I was lucky enough to attend a meet up last night called Third Tuesday where Yelp Calgary's Community Manager, Wendy Peters, spoke about a day in the live of a Community Manager. While it was a fine talk and we learned much about what goes on behind the scenes in organizing events for foodies, chatting with Yelpers, and helping restaurants work the crowd, by the end I was more interested in why Yelp hadn't (or hasn't) caught on sooner.

What can arguably be called the Tripadvisor for everything not travel related, Yelp is our single go-to source for customer reviews of more than just restaurants – one has the ability to review other business types including retail, spas, pets services, auto services, real estate, media and, well, even travel services. It really covers the full gamut of nearly every business type available to be talked about.

So why is it that, as brand managers, Yelp isn't more prevalently included in our Community Management plans? Think about that. What's the top three things on nearly every brand's social media list? I can name them: Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. But why not Yelp? I mean, here is a place with over 50 million visitors, 17 million reviews (83% of reviews are 3 star or more), a great resource for where to get your laptop fixed, and a place to debate about... bacon? Yes. Bacon. The weekly newsletters are brilliant. The site is fun and super simple to use. And it provides a place, like Twitter, for businesses to make amends with bad reviews (as they should).

Yelp, aside from Facebook, is the ultimate community for businesses. Really, it's like, on Yelp, we're all hanging out at the pub on a Thursday evening. Customers chatting with their friends about their favourite eats, best place to go for a tune up or hair cut, and why (referrals). All this with the ability for a business owner to chime in at any time and and offer their two cents, on the whole thing (engagement). Seems pretty "Community" to me.

So how can businesses take advantage of Yelp? Five ways:

1) As Wendy mentioned last night, businesses should set up their corporate account (you can do that here for Canada and here for the US), and place a "we're on Yelp" button on their website to encourage reviews.

2) Yelpers can create UYE (Unofficial Yelp Events) to promote their events and activities. This is perfect for people volunteering for organizations or causes or who just want to meet really cool people.

3) Businesses can hold Yelp Elite Squad events where Yelp Community Managers and you throw huge parties at your establishment, which is essentially like a free "remote" (are radio stations even doing these still?), but are way more social. Consult with your local Yelp Community Manager for details.

4) Like Facebook and Twitter, Yelp allows businesses to connect with reviewers either on a private or public level. (And if the Redwater Rustic Grille was at all receptive of this, they would have responded to my very blunt review of an experience I had there a little while back. Too late.)

5) Yelp is yet another media to add to your Community Management mix, giving you and your business an even deeper connection with the people who are talking about your products, service or, even better, your bacon.

Happy Yelping.