Is Yelp Worth it for Your Business?
It’s safe to say a large amount of the general public has a complicated love-hate relationship with Yelp.
“Why?” You may ask. Well if you have ever used Yelp in any sort of business capacity then this needs no explanation. If you haven’t, well, then you can go on with your normal life never being bothered by Yelp.
Yelp has benefits for it’s users and major downfalls. There are certain beneficial attributes of Yelp you absolutely cannot argue with. One of those is it’s indisputable success and popularity as a business and user platform.
The company was started in 2004 by two former PayPal employees in California as a restaurant reviewing platform. They have expanded into 22 industries in 32 different countries. In 2015 their net worth ranked at $3.5 billion.
As of March 1, 2018 Yelp says they have 174 million unique users per month with 155 million reviews since it’s inception. The craziest part is 14 years later, restaurants are no longer the most reviewed business. They are are second on the platform behind “shopping”.
It’s obvious that Yelp has reached an undeniable level of success. Users appreciate it because you don’t need to have an account to leave a review or to view other reviews. As business owners, or someone(thing) that is being reviewed, we might have a very different view of Yelp.
Let’s break a few things down and discuss why this dicey relationship exists between Yelp and business owners.
Pros:
1. How Stuff Works says the biggest benefit of Yelp is “The ease and communication most Yelpers experience.” A pro for users and businesses is that you don’t need an account to use it, providing a level of ease that almost no other platform has.
2. Yelp is more than reviews. Yelp isn’t much different than any other social media site. Yelp has event features, event reminders, the option to post about special offers and even the ability to make friends.
3. Yelp wants you to brag about your business. Once a business has reached a certain number of reviews and stars, Yelp will grant you with the “People Love us on yelp Award.” They will grant you this title and give you an impressive slew of marketing materials to put all over the website and your storefront.
4. They have ads. If you are running ads on Yelp and have a bad rating — Yelp will hide it for you in your ads (we’ll get to that more later).
5. One star rating will lead to a 5 to 9 percent jump in revenue — according to Yelp.
6. Running ads on Yelp leads to an average of $23,000 in additional annual revenue. Which is $15,000 more than people who don’t — according to Yelp.
Cons:
- They filter reviews. Reviews that are “Not recommended” by Yelp are hidden based on a couple factors according to Yelp: “Reviews may have been posted by a less established user, or it may seem like an unhelpful rant or rave. Some suggest a bias, but many are real reviews from real customers who we just don’t know much about and therefore can’t recommend. Not all reviews are created equal.” Enough said. Twenty-one percent of reviews are Not Recommended.
2. Yelp is really only popular in certain areas. Since Yelp was founded on the West Coast it continues to be heavily used there. The East Coast has also jumped on the Yelp train. Yelp has very specific demographics. I’m not sure if it’s because those demographics live on the coasts and it is used more there or because the coasts are covered in top schools and the costs of living are higher, but it probably doesn’t matter. Here they are:
3. When advertising, the number one ranked businesses in that industry are still shown with their ranking. So your business doesn’t look any different other than it has a blue star next to it (telling me this is an ad) and it’s sitting next to a business that has a “1” next to it.
4. Ads are expensive and are only shown on Yelp. The idea behind Yelp ads is that the person on Yelp is already likely to leave a review, so if your business pops up they will go to your page and write their feedback. Well there are two parts to that.
- Yelp’s base package starts at $150.00. That is minimum to be shown just on Yelp. In comparison, Facebook ads can be shown on Instagram, but Facebook also has multiple apps and facets. So one ad can be shown on Instagram, messenger, timelines and in videos. All that can be done at any cost of your choice.
- Yelp receives about 20–30 million reviews per year. Most (65%) of reviews are generated on mobile devices which is used by 70 million people per month or 840 million people per year. So almost a quarter of the people who are on Yelp are actually leaving reviews, which means that you are spending a minimum of $150 a month to maybe have half of the people on Yelp leave you a review.
Taking in all this information, it’s fair to say that your business should absolutely be on Yelp. The question from there is: do you need to buy ads?
Obviously, you should look at your target market and audience and decide from there. Ask yourself who you are trying to reach an where are you located? Then you will find your answer.
Optimize Social Media provides social media & reputation solutions that evolve with our clients. As social media experts we manage Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yelp, YouTube and Instagram accounts for our clients on a daily basis. We help the modern business owner implement a specialized social media strategy so that they can make more money in real life. Enjoy our blog.
