A recent addition to Yelp’s iPhone app allows users to add 3-12 second videos. What does this mean for your business? It might be time to get ready for your close up!
This is how Yelp’s new app feature works on iPhone (an Android update is on the way): the Yelper opens the app and selects a business, event or attraction from their “Nearby” feature or perhaps the “Search” field. Once there, they may select “Photo or Video” button. Within seconds, the iPhone user can film a short snippet of their experience. The possibilities are endless: users can show a panoramic shot of your bakery. Or the rows of yellow rafts at your whitewater rafting business. Or the attractive stone facade of your insurance agency.
Yelp’s video upgrade to their existing photo feature will be used by plenty of Yelpers to show the general feeling of a location (family friendly or nightclub dark?); decor; and even table-side meal presentation.
“Photos are a great way to add a visual element to your reviews, and Yelpers upload more than 23,000 of them from their mobile apps alone per day,” a Yelp blog post said, announcing the new feature addition. Yelp claims users spend 2.5 times longer on business pages with images than on those without. The company hopes the video feature will give users one more reason to keep their eyes glued on its customer review pages.
So, with all of those phones pointed your way, here are some tips for managing Yelp’s new video addition:
- Recognize that in our social media world, people like to show off what they are doing. Try to embrace video in your business unless you have specific policies in place to prohibit photography (common in hospitals, medical offices and schools).
- Give staff the head’s up that Yelpers might film them scooping ice cream or leading trail rides at your dude ranch. Of course, staffers might already be used to this type of attention from tourists and other customers, depending on what type of business you run.
- Make sure your place of business doesn’t give someone an idea to craft an 11-second “exposè.” Clean bathrooms, tidy dining areas and well-swept floors go a long way toward warding off tell-all videos.
- Check your Yelp page (you’ve claimed it, right?) and add photos of your own. After all, if Yelpers spend more time on pages with images, then give them something to look at they’ll love.
Alex is Connectivity’s VP of Marketing.
