When a consumer is looking for a reputable company, they are likely to search online for reviews before making a decision and a purchase. It follows, then, that if a company has poor or even mediocre online reviews, they are likely losing potential new business on a fairly regular basis. This difficult realization can be compounded by the fact that some online reviews are false, while others could potentially be prevented or resolved through fast, caring responses. This is why review monitoring is so critical to online reputation management, it can help a business protect and grow their reputation.
How to Monitor Reviews
Once you understand the importance of reviewing monitoring, you may wonder how to undertake this huge task. After all, consumers don’t only post reviews directly to a business’ website, but also to a wide range of other sites as well. Following are some tips for effectively monitoring reviews:
● Find where your business is listed online. You can often find these sites by running a search for “your business name + reviews”. It’s important to be thorough, so look through the first three pages of results and note down all sites that mention your business. Also consider any social media sites where your business has a profile or is mentioned.
● Find out where your business currently ranks on various sites. For each site that mentions your business, note down how many reviews you have and what your overall ranking is.
● Determine, based on the number of sites and the number of reviews, how often you need to monitor them. If there are only a few sites and not a lot of reviews, checking once a month may be sufficient. However, if there are quite a few reviews spread across quite a few sites, you may need to check several times a week.
● Start checking reviews and responding as necessary. Once you know what is being said about your business, you can work on improving your reputation by responding appropriately.