Hi everyone,
I’m Tuan Anh, from Vietnam. At first, on Google’s advice, I was going to do a post to talk about what I love to share on the Local Guide and why. However, from beginning, my purpose of joining the Local Guide is simply to help people have useful information, save time, money, avoid risks and dangers, at finally have happy moments. Therefore, instead of writing as suggested by Google, I write a few tips to help local guides have more effective sharings for the community. For me, the biggest reward is your useful feeling of the article J
Tip # 1 – sharing the information with your way
Google Map offers many ways for you to share: add new places, reviews, questions & answers, edits … However, you do not need to try to share by all that ways. You also do not need to copy the Local Guide of level 8, 9’s sharing ways. Instead, choose the types of sharing which are your habits. If you like taking photos, share your photos. If you like writing, share your reviews. If you love food, share restaurant reviews or photos of food. Or if you often explore new lands, add more roads and new locations. You can help the world by sharing your habit.
For example: I like taking photos so I take a lot of photos every time I travel. After each trip, I share quickly and easily those photos on Google Map. Photos taken with passion have a lot of usefule information for the community.
Tip #2 – making your review more powerful
In Reviews mode, general information like Good, It’s fine … will not help much the community. Here are a few tips to make your reviews become really useful:
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Thinking about needs of people when visit the location
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When I went to West Yen Tu mountain, a new place, there are not many people came here. People often have a trend of climb the moutain without going by cable car. However, from my experience, unable to climb because there are so many roads in the forest, it is easy to get lost.
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The information is not enough. You should share more by:
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Telling the story will make the place will help people have more interesting discoveries.
- Sharing the knowledge:
- For example: Phở (a kind of noodle) is a traditional food in Vietnam which is always loved by both Vietnamese and foreigners. Phở is not food, it is an art. It is very difficult to cook deliciously Phở. However, not everyone understands Phở deeply. Phở evaluating is based on three factors: soup, savor and meat. When reviewing a Phở restaurant, I always pay attention to these 3 issues so that people can understand more about Phở, so they can evaluate good Phở for themselves.
- Giving advices to help people have an interesting experiences:
- For example: A coffee house has a very nice lake view. It has outdoors tables and chairs. But in a day, there are only 2 hours that we can seat outdoor. The other hours are very hot to seat.
- Avoiding emotions affect your reviews. Sometimes, you get annoyed at a location for some reasons like the poor services, dirt bed… However, you should not let negative emotions affect your reviews. Please note that an your incorrect review can affect many people who are living with that business.
Tip #3 – supporting 4.0 technologies by using Q&A
I think Google Map is applying AI and Big Data. Sharing by answering will help Google Map much. You can join it by simply answering questions in Google Map. When the number of answers is large enough, AI and Big Data algorithms will find the search results on the map closest to the searcher’s request. In order to answer effectively, you need to explorer carefully the place.
Hope 3 above simple tips will help you become a great Local Guide.
All the best