How to Become a Yelp Elite
Yelp is heavily progressive by either making a small business successful or a large corporation infamously tainted. But reviews are constantly filtered as the years go by, how can we rely on a review to stick?
Although Yelp is not established as an social networking website, it has a system where you are able to follow other yelpers and add them as a friend. You are able to connect with others who write strong reviews or already a friend through in real life. When we read reviews for a particular business, if a friend has written review on that business, their listing will appear first on the list. So your friend's reviews will never be filtered.
Becoming a Elite is quite simple. You write quality reviews that you, yourself would like to read before investing time and money in that business. The word invest can be used a little strong, but a irate experience can tamper with an important event. Time is the largest investment.
Before I was an Elite, I always subconsciously read Elite reviews and filter through the (+'s) FUC's. (F.U.C. stands for funny, useful, and cool. Yes, many inappropriate puns-- but satiric humor is all for fun and games. Yelpers are quite expressive!) Here are my (not) simple steps on landing that badge.
1. Start off with baby steps. Add your Community Yelp Manager as a friend on Yelp. Do this now as we speak. She/He is hired by Yelp to connect with the community that you are from (eg: East Bay, South Bay, San Francisco, San Diego) She/He is the one nomination that counts and decides if you are Elite worthy. Ever so often, she/he tracks how active you are, and if you are lucky you will get an official letter inviting you on the elite team!
2. Checking into venues is one tap away (assuming that our current technology smartphones, are equipped with a touch screen). I've noticed that some prefer the check-in option on Facebook, since you can share with your friends on Facebook. But the Yelp application can link to your Facebook, that allows you to check in on Facebook and Yelp at the same time.
3. The lazy hesitation of sitting down on a desktop and writing a full review can be extensive, Yelp has the "Tips" option, where you can drop a one-liner of your choice. For example, if you are at Philz' Coffee, a cool tip would be a drink that you are getting for either the first time or your go-to drink . "Iced Mint Mojito!"
4. Reading other views and giving the writer feedback. As mentioned in above, FUC's are a great way to let the yelper know that you liked their review. Either funny, useful or cool, it is a great way to show support to your friends and be active on Yelp.
5. Though you try to avoid it, you will soon have to write concrete reviews to the businesses/venues you visited. No one liners-- though being straightforward is great, extensive reviews that describe different aspects of the venue can highlight your review. My personal reviews are written in story form (I know, so fancy. What can I say, I love story telling!) I start with how I stumbled on the venue, the parking, the first impression, the ambiance, the service, the price, and lastly if it is a restaurant the food itself. I personally like writing, hence the "blog" or what I call "creative writing experiment".
Like my Yelp reviews, this entry of becoming a Yelp Elite is getting quasi arid. I hope these tips account for some type of aid in getting pampered like a princess.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Yelp, let alone a professional Yelp-er. These are just some tips and tricks that might land you that elite badge. It's a great hobby that I have on side just like "blogging" (Blogging sometimes elude a notorious tone, I call it creative writing but I will talk more about blogging v. creative writing in another post)