Chatmeter uses Local Search to find their Favorite Businesses
Welcome back from Thanksgiving break! In case you missed it, the Union-Tribune recently named Chatmeter as a Top Workplace in San Diego. We’re so thankful for all of our employees and we’re happy to know they enjoy working for Chatmeter as we strive to make it a transparent, collaborative, innovative, supportive and fun working environment.
Here in the Marketing Department, we really started to think about why Chatmeter is such a great place to work. We came to the conclusion that our cross-departmental teams make a huge impact on employee happiness. These teams consist of about 7 people each from different departments across the company. These teams are a big deal, we even made team flags. Every month, each team chooses an activity to do together during work hours. Some teams like to go to lunch, some teams like to hike, and others like to do something competitive. There is a lot of planning that goes into these activities but they’re always a ton of fun.
Not only are we leaders in local search, but we’re consumers too. So when we choose our activities for the month, we rely heavily on the power of local search. It’s not always easy to get everyone on the team to agree on a single activity, so businesses with great reviews, photos, and descriptions on their listings are vital to our decision-making process. Here’s a look at our top 5 favorite local businesses for team activities and how their local SEO efforts won us over.
1. Punch Bowl Social – The Favorite
This 23,500 square foot warehouse has quickly become a Chatmeter favorite (4 of our 7 teams are visiting this month alone). Complete with bar, arcade, bowling lanes, private karaoke rooms, giant foosball, darts, shuffleboard, cornhole, bocce ball, and so much more it’s an easy choice for Chatmeter teams.
The hype over this place started long before it was even open for business since many people had already visited a Punch Bowl Social in other cities. Located just a few blocks from our office, we were more than ready for the opening of the bar in June of this year. A quick Google search helped us find the hours and the local website with more information on things like pricing. It only took one team to upload photos from their time at Punch Bowl before every other team jumped on board with the idea. Now it’s even a go-to for happy hour.
2. Enigma HQ Escape Room – For Some Serious Bonding
There’s nothing that helps you bond more than being locked in a room with your colleagues. Escape rooms are a great way to get to know your peers and build trust. A few of our teams went to Enigma HQ Escape Room located a few blocks north of the office. This place was ranked as the #1 search result for escape rooms in downtown San Diego.
Enigma HQ has a 4.8-star rating on Google and a 5-star rating on Yelp with over 200 raving reviews. Their local SEO efforts helped them to secure the top spot over two other escape rooms that were just slightly closer to our building. By outranking the competition with more reviews and photos, it was an easy choice for our teams to make every time.
3. Battle Axe San Diego – The Hot New Spot
This event is great for deciding which colleagues you should follow in the event of a zombie apocalypse. It’s similar to throwing darts but with axes. They train you how to properly throw the axe, then you can enjoy a few games and go at it. It’s a great way to blow off steam.
This event was found by one of our team leaders by searching for “team events” on Google. The results returned a Yelp list of the Best 10 Team Building Activities in San Diego. Battle Axe San Diego was ranked second on the list. Once the first team went, the social media photos gave every other team FOMO and it was an instant attraction for every team. Although the teams ended up going to a few different locations across San Diego, they would have never found out about this activity without the Battle Axe San Diego ranking high for the keyword “team events”.
4. Morley Field Disc Golf Course – The Local Spot
This spot is a local favorite, it’s located only 10 minutes from the office and at only $4/ person it saves room in the budget for grabbing food or drinks after. Located east of Balboa Park at Morley Field, this 18-hole course although small, can take a few hours to complete. The great thing about disc golf is it’s extremely beginner friendly which makes it fun for the whole team.
Because a few Chatmeter employees have played disc golf here before, there wasn’t a search to find this place. However, it is a tough sell. Most people have never played or even heard of Disc Golf before. A quick Google Search made it super easy for everyone on the team to shuffle through photos and as you can see, the gorgeous park setting made it easy for everyone to jump on board with the idea.
5. San Diego Paintball – For The Competitive Teams
Some of our teams are very competitive, so it comes to no surprise when they want to do things like play paintball for their outing. This is probably one of the most requested and debated outings for teams. You really have to have a tough team willing to take a few hits.
Finding the San Diego Paintball location was super easy. It was the first listing on Yelp. With 100s of reviews and photos, it was the clear and simple choice. We love when you don’t have to look hard to find a great local business.
What we look for in a great local business
As leaders in Local SEO, we take our search for local businesses seriously. Whether we’re looking for activities, places to eat, or something else, we have a lot of respect for the businesses that put some effort into their local SEO. Accuracy is everything if your business name, address, phone number, website, category, hours, or description (NAPWCHD) are missing or inaccurate we instantly lose trust in the business. We’re big into reading reviews, a few bad reviews are no big deal if the owner writes back. It’s also great when a business has an active social media account to showcase their business and get us excited about visiting.
What all the businesses listed above have in common is:
- Accurate listing information
- Plenty of photos on their listings
- A ton of reviews and questions answered by the business
- Great social media presence
- High ranking listings
It’s through local SEO that our company was able to find these businesses. We know how much work goes into building up your online visibility which is why we always appreciate the businesses who take the time to do so.
If you’re a multi-location brand or agency looking to improve your local SEO efforts, request a free demo to see how Chatmeter can help.