Business

What can you tell me about Yelp?

July 21, 2011

I think Yelp.com is a great tool for building business. Basically, Yelp is an online platform where people who visit your business can go and post reviews (good or bad) about your salon or spa. In turn, prospective clients use this information in their decision to patronize your business.

I use Yelp a lot especially when I am traveling and looking for good restaurants or beauty services. It’s OK to ask clients to go to Yelp to post their experiences, but make sure that you are not trying to coerce them into saying great things about your business. You want your Yelp reviews to be as organic as possible. It’s not uncommon to ask clients to post reviews and offer discounts and/or incentives to do it. But you should not ask them to post what you want them to write. Also, anybody can add your business and post reviews. You have very little to no control over what’s posted and cannot pay to have bad reviews removed.

— Tiffani Douglas is a nail tech and the author of Social Media Marketing: A Guide For Beauty Professionals (www.tiffanis-beautyparlor.com).

Topics:marketing/promotions

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