CARLTON FLETCHER: What the yelp? Social media sniping

I know you’ll want to run around And follow the crowd …

— Broken Bells

The young restaurateur read the post with equal parts anger and concern. On what has become a growing trend among social media-mad consumers, the businessman read a scathing review of his restaurant’s food.

Being new to the food industry in a community that has more than its share of eating establishments, the businessman worried that even one complaint by a dissatisfied customer — a complaint that was immediately posted on a site that encourages such commentary — could hurt his chances of competing with other restaurants in the area.

So he did a little investigating.

“We have security cameras in the restaurant,” the restaurateur said. “We saw the name of the person who posted the bad comment — he said something to the effect that the food was not even edible — and went back to look at video footage of when he came into the restaurant.

“Now I know this will probably sound like I’m trying to discredit the customer, but we watched him eat like a pig. He devoured everything that was set in front of him. I don’t mind constructive criticism. I think it will help me make my food and service better. But what do you do when people post obvious lies in an attempt to discredit your business?”

That’s a question more and more business owners are asking as sites like Yelp proliferate social media. The concept behind such sites is, on the surface, a potentially beneficial one for consumers. Real customers post real comments about their real experiences at establishments that cater to the public. Other consumers have the opportunity to go online and check out their reviews to determine if they want to shop at the establishment.

Which is fine until people, for whatever reason, start posting made-up comments in an effort to hurt businesses.

“I think what you find in a lot of cases is that sometimes competitors post the negative comments on these sites,” Albany City Commissioner and restaurant owner B.J. Fletcher said. “They see it as a way to try and hurt someone else’s business. And that’s a pretty low thing to do.

“I truly believe that if a person has a bad experience in one of my restaurants or in any other type of business, if they take their complaint to the manager or the owner, more times than not those people are going to do anything they can to make things right for the customer. Your name is made on your product and your customer service, so why wouldn’t the people who stand to lose the most want to do everything they can to make their customers’ experience as positive as possible?”

Another local restaurant manager, who asked not to be identified, said local people who take swipes at new businesses stand to hurt their community.

“Around here we have all these ‘support local business’ campaigns going, but when a new business opens and staff is still busy trying to work out a routine, people who trash the businesses on these online sites are hurting their chances of survival,” the manager said. “I don’t understand why people don’t take their concerns to the businesses’ management instead of posting sometimes false complaints on social media. It’s really a cowardly way to do things.”

Most successful businesses, especially small businesses, see “word-of-mouth” as an important marketing tool. Satisfied customers, they’ll proclaim, are what helped them build their customer base. Certainly the random social media sites that invite anonymous critiques leave businesses open to unscrupulous — and often mean-spirited — attacks from individuals with personal or professional agendas.

My advice: If you’re thinking about patronizing a business for the first time, forget these malicious sites that may or may not offer legitimate anecdotal evidence of experiences at the business. Do what consumers have been doing since the money-for-services (or goods) concept came into existence: Shop at the business and decide for yourself whether or not you want to go back.

Email Carlton Fletcher at [email protected]. Follow Carlton on Twitter@ABH_Fletcher.