Tags
Congregations, Episcopal Church, Establish an online presence, Information discovery, Kent, OH, United Methodist Church, Yelp
Since I am over 50 years of age and grew up using telephone books, I think of Yelp as the online Yellow Pages. However, unlike the Yellow Pages, businesses do not have to pay to get listed in Yelp and every business is listed whether they know it or not. Church congregations are listed in Yelp so it behooves congregational leaders to create a Yelp account, claim their congregational Yelp page, and use it to push information to the Yelp community.
Yelp started in 2004 as a business recommendation site that allows users to rate and review every kind of business from auto dealers to zoos. Businesses are able to offer online deals to attract customers and users are able to search for information in a variety of ways such as by business type, by geographical location, by current deals, etc., and then to filter the results by customer ratings/reviews, cost, deal offers, and more. Yelp users, hereafter referred to as “Yelpers”, network with friends and other Yelpers whose reviews they appreciate or who share similar tastes, and often work to create a personal brand as a Yelp reviewer with large followings.
Yelp claims a monthly average of 45 million users and a cumulative total of 67 million reviews. Yelpers use the site to get phone numbers of businesses 200,000 times per day, to get directions to businesses 200,000 times per day, and to order food 10,000 times per week. The demographics for Yelpers who rate and review businesses are 36.4% in the 35-54 age group, 60.2% with a college education, and 36.1% report an income in excess of $100,000. (Digital Marketing Ramblings, Oct. 29, 2014)
A search of Yelp for “churches” within 5 miles of my home returns a list of 40 congregations. By clicking on a congregational name I am linked to an information page that includes a phone number and links to a GoogleMap, a directions app, and the congregational web site. Additional links invite the user to write a review of the congregation, to share the link by email, to other Yelpers, or on Facebook and/or Twitter, and to bookmark the congregation.
If the congregational listing has not been “claimed”, and only 1 of the 40 congregations in my findings list have been claimed, there is a big red link inviting one to “Claim This Business”. Claiming a congregational listing on Yelp requires setting up a free account and the benefit of doing so is the ability to add additional information, pictures, etc., about your congregation.
The only congregation in my findings that includes such additional information is Christ Episcopal Church in Kent, Ohio, which has added a picture of their church building, inviting information about worship services and its inclusive congregation, a short history, and office hours. An additional link on the page allows users to direct message the congregation.
Only one congregation in my findings, the local congregation of the United Methodist Church, has received a review and rating. Businesses are rated on a five-star system and anyone with a Yelp account can write a review. Businesses that have been claimed and are linked to an email address are notified when they have been rated and reviewed and are able to post a response if the review is negative or compliment the reviewer for positive comments. While my small sample indicates a lack of Yelpers reviewing congregations, very little effort is required of congregational leaders to be prepared to monitor and respond to ratings and reviews if and when they happen.
It is important to note that these two congregations appear at the top of the list of the 40 congregations in my search findings. That information alone is why congregational leaders need to set up a Yelp account, claim their congregational Yelp listing, add additional information, and solicit positive reviews from Yelpers or social media users in the congregation. It is pretty apparent that, at least in my neighborhood, congregations are not using Yelp and that may be because it also seems apparent that Yelpers are not using social media app to find a place of worship. However, this is also indicative of a great opportunity to establish or build on the online presence of congregations. It is free, it requires little effort, and it is an opportunity to invite congregational members to publish and share information about what they consider to be the best features of their place of worship, e.g., the music, the youth group, the Bible studies, and so on.
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