Thanks to consumer review sites like Yelp and Citysearch, it is easier than ever for potential customers to learn more about local businesses. In fact, a survey conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation showed that 84 percent of Americans allow online reviews to influence their purchasing decisions. Unfortunately, sites such as these do not always offer the most accurate and unbiased information possible.
Whether it is an implacable customer, or an anonymous attack from a competitor, review sites tend to highlight negative information while allowing little recourse for business owners to defend their reputation. This is why, in today’s digital world, businesses must be vigilant in protecting their reputation online. Small business owners must understand how social media tools can work against them, and, more importantly, how they can make social media tools work for them. Recently, the New York Times highlighted some ways to help small businesses do just that.
The article suggests small business owners do several things, such as track online content about your company (using Google Alerts among other tools), reach out to negative reviewers to make sure you understand their concern, and promote the positive aspects of your business using free social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and more. For the full article, which offers some excellent real world examples, follow this link.
Obviously, the best thing small businesses can do to make sure they maintain a positive online reputation is to offer quality service to their customers. However, as I alluded to earlier in the post, there are still ways for maliciously-minded individuals to game the system. When that happens, you might think about calling in an expert to help you with the problem.
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[...] ← Small Business Reputation Management Tips from the New York Times [...]
[...] we shared an article from the New York Times explaining how businesses can use social media to both hurt and help online reputations, [...]
I think that reputation management becomes more important every day. Consumers look for reviews of businesses products and services to make their buying decisions.
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