In our global community reviews are becoming increasingly important. People are able to review your company, products and services from their computer and mobile phone. This can be extremely advantageous for companies that have amazing customer service. It can also drive business away if you have the wrong staff in place.
Here is what you need to know about review sites and how they are impacting your business behind the scenes:
Google+
Every company should have a Google+ page. It provides information on your products and services, contact information, areas to share content, and a place for customers to review your business. Google+ is important for SEO and should be part of any social media strategy. You also need to monitor it on a regular basis and respond to any negative reviews. Google will assign a ranking to your company when it comes up in search results based on how many positive and negative reviews you have. If you have loyal customers giving you positive reviews it can help you to capture more market share by establishing consumer confidence.
Yelp
This popular tool allows consumers to review a variety of businesses and they do so frequently. Yelp reviews can also help to improve your SEO but negative ones are likely to create a chain reaction of further negativity. A lot of companies don’t realize they are being reviewed on Yelp and ignore the comments. You should do a search on a regular basis and respond to people. Do this for good and bad reviews so that you can engage consumers. Use it as part of your social media strategy.
People will make comments on your Facebook and other social media profiles. Make sure to engage with people. One of my companies had someone post a negative comment about customer service. It alerted us to a potential problem that we were able to solve immediately. That customer probably saved us from losing other customers by making us aware of an issue. Simultaneously we were able to turn the situation around and got a loyal customer in the process.
Use review sites to your advantage by asking your best customers to give you a review online. Even solopreneurs can benefit from having reviews on their Google+ page. Reviews are the equivalent of today’s word of mouth recommendations. Use them, comment on them, and make strides to growing your business. If you end up with multiple negative reviews consider using the reputation management tools that sites like Yelp offer. Each time someone reviews you it is an opportunity to gain a new customer.
Bethany Wood
Bethany Wood is a serial entrepreneur and has started several successful companies in a variety of fields including manufacturing, distribution, consumer goods, financial services, marketing and consulting. She is currently the President of SEI International and has business interest in the US, India and China. As an entrepreneur Bethany is constantly finding opportunities to expand SEI’s holdings and as a business owner she is continually learning new ways to improve business performance. As a writer Bethany contributed to and edited the Back to Basics management book.
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