Yelp was designed to “connect people with great local businesses.” The social media site allows for people to find out what is available in their neighborhood. On the site members can:
- Create a network of friends
- Message your friends
- Create and view Events that are happening in your area
- See what people in your area are talking about and join in on the conversation
- Write, view, and find reviews on businesses and organizations
- Subscribe to follow your favorite reviewers
- Get Yelp deals
What does this mean for your church? Yelp is connecting people to churches that are close to them where ever they are. Each church profile has a location and contact information. People are able to write reviews explaining what the church is like. They can also share the place by emailing it to friends or sending it to a phone. This is a great way for people to learn about your place of worship from their friends.
How would you get found? There are three main ways to get found on Yelp.
1) General Search.
2) Browse by Category. There is a Religious Organizations category on Yelp to look at.
3) Be Referred by One User to Another. There are many different ways for users to talk about you. Some of the ways are by users messaging their friends, writing a review, starting a conversation about you in your area, or emailing your profile to their friends.
Here is an example of a Yelp profile in Belltown of Seattle, WA.
