Our Economy

Food For Thought

Recently the Star Tribune ran an article that highlighted why it's import to understand how social media and other internet tools impact the bottom line for our local businesses. In the article, Kelly Smith points out that more and more consumers are turning to sites like yelp.com, urbanspoon.com, and Angie’s List before deciding how to spend their money.

I can vouch for this! Last winter we used yelp.com during a vacation to pick all of our restaurant stops. If a restaurant didn’t get at least three stars, we didn’t even consider it; from Asheville, North Carolina to rural Kentucky, we were never disappointed.

Give it a try the next time you are looking for a new place to eat out; odds are that you will learn something new. In the same vein, it's also interesting to see the reviews and praise for our own local businesses. Looking for Grand Marais on Yelp.com yields results for 161 local businesses!

The Star Tribune article goes on to cite a Harvard Business School study that suggests a business that increases its yelp ratings can boost revenue from 5 to 9 percent. That is something worth learning more about.

The article is a recommended read if you want to understand how online reviews might affect you or your business.