Word-of-mouth has always been a great marketing tactic for local businesses, but just as marketing has evolved, so has word-of-mouth. What was once consisted of sharing your favorite restaurant or gym with friends or family has evolved to sharing with anyone who has an internet connection.
88% of people say they trust online reviews as much as recommendations from friends, making digital word-of-mouth not only incredibly important for local business, but potentially devastating. In many ways local businesses are more vulnerable to online reputation attacks because of this shift in word-of-mouth.
If someone criticizes Target, it’s not great for Target, but they have such a large marketing budget that an online rant won’t damage them. At the same time, an online criticism about a local business can ruin their services. Even the television show, Castle, brought up the importance of a business’ social reputation, making negative reviews murder worthy.
While I don’t condone killing those airing their thoughts and opinions on social media, I do think you need to keep track of what people are saying about you. But where should you go first?
Where should you start monitoring your social reputation?
Brian Solis and JESS3 put together a list of the most impactful social networks in the landscape. It’s a bit overwhelming looking at all the places your business could be talking or interacting with people.
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But the first place your business should start is anywhere you currently have a social media presence for your business. Don’t disregard the conversations your customers are trying to have with you on those various networks. They are public for anyone to see and need to be taken responded to.
Remember that person who wrote on your Facebook Page that they needed to return something but didn’t know where to start who you never responded to? People can see that and if you don’t respond, that customer may not return and the other people seeing it may not return as well. And if you did respond to it, but gave no acknowledgement on the page, that can have the same result, too.
The places you currently have a presence you need to track engagement and respond. But where else should you be tracking your customer opinion online?
Track Customer Opinions on Facebook
It was recently announced Facebook has 30 million small businesses with an active Page, so likelihood is, you fit into that 30 million. Facebook is a great place for small businesses to start being social because it provides multiple apps for you to better serve your audience. Apps such as Menutab, Contact Form and Reviews. These are all things you add to your Page to enhance your user
experience, but they can also leave you in a negative light if not tracked.
Reviews are important for showing you are a transparent business and give your customers a space to rate you beyond directly writing on your Page’s wall. Make sure to read each review visible to you on your Page and respond to every single one. This shows your focus on customer service and providing the most to every person you interact with.
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Keep in mind you might not be able to see every single review. Some people have certain privacy settings that allow only their Facebook friends to see what they have written making it even more important to monitor and respond to the reviews you can, as well as having a Contact Form available for disgruntled customers to always be able to get in touch with you.
Track Customer Opinions on Twitter
Twitter is notorious for intimidating small businesses, many considering it too much of a hassle to manage, but with over 500 Million users your business has more than a few customers there who could potentially be tweeting about you.
They could be tweeting great things about your business, which could be mini testimonials or tweeting negative things that could bring harm. Be able to compound the positive first by seeing it and sharing it yourself. Then respond to the negative, hopefully mitigating a potential customer meltdown.
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Being socially active here (even if mainly monitoring what people are saying about you) can be a major benefit to your business. Don’t turn a blind eye to a huge social network because it doesn’t seem easy to navigate.
Another important piece to Twitter is being able to track your competitor’s feeds, giving you a critical business edge. By looking at your competitors, it’s possible to track new trends and valuable information in your field that can help you change your business’ social strategy.
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Track Customer Opinions on Yelp
Yelp is a community based on user-generated reviews for local businesses. A Harvard University study on Yelp shows that a 1-star difference in reviews on this social community may result in 5% to 9% in business gain or loss. Your business could already be receiving reviews on Yelp and not tracking what those reviewers are saying could be influencing your business in a major way.
Follow what people are saying and respond to reap positive benefits from this network.
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Track Customer Opinions on Google My Business
Google My Business is the latest from Google for small businesses. It combines Google Search, Google Maps and Google+ so that you can manage all of your Google accounts from one place.
Customers have more opportunity than ever to share their experience and Google now makes it easier than ever for you to interact with your reviewer. Google My Business allows you to not only connect with your customers but allows you to show up better in search results and in local searches, which consist of 59% of Google searches.
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The reviews through Google can have a very high influence on business because whenever someone searches for your business they will have easy access to your five star rating and the subsequent reviews. 50% of local mobile searches result in that inquiry visiting that local business, customer opinion in reviews could greatly influence whether a local mobile searcher goes to your business or not!
Track Customer Opinions Where Your Customer’s Are
While Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and Google are the best places to start, there are many other places customer’s could be leaving reviews of your business. For doctor’s who feel like mainstream social media isn’t the place for their practice there is ZocDoc, a scheduling and a verified review service provided to doctor’s for free. For lawyers there are sites like Avvo that provide answers to legal questions along with the ability to find and review lawyers so that anyone needing their assistance can better understand the help they can attain.
While professional services may not feel they have a place to discover customer opinion online, there is always a website that may already contain a review you have yet to see.
33% of negative reviews turn positive when they are responded to, making proactive social tracking and monitoring something that either needs to be done by yourself or with some help. Sometimes you just don’t have the time to commit to online customer service, but with 88% of people trusting online reviews, monitoring what people are saying about your business should be a high priority. Social Reputation Management from LocalVox is a great place to get started managing your social reputation without having to worry about all the places you need to be tracking it. You can work with a dedicated Marketing Strategist to get the most out of positive reviews and respond to negative ones, increasing your social performance all from one dashboard!
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Social monitoring should be thought of as a form of insurance. You hope you never get into an accident but having insurance helps if something does come up. Keep any potential damage negative comments could inflict by catching them early and knowing how to respond!
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