Aaron Strout recently left Mzinga in an interesting way. He wrote this blog post that explained why he was leaving and reflected on his time with the company. It caught my attention, so I contacted Aaron to learn more about his background and business philosophy. The result was our robust conversation on social media marketing—how it works and why. Start by listening to minute 8:24 – 10 where Aaron discusses the criteria for social media marketing and suggests how to tie it into your business goals.

I recently ate breakfast at one of my favorite spots called “The Neighborhood.” They serve excellent Portuguese food widely adored by the 20-something crowd in Boston, and especially loved by Yelpers. As I was waiting in line, I noticed they had a white erase board with a special note to their Yelping customers. This was the first time I have seen a restaurant “talk back,” to their customers reviews in this way. It sparked a few ideas that I would like to share with you. If I owned a restaurant, here a 20 things I would consider doing to recognize and attract Yelpers.

1. Respond publicly to feedback on Yelp with a non-defensive and appreciative attitude.
2. Send a positive reviewer a private message thanking them.
3. Send a positive reviewer a coupon for a future dining occasion.
4. Invite a negative reviewer back to the restaurant for a VIP dinner on the house.
5. Invite a negative reviewer to tell you how you can improve the dining experience.
6. Respond to a review on your restaurant’s blog.
7. Make a big deal of a positive Yelp review. Frame it and take a picture with the Yelper and hang it in your restaurant.
8. Create special, “no-wait” tables in the restaurant for Yelp reviewers that have cool benefits.
9. Gather your Yelp reviewers to a private wine tasting or to sample new menu ideas.
10. Name dishes after Yelp reviewers.
11. Ask positive reviewers what they ate, post pictures of the dish on Yelp and reference the reviewer.
12. Make an offer to the friends of positive reviewers. If they print out their friend’s positive reviews and bring them to the restaurant, they receive a discount.
13. Have a Yelp-only happy hour for happy Yelp reviewers.
14. Create a menu item that you can only order if you have reviewed the restaurant on Yelp.
15. Conduct a focus group dinner for negative reviewers.
16. Indicate on your menu, “Yelp reviewed,” or  “Yelpers loved this.”
17. Post a blog entry that lists all the points in a negative review and how they were responded to.
18. Invite negative Yelpers to provide their feedback during a staff training session.
19. Offer free valet parking to positive Yelp reviewers (or unlimited drink refills).
20. Offer a discount when two Yelp reviewers come together.

1. Decorate your blog with widgets. See: Lemonade, Widgetbox, Mashable’s top 50
2. Invite a guest blogger to bring a new perspective.
3. Officially become a geek with a Blog badge: Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr
4. Protect your work with a Creative Commons license.
5. Get a job board for your blog.
6. Make a custom radio station for your blog.
7. Know thy reader. Set up analytics.
8. Transform your blog into a book.
9. Make money by turning your blog into products.
10. Write a blog mantra.
11. Speak with your readers live by adding a chat room to your blog.
12. Use powerful images.
13. Captivate your readers with embedded presentations.
14. Turn random photos into sexy slideshows. See: slide, rockyou, ilovephotos
15. Put your point on the map. See: Google, Yahoo, Placeblogger
16. Share data persuasively with charts. Free from Emarketer, or build your own.
17. Embed video in your posts. Youtube, Blip.TV, Videojug
18. Invite reads to take quizzes, polls and surveys.
19. Write lists. Top 10. Top 50. Top 100. People love lists.
20. Add a timeline.
21. Help your readers see their future, or give them a laugh with a horoscope.
22. Develop How To content. Want to know how to do that?
23. Write reviews on your blog. Product reviews. Movie reviews. Web Site reviews.
24. Conduct interviews with experts. Bloggers. Peers. People on the streets or on Facebook.
25. Create a weekly theme for your blog. For example, “this week’s theme is things that make me laugh.”
26. Write a trend watching post.
27. Share an epiphany.
28. Write an advertising critique. See: Media values and Stanford.
29. Develop a fake newstory.
30. Profile a company or compare and contrast two companies.
31. Share case studies. Use Marketing Sherpa as an example.
32. Conduct a before and after.
33. Turn your blog entry into a letter. Dear Apple, or Dear Jet Blue, Dear John, or Dear Bloggers, etc.
34. Share a powerful quote from a famous person or everyday quotes.
35. Post your notes.
36. Run a contest–and give away a T-shirt.
37. Use creative problem solving exercises to generate ideas.
38. Harness your creativity. Limit your time to write a post, or your word count.
39. Evoke archetypes and memes to help analyze trends and craft stories.
40. Write your blog posts on every day things.
41. Share your idea in a creative form. Turn your blog post into a poem, obituary, love letter, cartoon, menu, flyer, vintage advertisement.
42. Find your voice and write in it. Kurt Vonnegut will show you how.

Add a tip for getting your blog in shape in 2008. I will feature several few suggestions to make this list even more useful.

Photos from Flickr used under Creative Common’s License. Citation: MC, Veganstraightedge, Pintong, Purpleslog, Termie, Fish2000, Gwen