With Google Leading the Charge, Reviews are More Important

by | Nov 26, 2013 | Business Strategy, Online Marketing, Reputation Management, reputation marketing

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reputation copy 2This is a continuing series of articles on the importance of Reputation Management as well as Marketing for businesses.

With the announcement on 11/26/13 from Google that it had redesigned it’s Review Monitoring System for its Places for Business Dashboard (http://bit.ly/1bizbiv) you would expect that business would understand how important it is to have a steady focus on garnering customer feedback.

What is great about this new platform is that it will not only provide a summary of reviews from Google + Local but also other review sites that Google crawls and finds your business’s name. This is huge as a time saving aggregator for those who monitor their presence online.

In a previous article, Your Reputation is Not Being Shared Correctly I focused on the difference between Reputation Management (passive) versus Reputation Marketing (active). This new dashboard will make it easier to find great reviews and then leverage them in marketing as well as responds when necessary.

I have put together a quick summary/checklist for businesses who are wondering how to get started.

Goal: to control and improve your online reputation

Strategies: Visibility, Engagement, Incentives, and Monitoring

Tactics:

  • Visibility
    • Research where you are currently showing in reviews
      • Look in Google + Local Account
      • Type in Search: Business Name+ Reviews
      • Create monthly list of what sites you will send customers to in order to post comments
    • Work with your Website platform to make it easier to find reviews on your website
    • Make sure that in your business physical location that you have posters of your staff, Wall of Fame and other assets to show you use feedback in order to serve customers better
  • Engagement
    • Ask every person who does business with you. Create a process that engages without overwhelming customers with requests for feedback.
    • Respond to all negative posts. Post short response to bring conversation offline.
    • Respond to 60% of positive reviews as well.
    • Keep responses short. Do not try to defend your business online
    • Make sure you are using Social Media platforms for review postings
    • Create and post video testimonials from customers on website and YouTube.
  • Incentives
    • Do not give incentives to staff for reviews. It will lead them to create “one and done” accounts that Google and other platforms do not like
    • Do not offer gifts or services to customers in order to get reviews
    • Find creative ways to involve your team.
      • Team breaks a certain goal they get lunch
      • Top reviewer gets on Wall of Fame
      • Have reviews scrolling on a flat screen TV
  • Monitoring
    • Monitor accounts daily in order to respond accordingly
    • Track amount of reviews on all platforms monthly
    • Read competitors reviews to see how you can capitalize on their failures

Each week, reputation results should be reviewed in weekly staff meetings. If the top leadership does not make this important, it will not happen. Reviews have an impact on buyers of your products.

 

This is a short version of a process I recommend. If you would like to have a longer version please contact me directly and I will be more than willing to help.

 is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker  and Management Trainer. If you liked this article, please share.