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Health & Fitness

Google Bought Zagat Last Year…What Does it Mean to Carlsbad Small Businesses as of Yesterday??

See why Google buying Zagat impacts Main St. Carlsbad small business in a big way, even if you don't own an SD seaside nook known for awe-inspiring ambiance & unforgettable risotto.

 

If creating and sharing culinary creations is what your Carlsbad small business is all about, you already understand the tremendous value provided in nurturing and cultivating the online review.

From five star foo foo joint to back alley food truck, people talk about their culinary experiences.

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This now not so recent Wall St. move impacts Main St. Carlsbad small business in a big way, even if you don’t own a San Diego seaside nook known for awe-inspiring ambiance and unforgettable risotto.

If not immediately, then indubitably in the future…at the very least imaginably.

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And maybe not so much impacts as say, influences.

Google now owns a lot of customer reviews about restaurants around the world is the basic tenet we’re looking to explore here.

Why That Matters to Carlsbad Small Businesses

The lines between social media and local search engine optimization (local seo) are vanishing. Google buying Zagat last year, was one of the game-changing acquisitions of 2011 – at least as Wall St. relates to Main St.

The days of quiet self-assuredness and humility are gone, now more than ever we are neck deep in the age of self-promotion.

Generally (and anonymously speaking) people care what we say, and we care what other people think.

Is it video games, the interweb, or is it that crazy music our kids are listening to; or is it something else?

We wouldn’t even begin to search for an answer to that most existential interpersonal communication question.

But, hammer home the point of communicating with our customers where they congregate, cultivating digital word of mouth, and profiting from a genuine online small business reputation?

Yes, we’ll be happy to oblige. Yes, again.

As consumers we crave feedback and seek peer experience.

Doesn’t matter if we’re buying a washing machine or a shrimp cocktail, whatever the exchange of information entails, the bullet points magically become ingrained in our mental Rolodex of product information.

Facts get collated against cross referenced weighted variables specific to each encounter, and source.

We analyze, keep the good, dump the bad, and somehow develop an idea of how our buying experience will transpire.

All before we even taste the grub, test the tool, or tune the engine.

Why?

Because someone told us so.

If you think that’s a bold claim, just try this little social experiment.

Try asking anyone within earshot their favorite burrito place.

Now we’re not saying information overload is not a possibility, we’re just saying people are more than willing to share their opinions.

And we listen and retain that info more than you’d think.

Try it, then later see if you can formulate any idea of who told you what, what you retained from them, and how complete the synopsis was.

Our bet is you’ll have the next 3 burrito places near you lined up for a visit.

Now take that info acquired, time transpired, thought process required, then reduce the time transpired into nanoseconds. And broadcast the results across the social stratosphere to anyone searching locally for the same type of information.

According to Gordon Gecko, information is the world’s most valuable commodity.

Court it, and enable the sharing of it amongst your customers.

Psst….’Google Places’ is GONE as of yesterday (5.30.12)…the habitually name-changing environment of local businesses showcase is now enveloped into the social local graph of Google+.

What does THAT mean to Carlsbad small businesses?

  1. Go sign up for a Google+ business page right away! (using a business gmail account)
  2. NOW!
  3. Google Places (online reviews & map listings) is now part of Google+ (social network)…your business needs to be there more so than FACEBOOK or TWITTER or PINTEREST!!
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