How to monitor online discussion forums and social network sites

See what’s being said about your establishment online

Over the past decade it has become easier than ever for diners to get the scoop – both good and bad –about your restaurant. Thanks to the evolution of search engine technology, it only takes a few keystrokes to find out what is being said about your business online.

Consumers are increasingly influenced by “virtual word of mouth” on discussion forums and social network sites. While it may seem like a negative that disparaging, anonymous reviews of a business can be posted online for all the world to Google, restaurant operators can capitalize on the increased use of discussion forums.

Established publications, such as the Michelin Guide and Zagat, have reported restaurant ratings from trained experts for nearly a century and reported an average of consumer restaurant ratings with select witty comments for more than 30 years respectively. Now, they are competing with unfiltered consumer reviews on websites such as Yelp, Chowhound, Urbanspoon and various city-specific sites. Yelp, for example, boasted more than 33 million unique visits to its business review site in July 2010, with 29 per cent of traffic (nearly 10 million visits) being restaurant related. Urbanspoon averages more than 10 million unique users per month, with more than 1.2 million monthly users just from Canada.

How can you use this trend to your advantage? Make sure you’re monitoring raw consumer comments to learn where to make product and service adjustments. In addition to visiting restaurant review and discussion sites on a regular basis, set up a Google Alert for your restaurant and your competition so you receive a message in your inbox whenever they are mentioned in a news article, website or blog.  Google offers an online how-to at www.google.com/support/alerts.