Reputation management most always seems to get put on the back burner. I get it. You have a lot to do, it seems time-consuming, and you don’t know where to start, and frankly it’s not on the top of your priority list.
Did you know that you could have an edge up on your competition with reviews and recommendations alone? It takes hardly any marketing dollars at all. Simply ask your customers to give you a recommendation/review each time you complete your sale/service.
Nowadays most everyone searches for products and services on the internet and they look at the reviews before making their buying decision. You could be missing out if you don’t have any or few reviews.
When you start getting reviews, make sure you answer them promptly. You should ‘like’ and ‘thank’ the positive reviews and also reply to the negative reviews. The worst thing you can do is ignore the negative reviews. Be polite and diplomatic and try not to take them personally.
Use the information to ‘do better’ in your business. It may be valuable information that you didn’t know was happening. Or, maybe you realized it was going on and didn’t think that it was affecting your customers negatively.
Remember, they cared enough to take the time to give you feedback. Most aren’t trying to be hurtful. They want to use your products/services. A negative reviewer could turn into one of your greatest advocates.
Here’s how to get started:
1. Claim and verify your business account in the review sites that are unique to your business, in addition to Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, and Yelp.
2. Use a review management dashboard (i.e., Get Five Stars)
Monitors online reviews so that you know where people are leaving them
Enlists feedback. You can send emails to your clients requesting a recommendation
Reporting. Allows to see how many reviews you received and the types of reviews you are getting.
Ability to screen poor reviews before them being pushed out to the various social channel. That way you can contact the customer to try to handle the situation.
Some dashboards (i.e. Social Ordeals) even respond to you, claim your listing and post to your social channels
3. Respond to your reviews as soon as possible. Don’t ignore negative reviews.
We’ve just the scratched the surface.
Remember, you are creating a lifelong relationship with your customers. Stay in constant communication with them via social media, blogging and email marketing.
Inspire. Engage. Convert.