Moviestar Marketing helps business manage online reviews using a number of different methods.
Customer reviews can make or break the online reputation of a company. Reviews on sites like Yelp, Google+ and local business directories have a huge impact on consumer purchase decisions and how they perceive a brand.
According to a detailed study by Invesp, almost 90% customers in the U.S read online reviews, while 88% people trust reviews as much as personal recommendations.
Thousands of reviews, mostly negative, about local and international businesses are posted on the web every day. Many companies involved in unethical practices hire freelancers to create fake negative reviews to undermine the credibility of their competitors.
This is why it’s important for businesses to take control of their online reviews and manage them effectively.
Overview of Online Review Management
Online review management is a core part of online reputation management (ORM). It’s a reputation management practice that involves identification of relevant review platforms, close monitoring of online reviews, various strategies and techniques to maximize positive reviews and counter the negative ones.
Because of the large number of online reviews posted every day on the internet, online review management is done using a combination of smart automation and manual activities by skilled reputation management professionals.
In general, the overall activities performed by an online review management team can be divided into three broad categories.
- Monitoring online reviews
- Improving positive online reviews
- Removing or countering negative reviews
Here’s a quick look at each one of them.
Monitoring Online Reviews
Thousands of reviews are posted everyday on sites like Google+, Yelp, Twitter, Foursquare, Yellow Pages etc. Manually monitoring these sites for any negative reviews on a regular basis is almost impossible. Which is why professional ORM companies, like ReputationX, use a combination of automation and manual monitoring. An automated review monitoring system sends alerts whenever a brand is mentioned on a review site or anywhere on the web. The manual review team can then take over and devise an action plan to counter the review.
Here are some free but powerful ways brands can use to monitor online reviews
- Google Alerts
Setting up Google alerts is the best way to get notified about new content on the web, including online reviews.
Once an alert has been set up, Google send an email to the registered user whenever a new piece of content is indexed in its search results.
- Social Media Monitoring
Many customers share reviews on social media platforms like Twitter, Google+ and Facebook. Monitoring these platforms with tools like Hootsuite or TweetDeck can be helpful in identifying new reviews.
- Review Websites
Apart from mainstream review sites like Yelp, Trip Advisor, Google My Business etc., there are dozens of niche specific review sites in every industry. They need to be monitored through professional review management companies since they require a lot of time and effort.
After closely monitoring online reviews, a professional reputation company would analyze them in detail and come up with a strategy to generate more positive reviews and minimize the negative ones.
Improving Online Reviews
Generating positive online reviews is an art that many businesses struggle to master. Instead of buying fake reviews or forcing customers to leave reviews, the right approach is to make review generation a part of the business experience.
Instead of directly asking customers straightaway, smart review management experts generate reviews by encouraging consumers and making them feel a part of an exclusive group.
There are also several automated ways to generate customer reviews using smart reminders. For example, for an invoicing system review requests can be tied directly into by sending thank you correspondence designed to automatically draw good reviews to Google Plus, Yelp, Facebook, and Twitter.They make reviews a part of their marketing campaigns and regular communication by using links to their review profiles on prominent places like their websites and email signatures.
Removing Negative Reviews
Removing negative reviews is a time consuming activity. Every review site has its own policies about negative review removal. However, professional review management companies have dedicated teams that analyze negative reviews and get them removed if they violate the policies of the review site.
And even if a review site declines the removal request, negative reviews can be effectively countered by generating more positive reviews. This also makes the review profile look natural.
Best Practices for Review Management
Here are some of the best practices to follow while managing online reviews
- Building comprehensive profiles on all review sites.
- Closely monitoring online reviews.
- Maximizing positive reviews by encouraging customers and offering incentives.
- Removing negative reviews whenever possible.
- Countering negative reviews with more positive reviews.
- Responding to negative reviews in a polite manner.
- Understanding the customer’s point of view and improving service standards.
- Avoiding arguments on review sites.
Online reviews have a major impact on a brand’s reputation. This is why it’s important to have a comprehensive review management strategy that generates positive reviews and effectively counters negative reviews.