Protocol
Ratings and review sites are some of the most useful for marketers, especially those with a local business focus. This section will introduce you to the common traits present across many of these types of sites.
Top Lists
Local review sites often have lists of the top businesses in certain categories or neighborhoods. When I'm browsing for a new place to eat or get a drink, I'll pick a category such as "romantic" or "French," and start at the top of the list. If I want to stay close to home, I'll check out the list for my neighborhood.
Search
The most common way users find listings on review sites is with search. Rankings are typically a combination of relevance (does the listing contain the search term?) and the number and quality of reviews. The popularity of search means it is important to include words and phrases that people may use to search for a business like yours; without them, nobody may ever find it.
Sock Puppets
A sock puppet is a form of web spam where an overzealous business owner sets up a bunch of fake accounts and cranks out sparkling reviews of his business, often while slamming his competition. Some owners will pay people to post positive reviews of their products. This is obviously very bad form and chances are good that you'll get caught; review sites have implemented algorithms designed to spot fraudulent activity. Getting caught in one of these attempts will be far worse than receiving a few organic bad reviews.
Figure 7-3. RateMyProfessors.com was one ...
Get The Social Media Marketing Book now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
