Fake online reviews can lead to heavy fines and lower brand reputation. This article tells about how businesses can ensure efficient internet reputation management.

1. www.viralseoservices.comwww.viralseoservices.com
Managing Reputation:
Perils of Fake Online Reviews and
Tips to Getting Authentic Ones

2. www.viralseoservices.com
Though good online reviews from reputable review sites (for example, Yelp,
Google Reviews) can aid your internet reputation management efforts and
improve your conversions, the practice of astroturfing or hiring professionals to
write positive reviews for your website and/or negative reviews for your
competitors is very disruptive. You may get sued for that and end up paying a
huge amount of money as penalty. Recently, the tech giant Samsung was fined
around $340,000 by Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) for employing a large
number of hired writers and designated employees for their astroturf campaign
which involved posting good reviews and comments about their own products
and negative reviews for competitors’ products. Two local firms were also fined
$100,000 for their contribution to the campaign.
According to the FTC, the local firms and Samsung employees cleaned the
negative comments on Samsung products and highlighted the faults of
competitor products without disclosing this was being done on Samsung’s behalf.
Even though this campaign appeared to be mainly focused on knocking down
Samsung’s mobile competitor HTC, other companies’ products also got affected.
In the U.S, the practice of astroturfing violates the Endorsement and Advertising
Guidelines set down by the Federal Trade Commission. A year-long investigation
into the reputation management industry entitled ‘Operation Clean Turf’ by the
New York Attorney General’s office ended in September 2013 and found that 19
companies were involved in the manipulation of consumer-review websites and
astroturfing. These companies flooded fake reviews on the Internet by posting
bogus consumer reviews on prominent review sites including Yelp, Google Local
and CitySearch. They used techniques to hide their identities during this
campaign such as creating fake profiles for posting reviews and paying freelance
writers from the Philippines, Bangladesh and Eastern Europe $1 to $10 per
review. By the time the undercover investigation was done, New York Attorney
General Eric T. Schneiderman had doled out more than $350,000 in fines
(ranging from $2500 to $100,000). All the companies agreed to stop the practice
of writing fake reviews for their businesses and pay the fine.

3. www.viralseoservices.com
Once the consumers find the reviews are not authentic, they won’t come back to
your site or recommend your products to others. This will lower your online
reputation. So, if you really want to build your brand reputation, avoid posting
fake reviews. You should also monitor your sites and applications constantly for
review spam and filter them. Watch out for posts that are full of empty
adjectives and praise with no caveats and those that talk only about product
features (real users talk more about performance, reliability and value). Be
careful about the reviews that are all posted with very short time duration
between them.
Tips to Get Good Online Reviews
Locate Satisfied Customers: - Your happy customers would definitely
have something to talk about your positives and give suggestions to improve
your service. If you own a website for your plastic surgery service, the
comments from a patient who underwent face restoration surgery for burns
and got the best results matters a lot. So, take efforts to identify both your
satisfied clients and unsatisfied ones. According to the nature of your
business, conduct a satisfaction survey or call your customers periodically
and ask their opinion.
Request Them for Testimonials or Online Reviews: - Once you find
satisfied customers, collect their e-mail addresses and send mails
periodically requesting their testimonials or reviews. Make sure that your
mails do not take the form of spam as the customers will discard them. It is
very important to make it easy for customers to post their testimonials or
reviews. You can send the link to your review section (your web page or
review sites) with appropriate instructions. Don’t offer them any discounts,
free offers or money in exchange for the reviews. Customers periodically and
ask their opinion.

4. www.viralseoservices.com
Good reviews are part of an effective social media optimization campaign,
and can improve the exposure and popularity of your brand.
To enhance your brand reputation, you should avoid posting fake reviews, filter
review spam and encourage happy customers to write reviews, and also respond
to reviews and show your customers that you care about them. Do not ignore
negative reviews if they appear genuine. Respond to them as fast as you can,
but thoughtfully. Provide factual information to counter the negative comments,
Use Social Media Channels: - By posting the latest news about your
product or services along with the full address of your website on social
networking sites, you can receive responses from a large number of customers
quickly in the form of shares, comments, likes, retweets, and repins. You can
identify your satisfied customers easily from this and add them as your fans
and followers to send messages asking them to share their experiences on
your business page (social networking sites provide you with the opportunity
to create a page exclusively for your business) or website. You can also
encourage them to write their stories along with hashtags. Ask customers in
your social media circle to rate your products or services to collect feedback
and generate social interest. Facebook has launched starred reviews for users
to rate business pages (as given below).

5. www.viralseoservices.com
if you can. Otherwise, apologize and assure the customers that you are taking
efforts to improve your service. This will highlight your positive attitude towards
customers and also prove that you are not faking reviews. Since it is rather
difficult to monitor each customer interaction and take decision, getting support
from a professional SEO company that offers online reputation
management services is desirable.