Online Reputation Management

–By Justin Albano, Director of Business Development at Bonfire Social Media–

B2B marketers and business owners often ask me if the benefits of social media only exist in the B2C realm. The answer is a resounding no. The core concepts of social media: establishing your brand as an industry influencer, engaging with your customers, leveraging brand advocates, and nurturing leads along a sales cycle are just as powerful in connecting with companies as they are with consumers. In fact, B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those who do not [1], and 57% of B2B companies have acquired a customer through LinkedIn [2]. However, just like any other marketing tools, here are some best practices that will get you started in the right direction.

1) Know Your Objectives

What do you want? More customers? A better relationship with your customers? Both? As a biz dev guy I love “to do lists,” strategies, and most of all accomplishing objectives. Often, companies that I talk with are either focused on driving more leads or improving their brand’s perception and share of voice. Dependent upon your company’s objectives, you need to understand which, or both, of these categories your company falls into. Without defining your objectives, you stand no chance of measuring success or understanding the effect of your actions.

Action Items:

• Start macro and go micro. What do you really want out of your business? Do you want to grow a secure company that can be passed on to your kids? Do you have a quick profitable exit in mind? Start with your vision and let it set the framework for your strategies in every business facet. Then develop your bottom up action items, i.e. what will it actually take to get there?
• Set success metrics and milestones and review your progress regularly, not just at the end of the year.

2) Understand Your Demographics

It may seem obvious, but it never ceases to amaze me how few companies actually understand who their demographic is, what their buying cycle looks like, what motivating factors/events cause them to take action or where they get information on products and services.

Action Items:

• Create customer profiles that allow you to examine your demographics in a more intimate way. For example, Suzie is a mother of two who works full time, loves to play tennis and hike, cares about the environment, and prefers to watch movies rather than TV. Setting up these profiles gives you a great demographic snapshot and helps to focus your marketing efforts.
• Once you understand your demographic’s buying cycle, what info, education or resources can you provide to make their buying decision easier? This is not only important for brand awareness and brand perception, but should be the driving force behind your lead nurturing cycle.
• It is crucial for you to understand your industry’s keyword landscape. Which keywords are your demographic using to search for the products/services you offer or information related to your offering? Which keywords are obtainable? How do you currently rank for those keywords? Google provides some free tools for the Do-it-Yourselfers, but any digital marketing shop should help you build the list and give you the analytic insights that will enable you to make sense of it all.
• Discover which social platforms your demographics are already engaged with and focus your efforts there. Currently, there are over 800 million users on Facebook, 300 million users on Twitter, 116 million users on LinkedIn and only 60 million users on Google+ [3]. If you currently have an email database, run it through some social networks to discover who is already using which networks. This could save you mountains of time in the long run and allow you to target your unique demographics.
• Listen via social networks like Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and forums, as well as online news sites. Once you know your demographic’s hangouts and keywords, you can listen to social conversations via CMS platforms like HootSuite/TweetDeck and by setting up Google Alerts that monitor articles, blogs and forums that are currently talking about your keywords.

3) Create Value Based Relationships

Social media is not the place for old-school messaging tactics, and the concept of protecting your secret sauce is dead. Company decision makers typically go to your website, not social networks, to learn the benefits of your products or services. Companies and consumers alike are actively searching for value-based content that makes their lives and their buying decisions easier.

Action Items:

• Offer value-based content. If you help companies streamline their processes, don’t just talk about how you do it; offer them free templates or How-To whitepapers that teach them how to be more efficient. Providing this type of value will convert prospects in to fans of your company and customers in to loyal brand advocates.
• Understand the difference between relevant content (e.g. interesting articles, company update s, etc.) and compelling content that provides value and motivates visitors to take action (either by providing contact information or requesting a demo).
• Monitor conversations within social communities, like LinkedIn discussion threads, and offer advice or input wherever possible.
• Don’t be afraid to give away the secret sauce. As we all know, understanding how to do something and actually doing it are two very different things. Some of Bonfire’s best clients are those who tried to do it themselves first and quickly realized that their time and resources are much more effectively spent doing the things that they already excel at rather than learning how to develop custom Facebook tabs, constantly managing social networks, writing blogs or producing webinars.

4) Leverage Your Current Marketing Mix

A common and dangerous myth is that social media replaces traditional and costly marketing channels with free messaging. This is simply not true. Social media is at its best when it is amplifying other marketing efforts or when integrated in to a well thought-out campaign.

Action Items:

• Install social plug-ins throughout your site. These allow visitors to share your content on their preferred social network quickly and with a minimum of effort.
• Utilize landing pages to capture leads and initiate your lead nurturing cycle.
• 59% of B2B purchase decision makers have used their smartphone to research products and services when they are considering purchases [4], so optimize your content and landing pages for the increasing number of mobile users.
• Include QR codes on in-print advertising and articles with compelling calls to action.

This is not rocket science and it’s not revolutionary. Instead, this is a new application of what the heart and soul of American business was when companies took the time to connect with their communities and develop relationships with their customers. As a B2B marketer your audience might be smaller than your B2C counterparts, but that means you can be much more targeted and strategic with your marketing. While a B2C marketer may segment their demographics down to niche communities, you can target specific decision makers within your target companies and develop a value-based relationship that not only nurtures the current sales cycle but also sets a positive framework for a long and supportive business relationship.

