According to these websites, I am better than you

On Saturday afternoon, I attended my first Yelp Elite event. I was really excited to go, because I had heard some awesome things about them. It totally lived up to the hype. Upon arriving at McCormick & Kuleto's, we were greeted with free champagne. From that point on, I knew I would be in heaven. The event had a multitude of food stations, everything complimentary. They served passed hors d’oeuvres of deviled eggs, bruschetta, and baked brie triangles. They had an eggs benedict, crepe, ice cream, and carving stations as well as a seafood station with cracked crab and freshly shucked oysters. For beverages, they had free champagne and wine and $3 Bloody Mary’s. (I attend with my friend Kenny, who doesn’t drink, so I was basically double fisting the entire time.) They even had free goodies spread out on the table, like Yelp stickers and pins. On the way out we picked up a free cedar plank for cooking fish. It was a great day. Being Elite is oh-so good!

So how did I get all these amazing perks? It was much easier than I had thought. I had heard becoming Elite was a big challenge that took months, so a couple friends and I made a pact to try to accomplish it in time for their amazing holiday party. It ended up only taking the Kathys about 5 days… Here is how we did it:

1. Make sure your Yelp profile is completely filled out. Yelp likes people with personality, so make it funny and entertaining. Also, make sure your profile pictures are really you. They want their members to be real people in the community.
2. Friend request every Yelp Elite you can find. Why? Elite members tend to send your reviews a lot of compliments, which garner attention from the Yelp Admin.
3. Start writing reviews of every place you have ever been; restaurants, coffee houses, gas stations, grocery stores; literally everywhere you can think of. I think I have reviewed like 5 different Starbucks locations. They don’t have to be long, just informative. It only took me about 70 reviews to be invited to be Elite.

After becoming Yelp Elite, I also discovered that Citysearch has a similar program, called Citysearch Dictator. The perks of being a dictator are arguably better than Yelp Elite. Yelp Elite is a very saturated community. There are hundreds of Elite members in San Francisco alone, so their events’ guest lists fill up quickly. The Citysearch Dictator program is only about 90 members strong and most aren’t super active. If you put some real effort into being a Dictator, you can win some awesome prizes. In the 2 months I have been a Dictator, I has won the following prizes:

1. A free dinner for two at Ozumo for the most reviews in March
2. A free brunch for two at Oola for the best list for outdoor activities in March
3. A $50 gift card for the San Francisco Giants for the most lists during a week in April
4. A free hair cut and hair color at Vidal Sassoon as well as a $50 gift card to Arlequin Wine Merchant for the most lists in April

I’ve even had one of my lists make the main Citysearch facebook page and another posted on their website’s main page. Citysearch also hosts some fun events for their Dictators, but not as often as Yelp, so I haven’t been to one yet. To become a Citysearch Dictator, you just have to fill out this application. There are 11 major cities that have a Dictator program.

My "Hit Polk Street and Hit It Hard" list on Citysearch

If you have the time and will be dedicated to keeping up with writing reviews, the Yelp Elite and Citysearch Dictator programs are definitely worth the effort. The perks are absolutely amazing, plus it gives you some awesome bragging rights.