s hard to smile about today’s events, but it is heartwarming to see the people of Boston rally together. When the bombs went off, they ran TOWARDS the explosion. They’re offering lodging for displaced travellers and sharing their wifi, food & drink – even Google has stepped up and temporarily put its People Finder tool online to help folks find information about their loved ones. I’m not going to talk about the people who committed this crime, they don’t deserve our attention.

Twitter has become the rallying place for those affected, offering help and following the situation. There are hundreds of thousands of tweets flying back and forth right now, but this one will stick with me for a while.

tw

If you’d like to be one of those who help, consider doing one of the things on this list. You don’t have to live in Boston. Doing something helpful at home helps us all.

Lindsay Casey

Reflecting on Storytelling

As I look back on these last few months, I think this Digital Communication course I’m currently taking has been the most useful of the 4 social media courses I’ve taken so far. I’ve enjoyed it the most, anyway. It’s pushed me to get off my butt and write and I need that. I love blogging but I spend so much time on writing and social media at work that I can slack off when it comes to putting my own words out there.

Throughout this course, storytelling is the word that has stuck with me. I’ve taken it to heart that you, the reader, need to feel as though we’re having a real conversation. Like right now, imagine we’re chilling with a coffee & I’m telling you what I’ve learned over the last few months. It’s comfortable, it flows and it feels natural.  

Read More

Lindsay Casey

Return on Experience

Do you think about your ROI a lot? Say, if you put $2.25 in you need to see $3.50 back and so on? I think it’s time to change the way you look at it.

This certainly isn’t the first post written about this, and I didn’t think of it myself, but I had a conversation today that made me think about it and I’ve realized it’s a way of putting what I feel is a wonderful way of living and doing business into words. It’s all about the return on experience.

That sandwich you had for lunch may have cost $10, but think about the experience as well as the food. Did you enjoy speaking to the proprieter of the small business you bought it from? Did you get satisfaction knowing you were eating locally sourced ingredients and supporting your local farmers? Did you run into a neighbour on the way to get your sandwich and enjoy a quick chat? These things are all part of the experience. Suddenly, that $10 seems like a great price compared to a fast food environment, where your food may be a dollar or two cheaper but it won’t make you feel good physically or mentally. It won’t be an authentic experience. It doesn’t build community.

I’ve thought about this for a while and it’s one of the reasons I left Toronto for a simpler life in the country. I want to enjoy my life. I want everything to be an experience  yes, even that quick sandwich for lunch.

I believe businesses should start thinking less about ROI and more about ROE. Think about what kind of experience you can give your customer. It’s what we’re looking for. Give me a great experience and I’ll sing your praises far and wide. That’s the kind of return money can’t buy and, if you’re genuine about it, the ROI will follow naturally. Add value to someone’s life and your business will reap the benefits.