3. History of Yelp
• Founded in 2004 by Jeremy
Stoppelman
• Jeremy found a need
• Began as an email service for
exchanging local business
recommendations
• Initially launched as a site
o Today on the web and
mobile
#SUYelp
Yelp Headquarters in San Fransico, CA
4. What is Yelp?
● Largest online directory
● Leading listing service for small
business reviews
● Online urban guide / business
review site
● Today, Yelp incorporates social
networking features, discounts
and advertising on the site and
app
Yelp’s Purpose: “To connect people with great local businesses”
#SUYelp
5. Before Yelp
● Prior to Yelp people got
their information by word-
of-mouth.
○ Places became known
by people visiting them
and verbally giving
recommendations to
others.
#SUYelp
6. Word-of-Mouth
● Revolutionized the nature of word-
of-mouth
● By the end of Q4 2013, Yelpers had
written more than 53 million rich,
local reviews, making Yelp the
leading local guide for real word-of-
mouth on everything from boutiques
and mechanics to restaurants and
dentists
-About Yelp
#SUYelp
http://www.yelp-press.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=250809&p=irol-press
11. Interviews
Steve Guglielmo - Account Executive at Yelp
#SUYelp
“Yelp has not really done any
advertising yet. All of its
success has been natural
and through word of mouth,
which is awesome.”
-Steve Guglielmo -
Account Executive at
Yelp
12. Interviews
“You have to be very strategic
about getting Yelp reviews.”
“Be wary of bad reviews on Yelp.”
“Your happy customers can give
you great reviews, but your
unhappy customers can give you
reviews that you can’t do anything
about.”
- Melinda Emerson @SmallBizLady
“To live and die by the same sword”
#SUYelp
20. Best Companies Using Yelp: Dinosaur BBQ
• Dinosaur is the top-rated restaurant in Syracuse, NY
• When people come to town, they see the great reviews
and that Dinosaur is listed at the top of the search on Yelp
• Dino monitors all reviews closely — frequently logs on
o Appreciate and love their good reviews!
o Manager gets in touch with users who posted about
less than good experiences in the restaurant
o They do NOT ask people to give reviews, just
monitor what other people right
• Although Dinosaur is a destination restaurant (people
come from all over - Australia, England, you’d be
surprised) Yelp is still a helpful reminder
#SUYelp
21. Bob Baker — @DinosaurBQ; Klout: 44
PR and Social Media Manager for Dinosaur Restaurants
(learned everything he knows about Social Media from @DR4WARD)
Interview
#SUYelp
“Yelp is a great way to get us in front of a hungry
persons eye”
“It absolutely helps drive business, as long as reviews
are good! If they start to fall off, it would be a very
very bad thing!”
22. Yelp’s Partnerships
• Yahoo
• Kindle Fire
• YP (Yellow Pages) - strategic
partnership
o Largest local ad platform in the
US
• Apple (Siri)
• BMW, Toyota, Lexus, Mercedes,
Honda
• Microsoft Bing
• Open Table
#SUYelp
23. How To Use — Navigating Yelp
● Did the app download? Great!
● Play around on the app or site a little bit - let us know
what you think
#SUYelp
26. Yelp Demo
1. Search on Yelp app for a
Chinese food restaurant in
Syracuse
2. Ask Siri to find a dentist nearby
3. Yahoo search for a hotel in the
area
4. Use the Monocle feature to see
what restaurants are down the
street
#SUYelp
28. Recent News:
Yelp Enters the Emoji World
● Yelp has just updated their mobile app to allow users to use an
Emoji to search for things
● In it’s most recent update, the Yelp mobile app allows users to
search local businesses using those puzzling, beaming little
character faces
#SUYelp
http://www.fastcompany.com/3028704/fast-feed/now-you-can-use-emoji-to-search-yelp
30. Yelp + HootSuite
• The new HootSuite
Chrome allows you
to view geolocated
social media
message searches
on Yelp
#SUYelp
http://blog.hootsuite.com/hootlet-social-media-extension/
31. What’s Next for Yelp...
• Advertising itself!
• Yelp has not yet paid for advertising
• All of their success has been through natural word of
mouth (which is awesome)
• Be prepared to see this in the near future as they prepare
to roll out paid advertisements and continue to grow!
#SUYelp