Online Reputation Protection: Reviews do matter

Prevent a single negative online review from destroying you, use thank you emails to get customers to review you online. When determining which moving company to select a customer will typically first ask the people in their extended network about their experiences and whom they recommend. This has become the cornerstone used by today’s social media marketers. However the chances are good that a strong positive referral will not be provided.

The next step in their research will typically lead them to Google. This is where your reputation will stand out. Now that Google Places has started showing up in between the 3rd and 4th organic search results it’s far more likely that your dirty laundry will be seen by the world.

Managing your brands reputation is very important. When someone posts a negative comment online about your company it’s there forever. I have seen moving companies with reviews that read “…. And then the cops were called…” This triggers me to immediately skip that company, especially if that’s their only review.

Today the number of reviews and overall rating are impacting SEO, and customers are more trusting of online reviews, especially if a negative trend is seen across multiple reviews. Negative reviews are inevitable in the course of an established company; some maybe mean people you can’t prevent. You can soften the blow of a single negative review by creating a steady stream of new positive reviews. It’s easier to prevent then it is to repair and having processes in place to try and catch those problem moves early that could result in negative reviews can make a huge difference on if you survive in the Internet marketing world.

Online reputation management has been a fast growing area in cyberspace. Large corporations like Pepsi employ social media experts to monitor conversations related to their brand and products to try and protect their reputation. For instance if someone starts saying something negative about an experience it’s not unheard of for a rep to contact them, and offered a solution or some other gesture to smooth things over. This preserves their brand and turns a negative situation into a positive. Depending on how the customer is handled, the company and may come out looking like a hero to all the on lookers.

While it’s not feasible for a small business to employee this level of online brand management it’s important to at least protect yourself from bad online reviews. Twitter and Facebook posts effects are short lived, when the conversation moves on it’s less likely to get seen, however if new reviews are not being posted the old ones just stick around allowing a negative review to impact your company longer. More reviews will improve SEO and help improve your chances of landing new customers. Protect your reputation by making sure more complements are being said then criticisms.

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Negative Press to Avoid