The pen word IS mightier than the sword
I can not think of one day that goes by that I don't refer to my phone. When I am craving a burger, but do not feel like driving too far, all I have to do is pull out my phone and look at one of the innumerable mobile applications such as Yelp or Foursquare that are available for free. Once I have this list of what is around me it is up to me to pick which location I am going to go to. Of course I can decide which one is the cheapest, or which one is a couple blocks closer, or even which one has the best name, but what really will effect my decision? In my opinion, the reviews.
A new Social Media Matters study proved that someone else's opinion i.e. a blogger, are almost twice as a effective at altering someone else's opinion than a celebrity. People are more likely to relate to someone who is not getting paid $100,000 to simply mention another brand within their half-hour television show or tweet about how great this or that diet worked for them. People want real, non-biased, non-paid-for opinions. Of course these reviews can mean total success for a small business owner or it can be failure. These real time reviews can make or break a business by simply telling the truth about their experience. Of course you will rarely see all positive reviews, but you can get a general feel for where you may potentially go without having to step foot into the location.
Now more than ever people are using websites such as Yelp to not only tell about their experiences but read about other peoples experience. There are just about 63 million people who have visited Yelp alone in the last month, of these over 21 million have listed local reviews. A Harvard Business School study showed that when a business increasing a star (out of a 5 star rating) they also increased a 5-9 percent increase in revenue. Yelp users are encouraged to write a descriptive review rather than a rant.
These descriptions are doing more than just keeping the well- deserved business alive, they are bringing in the people who want to be there.
