This is our whitepaper: How to monitor and respond to what is being said about your business

1. By: Adam Dukes
702-530-3881
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Social Sinergy 702-530-3881

2. How to Monitor What is Being Said
One of the most important things you need when it comes to your local
business is a ‘good reputation’. When a business has a good reputation,
more people become interested in it.
Consumers have always trusted “word-of-mouth” marketing; in other words,
we are easily influenced by what others have to say about something. If
your customers spread the word that your business is great, then the
number of potential customers increases.
In the same manner, if your customers spread the word that your business
is lacking in some way, some people may avoid using your product or
service – depending on the severity of the complaint.
This is why it’s very important that you do what you can in order to maintain
a positive reputation. One of the most important factors that come into play
is the amount and type of customer reviews you have. Thanks to the
internet, consumers today publicly speak their minds about their likes and
dislikes.
They take to various online review sites and blogs in order to say what they
want about businesses and share it with others. Receiving positive reviews
can take your businesses to new heights. However, negative reviews can
harm you, and the harm can be increased if the situation isn’t handled in a
proper manner.
Why is it Important to Know?
There are still many business owners who don’t bother finding out what their
customers are saying about them. Such owners seem happy with the
customers they already have, so they don’t see a need for it.
However, when they finally find out that there are some customers who
aren’t happy with their products or services, the damage has already been
done. At that point, they are usually already seeing a decrease in business
because those customers have been posting the negative information online.
That’s when the business decides to take some kind of action to re-build
their reputations, which is very hard work. In order to know what your
customers think of your business, you need to keep track of what they say
when they are sharing their opinions with others online.
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3. Knowing about what your customer’s think of you will enable you to improve
your services if the need arises. Not only that, it will also allow you to
correct their concerns. The world has become ‘social’ and that’s why
everyone feels completely comfortable sharing their thoughts online.
Some local bloggers have a lot of readers, and even if they say something
negative about your business, you can be sure that many of their readers
won’t be interested in your local business anymore.
Times have changed, and customers have become more educated. They do
their research when it comes to purchasing decisions. Customers can’t
relate to businesses; they relate to the other customers, and that’s why they
give importance to what the other customers have to say.
The best way for you to know what people are saying about your local
businesses is by searching for and reading online customer reviews.
How Do You Find Out?
You’ve probably heard of Google; it’s the world’s largest and most popular
online search engine. Most people use Google and other popular search
engines when they want to obtain information regarding almost anything in
this world – including your business.
The easiest way for you to find out what people are saying about your
business is to ‘Google’ your business name. When you perform this task, you
will be presented with all the links that mention your company.
You may come across different review websites where the review of your
product, service, or business has been posted by a customer. Other people
are finding these same customer reviews on the internet as well, and these
reviews are influencing their decisions about whether or not to do business
with you.
So it is critical that you find out where these reviews are being posted so
you can monitor and respond if necessary.
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4. Some of the most popular customer review sites are;
• Google+ Local
This is a free service that allows businesses to register themselves
with Google and become listed on Google Maps and show up in the
search engine results.
As one of the newest additions to Google’s social networking platform,
Google Plus (or Google+), consumers are able to provide reviews in a
much more social manner.
In addition, these reviews are given a “score” that will tell other
consumers how well this business is in the eyes of their existing
customers.
Here are some more popular review sites you should pay attention to:
• Yahoo! Local Listings
• Citysearch
• Yelp
• MerchantCircle
• Superpages
• Insiderpages
If you aren’t able to find your business page on the top review sites, then it’s
a good idea to create a profile on these sites so your customers can have
several different site options to leave a review for your company. Being that
Google is the world’s largest search engine, you definitely should encourage
your readers to leave reviews there – as well as other top review sites.
You can also visit social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter in order
to see what customers are saying about your local business. In addition, you
can set up a ‘Google Alert’ in order to track the name of your business,
products and services, etc. This will enable you to receive an alert whenever
someone mentions anything related to your business.
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5. Following all of the steps mentioned above will enable you to find out exactly
other people are saying about you. Reading customer reviews will give you
an idea about how your products and services fair in the eyes of your
customers. So if it’s feedback you’re looking for, this will provide you with
the hard truth.
How to Respond to What is Being Said
You feel good when people leave a positive customer review, and you even
appreciate the effort. However, things change when you come across a
negative review. You feel as if the customer has attacked you, and you feel
defensive. You may even get into an argument, which may make the
customer to retaliate, leading to more damage!
This is something you shouldn’t do. Getting into an argument with a
reviewer will only worsen things. Search engines gather data, and they don’t
care if that data includes negative reviews and the argument you had with
the reviewer. This argument could end up being displayed at the top of the
search engine results, and that will have a negative impact on your ability to
generate new customers.
Here are some tips that will help you out with you get negative customer
reviews:
• Try Not to Panic or Over-react
The first thing you need to do is stay calm. Don’t panic if you receive a
negative customer review; it even happens to the best businesses. The
important thing for you to figure out is how you can properly handle
the situation.
Receiving a negative review doesn’t mean that it’s the end of the
world. If you happen to see one, simply take a deep breath and figure
out the most professional and positive way to respond.
• Assess the Situation Carefully
The best way to handle any situation is by accessing it properly. Read
the review and see if the complaint is honest, or if it has been posted
by a competitor who wants to make you look bad.
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6. If you feel that negative review is an honest one, then you should
respond to it in a proper manner in order to resolve the issue with the
reviewer. You need to make sure that the customer is satisfied by your
response and contact them find out more information so you can
resolve it.
However, if you think that the review has been posted by a
competitor, then you need to contact the administrators of the site and
prove that the said review is false. Review sites remove such reviews if
you are able to present your case appropriately.
• Don’t Over-Promise and Under-Deliver
This is a mistake a lot of businesses make when faced with a negative
review. They make huge promises that may resolve the situation at
the time, but they aren’t able to deliver on the promises, then the
stream of negative reviews will continue to grow.
• Show That You Care by Responding
When you receive a negative review, make sure that you contact the
reviewer and show him or her that you care about their concerns.
Not only that, but be sure to respond to the actual review that is
posted publicly to show your potential customers that you are willing
to handle any complaints that may arise.
Use a sincere tone and prove that customer satisfaction is your top
priority, which can work in your favor even when there are negative
reviews. This approach may also encourage your other customers to
contact you directly to resolve issues instead of writing a negative
review online for everyone to see.
• Respond to POSITIVE Reviews As Well
Responding to positive reviews is just as important as responding to
negative reviews. Just a simple statement such as, “Thank you for the
feedback! We’re glad you’re satisfied with our product and look
forward to doing business with you again” is powerful. This will create
a bond with your existing happy customers and keep them coming
back to do more business with you.
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7. Conclusion
As you can see, monitoring and responding to your online customer reviews
is a critical piece of managing your online reputation. If you do not know
what is being said about your business online, then there is no chance of you
responding to and correcting those situations.
Neglecting these reviews – especially the negative ones – are likely to hurt
your ability to generate new customers.
However, figuring out where to start with this whole process could be
somewhat confusing to businesses that are new to it. But don’t let that stop
you from taking control of your company image.
I help local businesses in the area monitor and manage their online
reputations and would like to give you some additional information that
could assist you as well.
Contact me at 702-530-3881 for a no-obligation consultation about where
your business stands in the eyes of your customers and potential customers.
I look forward to speaking with you.
Thank you,
Adam Dukes
702-530-3881
Social Sinergy
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Social Sinergy 702-530-3881