Here’s some startling news you probably didn’t know. Apparently, good reviews from online sites like Yelp and Google make for good business (and vice versa).

According to Kevin Drum:

Harvard’s Michael Luca did a clever study that took advantage of “discontinuity effects.” Yelp rounds off its rating for public consumption, so a restaurant that crosses the boundary from, say, a rating of 3.2 (rounded down to three stars) to a rating of 3.3 (rounded up to 3.5 stars) gets an extra boost on its Yelp page. There’s probably very little difference between 3.2 and 3.3, so if a restaurant’s revenue increases it’s most likely due solely to its Yelp rating.

Sure enough, that’s what happens. As the chart on the right shows, revenue remains fairly flat as ratings go up slightly and then suddenly jumps as a restaurant passes the rounding-off point and gets an extra half star:

Shocking, right?

Okay fine — this is pretty obvious. But what might not be clear to many Dallas businesses is that there are a couple things they they can do to improve their ratings. Here’s how we can help:

1. Reputation Management

The world wide web is a vast place. Our online reputation management services can tell you what’s being said about your company, and where it’s being said. All you have to do is respond.

2. A Commitment to Social Media Marketing

It’s an unfortunate fact of the Internet era — people say things when masked with Internet anonymity that they simply wouldn’t when they’re face to face. Social media marketing doesn’t necessarily put you face-to-face with your customers, but it still humanizes your business and makes it more likely that you’ll develop some level of relationship with the customers.

For example, a few months ago here on the Masterlink blog, we highlighted an informal study that showed how beneficial casual, non-business updates on Twitter and Facebook could be for companies:

To measure his theory, Jones conducted an experiment. Keeping all other social media use the same, he began solely using Twitter in a business-like way (announcing blog posts, etc.). He cut out humanizing banter, chit-chat, back-and-forth with readers, and anything else that wasn’t strictly business-related.

Sure enough, his web traffic—not just from Twitter—soon dropped by nearly half.

In other words, customers and clients appreciate human touches from businesses. Social media marketing just makes humanizing a little bit easier.

Not all customers will be swayed by your efforts to connect with them. Some people just love to complain. But the sincere ones — the type you probably want as customers the most — will be grateful for the time and attention you give them.