Millennials and Gen Z’ers are notorious maximizers* — always looking for the BEST food, clothes, makeup, detergent, even romantic partners. And for better or worse, that leads to a lot of research before taking action.
Take it from Aziz Ansari and his quest to find the best tacos in Master of None:
As you can see, research tools are aplenty these days. The oldest form is word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family. But with the advent of the Internet, we can now ask strangers for their opinions too. That’s why online reputation is as important as ever for the restaurant industry.
This isn’t just fluff either: Google confirmed that “high-quality, positive reviews from your customers will improve your business’s visibility.”
So let’s talk about what kinds of information shows up in search, and how you can optimize the results (SEO).
Objective Answers in Search
The first is objective answers about your business: What time does your shop open? What’s your address? What’s on the menu?
Business owners need to provide up-to-date content for essential questions like these. You’d be surprised at how much outdated information is out there! If someone can’t find your address online (or worse, plugs in the old location of your shop) you can kiss that customer goodbye.
The challenge these days is that there are so many platforms and channels where your information can live. Where do you even get started?
- Think of your website and social media profiles as a piece of virtual real estate where you control the narrative.
- Then think about all the other online “publishers” that might serve up your information: Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp, Open Table, TripAdvisor, etc.
According to menu management provider, SinglePlatform: “To help your business show up on top of menu and food searches online, you need to give consumers the information they’re looking for in the moment that matters: when they’re making a decision about where to eat next. That means having up-to-date menus on all the sites that people use to choose where to dine.”
Subjective Answers in Search
When it comes to subjective questions like “best donuts in Portland,” you’re not always in control of the answers. What you can do is keep tabs on your online reviews, have a plan to address both positive and negative comments, and make adjustments to your business based on customer feedback. This practice is known as online reputation management.
Just don’t do this:
Yes, monitoring reviews is a constant and tiring cycle. But it’s important.
According to Yext, an online brand management firm, reviews can affect whether your business shows up in search results at all. Did you know that Google often pre-filters results for searches including “best”? Meaning it will only show results for businesses with a 4-star rating or above. “Similarly, when you ask Alexa or Siri for a recommendation for ‘best’ anything, it is reviews that inform how they surface the [top] answer.” Whoa!
Here’s the thing:
You can constantly check sites like Google, Yelp and TripAdvisor for your ratings. You can beg customers to leave reviews online. Or you can outsource to focus on more important things. Ya know, like making the food, paying your employees or restocking the toilet paper.
Just looking to get started?
Here are a few tools to DIY your online reputation management. My advice: set yourself up for success, then outsource to a consultant, agency or tool that can do the monitoring for you.
Paid reputation tools:
- Brand24 for brand mentions across social, news, blogs, videos, forums, reviews and more
- Mention for social media and influencer monitoring
- ReviewPush for multi-site monitoring and email alerts
Full-service brand reputation:
If you’re ready to level up your approach, invest in a service like SinglePlatform, BrightLocal, Upserve or Yext to take care of your online menu and reputation all in one place.
*Psychology professor Barry Schwartz, famous for his 2004 book The Paradox of Choice, divided us into two types of people: “satisficers” (those who satisfy and then suffice) and “maximizers,” who seek out the best.
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