The Yelp effect: Are you a disruptive force?

For anyone who has ever needed a solid recommendation for a local dermatologist, sushi joint, manicurist, or florist, chances are yelp.com has been consulted. That’s why I was eager to attend a recent luncheon hosted by the folks at the San Francisco PR Round Table, where the guest speaker was Vince Sollitto, Communications VP at Yelp, Inc., who spoke about the evolution of Yelp and the power of user-generated content.

When describing how the founders, who came from PayPal, came up with the idea of Yelp, Vince said their goal was to be a “disruptive force.” According to the NY Times, local advertising in all media is a $100 billion dollar business, dominated by the multi-billion dollar Yellow Pages. The Yellow Pages m.o. is simply pay to play. The local business owner who pays the most gets the biggest ad on the page. But that doesn’t mean they’re best (restaurant, doctor, oil lube place).

This was Yelp’s opportunity to be a disruptive force in the directory business. Local business listings with real consumer recommendations. The site has grown remarkably since 2005, with 38 million visitors per month and more than 12 million reviews. Yelp makes money by selling ads to local businesses – you'll see these yellow, clearly labeled"Sponsored Results" around the site – but if your local business is great, your earned reputation garners you free publicity. Yelp monitors for fake posts (those posted by business owners and their friends and families), but for the most part lets consumers have their say. The company’s goal is to ensure integrity of content, and that is one reason why the site continues to evolve, gaining new users and a foothold in new markets (currently 42 city editions), including Europe.

Certainly a disruptive force.

This philosophy can be adopted by PR professionals and applied to everything we do.   When writing a plan, ask: Is this idea a disruptive force? Will it solve a problem, tackle a challenge, make the audience sit up, cause the brand’s competitors to lose sleep? And most importantly, will this idea positively impact my client’s business?