Yelp- Consumers Control Content

In my first blog post I commented on a new and innovative technology called Geomagic that encompassed all 3D systems (information-to-content) in a way that blends software technology with actual manufacturing processes. That was not only an example of an extremely cutting edge technology, but it had to do with the design/ creative solutions aspect of my focus area, “arts, entertainment, and media marketing”. For this second blog post I will focus on a company that is using social media for marketing in a way that very directly correlates with my focus area. I have chosen to examine Yelp because it has taken the very shift that has happened in advertising and marketing, and built upon it to create its own successful system that is user-oriented, user-controlled, and user-marketed. In the last decade with the rise of internet and social media, we have seen a monumental shift take place where the consumers are now the ones in control of the advertising and marketing content for a product, service, brand, company, etc. Yelp has amplified the customer review/ comment forum section of social media sites into its own company that is based on customer commentary. 

We are now in what is commonly referred to as “beyond the advertising age”...although this is an overzealous overstatement, advertising and marketing industries have certainly recognized the power shift- the diminishing ability of the advertiser, marketer, and copywriter to persuade audiences, and the increasingly gained power of the consumer to control content. The internet has allowed the public to interact with brands like never before. We see many examples of this (Dave Carroll’s YouTube hit “United Breaks Guitars”) and it can be much more powerful at influencing audiences than a traditional high cost marketing campaign. As crowdsourcing, social media, and consumer control continues to progress we see the need for big brands and marketing campaigns to focus on interactive advertising, at least as a way to be inclusive and encourage consumer participation in a friendly way. In my opinion Yelp, has been one of the smartest and most successful companies to make use of the consumer content control. Their launching in 2004 has influenced hundreds of other similar and ‘copy cat’ sites. Their very premise is founded on the user and consumer (you & I) as the central character. As our text referred to it, Yelp has allowed us all to have our say in the “cocktail party” conversation. There are now so many Yelpers that any self-marketing tactics applied by one to boost their own business has been rendered useless. For many large or well-known businesses there are so many opinionated, glorified, and unapologetic reviews that Yelp remains a place where the public feels they can go for advice untainted by clever marketing schemes. When you choose what to Yelp you can rest assure that you are in control and not part of some large targeted audience, however, if you are a business using Yelp you are offered immediate access to highly targeted and niche audiences (Kerpen 256). 

I wrote my first review for Yelp as one of the activities in the class. I reviewed a small neighborhood restaurant called Feed. It is a solid, local business that I was happy to advocate for. As a Yelper you choose a rating anywhere from 1-5 stars, and you are entitled to write as little or as much as you want. As for monitoring, as long as your post is not flagged as highly offensive, crude or racially insensitive, you can pretty much write whatever you want. Next to Google, Yelp has been hailed as the next important thing for your small businesses’ visibility. Yelp receives 84 million visitors a month and growing, and has over 33 million reviews in over 96 international markets. And though this is not the large scale territory of Facebook or Groupon, it is the best for what it is and what it serves to do. 

Hannah Gregory