If you haven’t heard the news, Uber announced the launch of Uber Explore, a local search tool within the ridesharing app that allows consumers to search and book “experiences” like restaurant reservations and live events. Uber Explore relies heavily on content from Yelp, further emphasizing the need for your multi-location business to level up its local search efforts.
Within this blog, we’ll dive deeper into what Uber Explore is, how it works, and what this means for your multi-location business’s localized marketing strategy.
A Look Into Uber Explore
As mentioned above, Uber Explore is a search tool that provides insight into local experiences. To be featured in Uber Explore, your multi-location business must fall into four categories, food and drink, art and culture, nightlife, and live entertainment venues. When using Uber Explore, users can view the featured businesses’ reviews and photos from their local Yelp profile within the app. Below is an example of what users will see when they click the “Explore” tab in their Uber app.
Uber Explore also makes it easy for riders to visit a place they’re interested in by allowing them to book a ride to the location and purchase tickets to events within the app. Uber explains that there is an aspect of personalization with the feature. Users will see suggestions for experiences based on their past use of the Uber and Uber Eats apps.
While it’s only available in 14 U.S. cities, Uber expects it to expand soon. So what does this mean for your multi-location business?
The Importance of Online Reputation Management
Because Uber Explore filters in information from your multi-location business’s local Yelp profiles, it’s essential to ensure your profiles are up to par and stand out with positive reviews. If a rider is leveraging Uber Explore and sees two Italian restaurants in their area, one with 3.6 stars and no pictures, and the other with 4.2 stars and pictures, which do you think they will choose?
To ensure your multi-location business’s online reputation management strategy is up to par, data from SOCi’s 2022 Localized Marketing Benchmark Report can help. It provides insight into where leaders in localized marketing fall when looking at reputation management metrics on Yelp.
The report found that multi-location businesses studied in the report have an average Yelp rating of 3.2 stars, while the top 10 performers had an average of 3.7 stars. While star ratings are important, you should also consider your business’s volume of reviews and review response rate. For instance, the 2022 LMBR also found that the average review response time for brands studied was 12.8 days on Yelp, with 19.8 reviews per business location.
How does your multi-location business compare with these benchmarks? In order to stand out from the competition, meeting or exceeding these benchmarks is a must. The 2022 LMBR also dives into reputation management metrics on Google Business Profile and Facebook, which you can find by downloading the full report.
Optimize Your Local Yelp Profiles
With Uber Explore, a robust online reputation is a must, but it’s just as important to ensure your local Yelp profiles are updated and optimized. Your Yelp images are displayed within the Explore tab, so including high-quality images in your local Yelp profiles is non-negotiable.
When thinking about what type of imagery to leverage, consider including:
- Photos of your store location (both inside and outside)
- Images of local staff
- Photos from local events your business may have been a part of
- Photos of your products and services
While photos are a must-have, it’s crucial to include all of your essential business information in your local Yelp profiles, such as your local name, phone number, address, and other basic contact information. Yelp also offers a space to add more detailed information your multi-location business can include in its local profiles. For instance, each local Yelp profile must be linked to specific categories, so Yelp understands what type of services or products your business offers. You can link up to three categories with your Yelp profile.
The more information your multi-location business includes in its local Yelp profiles, the better!
Stand Out on Uber Explore and Beyond
Uber Explore is a glimpse into the future regarding digital technology and local search becoming one. If your multi-location business wasn’t already concerned with the impact of its local search efforts, now is the time to prioritize them. If your business already has a local search strategy, good for you! The information included in this blog provides you with the information needed to optimize your strategy further.
While managing your reputation efforts across 100s or 1,000s of business locations can seem daunting, tools that allow you to streamline your reputation management efforts across locations can help. For instance, the SOCi Review Management Solution in particular allows users to view every action taken on reviews and monitor every activity on social media.
Before Uber Explore expands to more of the country, it’s time to make sure your multi-location business’s online reputation stands out!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Darcy Bickham
Darcy Bickham is a graduate from Texas A&M University and has worked in education related fields for the past four years. Over the years she has developed experience writing on a variety of topics including business, local politics, transportation, and both primary and higher education.