A local restaurant is more than just a place to eat. It also supports the community and gives back to it. In fact, the restaurant industry is creating middle-class jobs at three times the rate of other industries.
This is a great reason to go to a local restaurant.
Tripadvisor
While it is important to know how TripAdvisor works, you should always take the reviews with a massive grain of salt. There are numerous fake reviews, and the site does nothing to verify them. Many of these reviews are one-hit wonders by people who write only to gripe or rave about a single experience that may or may not have happened. It is also common for businesses to hire reputation management companies to boost their ratings and sabotage competitors.
In fact, there is an entire industry that sells highly believable fake reviews. Some of these companies even have the technology to create reviews from your IP address, which makes them appear to be genuine. An Italian magazine proved how easy it was to get a restaurant that didn’t exist to the top of the rankings.
Small hotels, restaurants and other businesses can lose a huge percentage of business when they receive fake negative reviews or are red-flagged by TripAdvisor for suspicious activity. Some have taken the company to court, but with their enormous size and power TripAdvisor can afford to simply ignore these cases.
Instead of relying on TripAdvisor, try using other sources to find the best places to stay and eat. Travel blogs and newspapers are usually authored by real people with actual credentials, so they tend to be more trustworthy than anonymous TripAdvisor comments.
Yelp
Yelp is a great tool for businesses to promote themselves. It offers hours of operation, contact information, photos and star ratings on a single platform. It also allows you to add links to your website and social media accounts. Its reviews can have a significant impact on consumer behavior. However, it’s important to understand that not all reviews are equal. Some are more influential than others.
While it’s tempting to respond immediately when a customer bashes your business, this will only make things worse. In fact, Yelp’s review filter has a tendency to flag negative reviews as unhelpful or biased. So, instead of responding in a flurry of keyboard strokes, take a deep breath and calm down.
A good way to improve your Yelp rating is to write lots of reviews. If you write a few fantastic reviews all in one day, it looks suspicious and will likely trigger the Yelp algorithm to put your business on its “Island of Misfit Reviews.”
It’s also important not to ask for reviews. Yelp has strict guidelines about how businesses can obtain reviews, and it’s against their terms of service to encourage reviews by giving them away. You should also avoid asking for reviews from your mailing list, friends or family members. Lastly, don’t pay for fake reviews.
Facebook Business Page
Facebook Business Pages allow businesses to interact with customers and promote their products and services on one of the world’s most popular social media platforms. They can also provide their address, phone number, and hours of operation. In addition, they can add photos and videos to their profile. They can also choose to display their email address in case visitors want to contact them directly. They can also choose to make their content public or private and set up profanity filters to remove inappropriate language from comments.
When creating a Facebook Business Page, you can choose from several templates to customize your business’s look and feel. Each template has different call to action buttons and tabs, so be sure to select the best option for your business. You can also change the default tabs by removing ones you don’t need or rearranging them to list the most important information first.
Once you’ve finished setting up your Facebook Business Page, you can start posting updates and engaging with your audience. You can even connect your Page with a website, food ordering app, or ticket booking service to give visitors more ways to interact with your business. Insights on Facebook are also a great way to learn how your page is performing and find out what type of content your audience responds to best.
OpenTable
There are a lot of places on the Internet where people can review their restaurant experiences. Typically, these sites will allow you to “claim” your business and respond to reviews as the official restaurant owner. However, it’s not always easy to keep up with every review and comment that’s out there. To make it easier, you can use reputation management software to track online reviews and comments.
As a restaurant owner, you want to be sure that your guests have a great experience. One way to ensure this is by using a reservation system that will give you detailed information about your guests before they arrive. This will help you avoid no-shows and increase your chances of booking more reservations.
OpenTable is a reservation network that enables users to find and book table reservations at restaurants. The company’s website allows customers to view and modify their reservations, as well as send invitations to friends. It also enables users to set up a profile and receive personalized recommendations. The site can also take dietary restrictions into account.
OpenTable’s popularity increased as smartphones became a common way to book anything on-demand, from cab rides to hotel rooms. The company’s IPO in January 2009 gave it much-needed cash and helped to speed up new partnerships with technology companies of all kinds.