I have been a local guide for about 2 years now, and it started pretty innocuously. I originally started out just giving reviews at restaurants that I really enjoyed or that I had a particularly bad experience with, and as time passed I found out about the Local Guides program, made an account and started actively participating in reviewing and posting photos and many other things. Using the Local Guides program has really helped my reviews have far greater outreach than I could have ever achieved on my own, as well as giving them a sort of weight and authority. This ties into my favorite thing to do as a Local Guide, which is: review, review, review! Reviewing restaurants, hotels and places of interest helps out not only Google, but my community as well, as I am able to add edits to incorrect information, and give meaningful insight and feedback towards features such as Directions on Google Maps. I remember being surprised when I first received a reply from a business owner from one of my reviews, not expecting to garner a response. I also get a really good feeling from interacting with my community in such a visible (haha) way by posting photos! My most viewed picture is currently sitting at over 11,000 views, which always blows my mind every time I receive an update! On Google Maps I can easily tailor reviews to how much information I want to give away. Chains I typically don’t get too deep into the nitty gritty of things, but for entirely new restaurants (to me or to a location) and for unique looking/feeling places, I love giving in-depth reviews.
1 Like