What are people saying about you?
Online reputation management is all about communication. People talk about their good and bad experiences with products and companies. Before the internet, the spread of this information was limited to family and friends. With the dawn of the internet and review sites like Google, the good and bad reviews are widespread and available to everyone. Consumers are making decisions based on these reviews. Consequently, you need to be listening and responding to leverage good reviews and limit damage from bad reviews.
Claim Your Listing on Review Sites
There are many internet sites that have the capability of your clients to leave reviews. Many of these listings are automatically populated with your basic information. It is important that you claim the listing, correct misinformation, add missing information and monitor the reviews.
Here are some of the major sites with review capabilities:
- Yahoo
- Bing
- Yelp
- Industry specific sites like Trip Advisor, Healthgrades, Vitals, Angie’s List, Home Advisor, etc.
Monitor & Respond to Reviews
It’s important to listen to what’s being said about your business. Listen through social media, listen online, and listen to your business reviews. Today word of mouth spreads like wildfire! All it takes is a quick Google search and anyone can see what is being said about your business. You don’t want to be driving potential customers to the competitor.
Promptly respond to all reviews, but be sure to apologize when responding to negative reviews. Do this publicly, then take it offline and come to a resolution. By being transparent with your apology, it can help to bring the situation to a close. Be sure that the apology is authentic, consumers can see right through nonsense. With the amount of competition out there, they will be quick to take their business elsewhere.
Whatever you do, don’t get into an argument with customers online. It only makes your business look bad. Like mentioned above, take it offline. Ask them to call you, or send you a direct message. You’ve still shown that you’re addressing the problem. Showing your professionalism is more important than proving you’re right.
Focus on customer service. Customers will notice how you treat them and that is key to building a great reputation. They will be more apt to forgive a bad review or two if they see you value the feedback and are willing to make a bad situation right.
Getting more good reviews
Ask your customers for reviews. You can also leave signs at your counter, leave links at the bottom of emails or receipts, or send emails specifically asking for a review. Not only do the number of quality reviews matter when potential customers are looking to do business with you, but it matters how current the reviews are. This is why it is important to keep a steady stream of reviews coming in.
Promote your good reviews
The majority of consumers use reviews to make purchasing or hiring decisions. This is why it is not only important have a good number of reviews but also promote these reviews. Post your good reviews on your website and distribute them on social media and your email marketing campaigns.
Webtivity Online Reputation Management
Webtivity Marketing & Design can manage your online reputation from start to finish. We can solicit reviews from your clients. Monitor and respond to the reviews. Promote the good reviews on your website, social media, or email marketing campaigns. You won’t have to worry about monitoring multiple reviews sites and risk missing the opportunity to respond good and bad reviews. Remember an unanswered bad review looks like you don’t care about your customer’s satisfaction and that will lose you new customers.