Experiential marketing is their secret.  Experiential marketing creates an emotional attachment with the brand via an in-person interaction or a contest of some sort.  Brands like Sprite and Scion have been doing this very well in the last 5-6 years, but social media companies have not fully embraced it at organization-wide levels; That is, except for Yelp.

Like any other area in marketing (yes, including social media), there has to be 100% buy-in at the top of the organization and an unwavering follow through by the staff when it comes to integrating an experiential strategy.  Yelp does this with aplomb via their official parties.  They have managed to fully bridge the gap between the digital and real worlds through their frequent and consistent parties and events.

It’s simple.  Yelpers (what Yelp calls their community members) feel important.  Taking it a step further, Yelpers truly feel like Yelp gives a damn about them.  They make it even more memorable by granting “Elite” users early and exclusive access to said parties and events.

I’ll give you one example of many that I have experienced with Yelp.  Last week they threw a party at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in Long Beach, California to “celebrate” Dia de Los Muertes.  The event was replete with fire dancers, DJ, face painting, free all-night tequila tasting, gratis draft beer, complimentary food from local restaurants, an ice cream truck giving away ice cream bars and an endless supply of Jarritos.  They let the Elite members privately enjoy the party before the rest of the Yelp community was allowed to enter.  In total there were easily 450 people there.

Think about that.  A social media company was able to bring together nearly 500 people at their party on the night before Halloween (one of the biggest party nights of the year).

The interesting part of all of this, is that this Dia de Los Yelpos party was not a 1-off event for them.  They do events like this all of the time all over the USA and London.  Yelpers have come to expect it and Yelp consistently delivers.  Too see how powerful and compelling these events are, this party has a full 5-star rating and has been reviewed more than 80 times in less than a week.  Put in context, local restaurants are thrilled to have 30 4-star reviews of their establishment over the course of a year.

Other social media brands are not delivering these types of experiences and cultivating legions of brand advocates and evangelists like Yelp.  You be the judge.  What’s more compelling to you as a human?

Free homemade Mexican food, organic tequila, meeting new people, tamarind Jarritos and fire dancing?

OR

An updated homepage featuring a newly shaped button?

Recently I had the privilege to sit down with a business owner that confronted a Yelper in real life after having received a negative review he felt was inaccurate.   Holy Cow! Fight!  Fight!  Well, not really.  Though he didn’t “go Steven Seagal“  on the Yelp reviewer, he has given other small business owners hope.  It also makes for a great dinner party story that is soon to hit legendary status.

Before I get into the details, it’s important to set the stage for those of you that don’t fully follow the sometimes tense relationship on Yelp between the general public and business owners across America, Europe and Canada.

Yelp, the online review / social networking site, has been in the news for a number of different reasons in the past year.  The most important issue for businesses on Yelp is their ability / inability to have a voice in this powerful online community that receives tens of millions of hits each month .  Are they to simply stand aside and stomach all of the reviews written about their businesses and say nothing when they see inconsistencies?  David Suor, owner of Board and Brew sandwich shop in Carlsbad, says, “Hell no, dude.”

We grabbed a table in the back section of Joe Jost’s; a bar that has been an institution in Long Beach for dock workers, locals and sailors since World War II.   We settled into a basket of pickled eggs and a few schooners of beer as he began to tell his story.

brendon david

What’s going on at Board and Brew in Carlsbad?

david suor

Things are great.  Everyday is busier than the last.  Between doing multiple caterings for publishing giants like Transworld and our regulars that come in for a Turkcado sandwich and a beer, we’re staying busy.

bd

How are people learning about Board and Brew?

ds

A great deal of it comes from people in the neighborhood driving by and stopping in.  They tell their friends and then it become the word of mouth game.  Recently we’ve begun to see more and more people coming in after finding us on Yelp.com.

bd

What’s the Yelp experience been like?

ds

It’s been pretty cool.  We have people that come in for the 1st time and say that they found us on Yelp.   We love that.  But I recently confronted a reviewer for writing a bad review on Yelp.  It was awesome.

bd

So, you sent him a message via Yelp and created a dialogue…

ds

No, dude.  I confronted him in my store!

bd

Whoa!  How did you know that he wrote a bad review about Board and Brew?  Wait.  Why was he even in your shop if he wrote a bad review?

ds

Exactly!  That’s why I confronted him.  I read all of the reviews we get on Yelp.  We’ve got a solid 4 stars.  When we get negative reviews, I pay close attention.  If we can get honest feedback on how we missed the mark, we want to know.  I came cross the review of some guy that didn’t have many nice things to say about us or his experience at Board and Brew.  For some reason his face stuck in my mind.  One day after seeing him a few different times, it clicked.  It was the guy that wrote that bad review.  We don’t get mad at negative reviewers.  But we do have an issue with a person that gives us crappy marks on Yelp, keeps on coming back because the food is so good and conveniently decides to leave his negative review “as is”.

bd

Wow.  What are the odds.  What happened?

ds

After the 3rd or 4th time he came in after posting the review, I called him out at the register in front of our other customers.  He was mortified, dude.  He was literally speechless.  I asked why he would write a terrible review of the shop, but keep on coming back to get more sandwiches on a regular basis.  He was so embarrassed.  He was the classic case of a person having a tough online persona, but really being a shy and scared guy in real life.  I told him that he should consider changing his review.

bd

Did he?

ds

I’m not sure.  Here’s the deal, Brendon.  Low reviews don’t piss me off.  They are a way for us to learn how we can improve.  What I can’t stand is for a person to give us a bad review and then continue coming to my shop and spending money because he likes his experience.  If you hate us, give us a 1 star and have a good life.  We’re too busy creating good food and having fun with our customers that love us to worry about one scared person that feels like they need to be heard.

As we continued talking and watching a group of college guys play shuffle board, I couldn’t help but think about the various articles I’ve read about Yelp and business owners from people like Kim Severson at the New York Times, Michael Farraell at the Christian Science Monitor and Kathleen Richards at the East Bay Express.  There are a million different permutations that can come out of this interesting mix of Yelp.com, business owners and online reviewers.  It’s sticky.

Regardless of the evolution or devolution of social media and  social networking, businesses are under more of a spotlight than they ever have been in the history of commerce.  They are now tasked with truly focusing on the quality their customer experience and creating meaningful relationships.  Just having Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts is simply not enough.  Imagine that.