In a new Word of the Week video release Fiona Lewis from Super Savvy Business talks about the importance of having a strong online reputation management system in your business. She highlights the big impact negative reviews can have on a business, as well as simple ways to remove the negative reviews from search engines (in the space of just 6 weeks). Mrs Lewis also shares some tips on the best places to ask your clients for reviews.

1. 5 Main ideas from the video: 0:10 - Stop ignoring online reviews, your reputation can suffer! 0:53 - Eliminating negative reviews from first page search results 2:20 - Positive online reviews give you an edge over your competition 3:25 - Identifying the optimum time & place to ask for online reviews 4:58 - Want to brainstorm your reputation management system with me?
Hi, Fiona Lewis here from Super Savvy Business.
0:10 - Stop ignoring online reviews, your reputation can suffer!
One of the key areas that a business should have its key focus on in its digital marketing strategy is how you are going to manage the online reputation of your company, and any key stakeholders within the company.
Online Reviews Giving You An Edge Over Your Competition: Do You Know What People Say About You Online?

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Many business owners don’t really know what’s going on in the world wide web as far as what people are saying about their business. They may be aware that people are talking about them, but they are not really monitoring that on a regular basis, nor are they doing anything about encouraging people to leave positive feedback.
So today’s video is going to briefly cover the topic of what you can do to encourage people to leave positive feedback on online review sites.
0:53 - Eliminating negative reviews from first page search results
One of my clients, for example, they had some positive reviews, but unfortunately there were also some negative reviews. The sad thing is, that although the positive reviews far outweighed the negative reviews, when people did a search for that company the negative reviews were showing up in the top 10 results.
So what can we do in this kind of situation?

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It’s not really that hard, but you need to start by creating an online review strategy, or a systemised review process, where somewhere within your sales and marketing process you are encouraging people to leave their feedback through online review sites.
So with this particular company we implemented a strategy only 6 weeks ago and within 6 weeks their online reviews have grown by 38%, and all of those reviews have been positive. In the last 24 hours they have received 11 positive reviews across sites such as Facebook, Google Pages, and True Local.
You might be wondering what happens now, when we start to google for this business’ name. We have managed to remove the negative results from the front page of the search results. Of course, those negative reviews are there, but because there is new, fresh content going on a regular basis to the reviews sites, those sites are showing the most up to date results.
2:20 - Positive online reviews give you an edge over your competition
What does this do from a social proof point of view?
Let’s say, for instance, I was looking to hire a company for a particular service and I was tossing up between company A and company B.
Now, when I googled company A, I could see their website and I could see their LinkedIn profile and perhaps I could see their Facebook page… but I couldn’t really find any reviews or anyone talking about that company, so I don’t really know what their reputation is like. I know how they’re trying to present themselves in the online space, but I don’t really know what their reputation is like as far as the customer experience is concerned.
However, when I google company B, I find reviews on True Local, on Yelp, on Google Places, and on Facebook. And although I might find the old review that might not be positive, the overwhelming number of reviews are very positive about this company.
Which company do you think I am likely to choose?

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I am sure that you would agree that most people would be more likely to choose company B.
3:25 - Identifying the optimum time & place to ask for online reviews
For your homework this week, if your company and your business does not have a review system or a way of encouraging reviews then it is time to sit down and plan it.
But now you might be thinking to yourself, “What is an online review process?” or “How do I systemise this whole reputation management process?”
It is a matter of seeing down with the key stakeholders in your business and working out where your points of contact are with your clients and where you can let them know about leaving reviews. And ask them to leave a review. Because if you don’t ask, you don’t get.
You might have point of sale material, whether they be little flyers, signage, perhaps your sales staff could be asking front-line reviews… Perhaps if you are an online business, in your followup email you can send them a ‘Thank You!’ with a link to the review sites, asking them to leave feedback for you on the different sites that you would like to build your reputation.
These are just a couple of ideas, but I am sure that if you sit down and brainstorm, there are plenty of other ways that you can encourage reviews. I know some businesses also offer rewards; for instance, they might offer points to their client accounts, or perhaps a percentage discount off their next purchase as a Thank You for giving an online review.
In fact, I was in a shop recently and they had a sign at the cash register that mentioned if I checked in on Facebook right then and there and left a review, then I would receive a discount off my purchase. So, of course I did that!

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So have a little think on what you might do and I am sure you will come up with plenty of ideas!
4:58 - Want to brainstorm your reputation management system with me?
If you have any questions, please leave them in the Comments section below and I will be happy to have a discussion with you about it; perhaps we can brainstorm some of the ideas together about different ways of encouraging online reviews.
That’s all I have for today. My name is Fiona Lewis and I will look forward to seeing you in the next video.

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