GV Secret Weapon: A Digital Lifeline: How Your 3- Minute Google Review Can Fuel Glenview's Boom

GLENVIEW, Ill. – In an age where a digital search often dictates a destination, local leaders and business owners are issuing a powerful call to action: the simplest way to support your community is free, takes only minutes, and can be done from your phone. You can jump on team Glenview and in just a couple minutes a month and at no cost to you you can help out Glenview businesses a lot.

The mission? Write a Google review.

As Glenview prepares to welcome a wave of new businesses—including six new restaurants downtown and a renowned Italian eatery relocating from Long Grove—the need for community support has never been greater. The key to their survival, however, may not lie solely with local wallets, but with local smartphones.

"Glenview does not have too many restaurants, but it does have too many restaurants for Glenview residents to support by themselves," explained one local advocate. "We need residents from other nearby villages to come to Glenview to dine."

The modern gateway for these visitors is Google. The search engine's algorithm prioritizes businesses with high ratings and robust review activity, placing them at the very top of search results. This digital real estate is critical for attracting new customers.

The impact is tangible. A friend from Schaumburg recently visited the Glenview Grind coffee shop. When asked how she found it, she replied, "I just typed 'coffee shop in Glenview' into my phone, and this was at the top with a 4.9-star rating. I knew it would be good."

This story is a common refrain. An assistant manager at Wildfire restaurant confirmed the critical importance of online reputation.

"I cannot tell you how important reviews are to our dining establishment," the manager said. "I often overhear customers at the door saying, 'I spotted your restaurant on Google; it has a very high rating.' Our waiters also report that new customers frequently open their phones to show a photo from a Google review of a dish they'd like to order."

Crafting the Perfect Review

For those wondering how to help, the process is straightforward. Businesses often display QR codes for instant access, or you can find the review section via the Google Maps app, the standard Google app, or a web browser.

To make a review truly effective:

* Click the Fifth Star: A five-star rating is achieved with a single click on the farthest-right star.
* Post Photos: Google emphasizes that 1-3 photos significantly boost a review's impact. Shots of the interior, a food item, or a group of people enjoying themselves are ideal.
* Answer Prompts: Google will ask for additional five-star ratings on specifics like parking, accessibility, and noise level, as well as the price range.
* Add a Sentence: A brief comment, such as "Parking was free and easy," adds valuable context.

Even a quick star rating is immensely helpful; details can be added later. While a comprehensive review might take five minutes the first time, it quickly becomes a three-minute habit.

Local photographer George Leclaire is a testament to the power of consistent reviewing. With 24 local reviews and 21 others to his name, his photo-heavy posts have reached a massive audience.

"With less than 50 reviews last month, Google told him that his reviews had 200,000 views and his photos had a 1/2 million views," LeClaire said. He advocates for thoughtful reviewing, adding, "I rarely write a bad review unless I am treated extremely poorly. Restaurants can have an off day." Google also surprised him by saying one local business photo taken at Glenview Grind coffee shop had 80,000 views.

The Social Media Multiplier

Beyond Google, social media platforms like Facebook are powerful tools. Local standouts Glenview Grind and The Clove are masters of the craft.

Cathy, owner of Glenview Grind, manages her own social media. “I noticed photos that include people get a lot more likes,” she said. Notably, about 30% of her posts promote other Glenview businesses or community events.

Ankur Sharma, owner of The Clove, is also highly engaged, taking most of his establishment's photos and posts himself.

For businesses looking to improve their social media presence, experts recommend:

* Post 3-4 times per week to increase visibility in a crowded news feed.
* Use high-quality photos, especially those featuring people.
* Keep captions short and engaging.
* Join local Facebook groups like "Glenview
Northbrook Neighbors," which has 48,000 members and allows business posts on Tuesdays.

You always want to monitor your Facebook page to reply to customers commenting. You can turn on notifications so you get a notice or you can just make a habit of twice a day taking a quick look at your messages from Facebook and and give them a reply.

According to Facebook, the best thing to post is reels. Facebook makes more money by you posting them because viewers stay on that page longer and advertisers pay Facebook based on how much time they stay on a page which also has a small ad somewhere most people don’t notice them, but that’s how Facebook gets paid. So to encourage you to produce reels Facebook makes it extra easy and gives you some great incentives.

According to Facebook’s business page, they tell you if you post words or photos we will only show it to people that have liked your page or are following your page.

However, if you post a reel we will show it up to it as many as 10,000 or 20,000 more people that are not currently following your page but geographically are in your area. Practice makes perfect. Just start producing them and they’ll get better as time goes on. You can also read websites to give you information on how to make them better but definitely add some words or top or bottom.

You can change the font you can change the color of the lettering. Don’t add a lot of words on top of your video poor example maybe a couple words at the top and one sentence at the bottom. You can create one using just videos just photos or combination or both or even just one video. If you’re using just Photos, we highly recommend adding some type of music. When you first go to produce one Facebook will automatically add some type of music that it thinks will work for you. 100% of the time we recommend on the bottom left clicking skip with that is takes away that music and opens up a very small tab at the very top that allows you to pick a song.

We can absolutely guarantee you any song you pick will be there. If you have a regular Facebook page or a creator page, you have access to every song ever recorded in the world some songs there can be as many as 100 or 200 artist that have recorded that song.

If you are using a business page that the song list is limited quite a bit, but you can still get some beautiful music. If you want to get around that rule, you can actually create it in your personal page and then have access to millions of songs and then using your business page go to your personal page and share it to your business page and share it to any groups that you belong to. Keep in mind the rules about 50% of roots say no video allowed and that’s what a real is considered even if it is made from photos.
Engage with the community by posting positive, non-promotional content in groups throughout the week to build goodwill.

Use Facebook's free Business Suite to easily invite everyone who has liked your posts to follow your business page—a tactic that can increase followers by 20-30% in a month.

 to further support Glenview businesses you can find your favorite businesses on Facebook and click on their page or follow their page. From there a couple times a year when you see one of their post, you can click the share button and just share it or click the share button and add one or two sentences of your own.

The message from Glenview's business community is clear: in just a few minutes, every resident can become an active partner in building a vibrant local economy, ensuring that new and existing businesses don't just open, but thrive.

If any business would like to host an event where our Photographer George LeClaire comes to your business and you invite other businesses there he will be happy to explain to everybody how Google reviews works the best way to do it and how to utilize Facebook where you gain a lot from it and it doesn’t take up a lot of your time. Please give him a call if you would like him
to come to your business at no charge or if you have any questions. George LeClaire 847-331-2743