—-
Stat Citations
[1] Source: Hubspot, State of Inbound Marketing Lead Generation Report, 2010
[2] Source: http://www.hubspot.com/social-media-monitoring-in-10-minutes-ebook/?source=hspd-affiliate-PID-3701805-txt-ad-social-media-10-min-day-ebook-20110819&AID=10933127&PID=3701805&SID=skim1024X498223X8a5f920e568fa93e07c8561649950bf2
[3] Source: http://www.business2community.com/social-media/b2b-social-media-marketing-statistics-to-ponder-099980
[4] Source: http://socialmediab2b.com/2011/09/b2b-decision-makers-smartphones/#ixzz1jmUIeJul

My house has a leaky roof. Kind of a bummer especially in Portland. Living in Portland, there are several roof companies to choose from. Many of them spend piles of money on traditional advertising such as Radio, TV, YellowPages and Newspaper. So when I went to search for a good, honest roofer, I first searched some of the companies I have heard on the radio. What I learned was shockingly clear. The advertising roof repair companies was outspending their reputation. The reviews for this company were absolutely dreadful. Considering they spend so much on advertising, I can only imagine their prices would be high as well. I have never seen an unanimous one star rating on Yelp, but these guys managed to really deserve it. Not only are the reviews bad, they are long and detailed.

I ultimately ended up calling a different roof company with much better reviews. The point I am trying to outline is the presence of amplified transparency. What the internet and social media can provide is complete transparency. Businesses cannot hide from shoddy service. Transparency will allow the “cream to rise to the top” much quicker than ever. If you are a company that is oblivious to a consumer’s new online voice and how it effects your business, you’re going to see continued diminishing returns from traditional marketing. Consumers are frequently researching products and services before they buy. If you have a bad online reputation, no amount of traditional marketing money is going to increase your business.

By the way, here are the Yelp reviews of the company I ultimately called. Also, on their website they pride themselves on their positive online reviews. I also attached a screenshot of their website layout. I’ll update this post after I receive service.

One question that comes up often with clients is “How do I deal with negative online reviews?” In this post I will discuss the best way to put your company’s digital reputation in good standing. Although some of the suggestions require considerable company resources, I can’t stress the importance of managing your company’s online reviews. Social Media and the Internet enables a transparent world that can make or break any company in a highly competitive market.

Why?

Why is online reputation management important to your business? The short answer is everyone researches companies online before making a buying decision. It’s easy, fast and very informative.  Here are some of the most important statistics:

• 70% consult reviews or ratings before purchasing (BusinessWeek, Oct. 2008)
• Traffic to the top 10 review sites grew on average 158% last year (Compete.com)
• 97% who made a purchase based on an online review found the review to be accurate (Comscore/The Kelsey Group, Oct. 2007)
• 51% of consumers use the Internet even before making a purchase in shops (Verdict Research, May 2009)
• 92% have more confidence in information found online than from a salesclerk or other source (Wall Street Journal, Jan 2009)
• 90% of online consumers trust recommendations from people they know; 70% trust unknown users, 27% trust experts, 14% trust advertising, 8% trust celebrities (Econsultancy, July 2009, Erik Qualman, Socialnomics)
• The average consumer mentions specific brands over 90 times per week in conversations with friends, family, and co-workers. (Keller Fay, WOMMA, 2010)
• 61% of people rely on user reviews for product information or research before a buying decision is made. (Razorfish, 2008)
• 34% have turned to social media to air their feelings about a company. 26% to express dissatisfaction, 23% to share companies or products they like. (Harris Poll, April 2010)
• 75% of people don’t believe that companies tell the truth in advertisements (Yankelovich)

(Hat Tip on stats – Moto Message & BazaarVoice)

Your customers are researching, reading, learning and reviewing you right now. They have grown to expect more than just a static company website and many feel it is their duty to update the online community about your business.

What can my company do?

The simple answer is: Be the best business you can by providing outstanding service and products that consumers love. A good start is to ensure you make a superior product and educate your employees about how to best deal with unhappy customers.  If you are a sales organization, this could mean attaching consequences to poor reviews or correlating positive feedback to incentives and salary.

Organic Tactics

One way to help boost positive reviews is to make it simple for new customers to sing your praises. Ensuring that the company website or online store has the capability for customers to submit reviews is essential.  This can be unnerving for some businesses because of the risk of bad reviews, but studies have shown that most reviews are positive. (Across all of Bazaarvoice US clients, 80% of product ratings are 4 or 5 stars out of 5. Across all of Bazaarvoice UK clients, 88% of product ratings are 4 or 5 stars out of 5. – “J Curve,” Bazaarvoice and Keller Fay)

Inciting Reviews for Physical Locations

For businesses that don’t have an online purchase or product, it’s a bit more difficult to ensure customers have the ability to post great reviews.  Restaurants, hotels and other brick-and-mortars  can create on-site computing centers for customers. The photo below is an example of an on-site computing center with signs helping to direct customers to review websites.

Email Follow-Up

Another option for generating additional reviews are follow-up emails soliciting feedback.When using follow-up emails,  remember to give customers several social network options and keep the directions simple.  Google and Bing have their own review systems, but they also aggregate reviews from Yelp, CitySearch, Angie’s List and Dex. Make sure to provide a link to the business listing where you want your customer to post the review. There could be multiple listings for your business on one website so it’s best to consolidate reviews to one listing.  Consolidating reviews will also help overall SEO (search engine optimization) by making it easy for search engines to find and understand your business.

Non-Organic Tactics: Pay to Play

Bonfire does not endorse companies paying for false reviews, however it can be an effective tactic.  Google, Bing and Yelp use complicated algorithms to determine review relevance. If the mayor of a large city that has 2 million followers on Twitter and 500,000 ‘Likes’ on Facebook reviews a restaurant on Yelp, it’s likely the review would be more visible than a review by someone without any community standing. As networks become more interconnected, community relevance will become more important.

Companies that can “fix” or buy a brand’s online reputation use scripted reviews on popular websites to boost awareness. Pricing can range from $5,000-$10,000 over the course of 6 months.

Summary

As you have read, online reviews are important for your business.  A good online reputation is best achieved by encouraging outstanding business practices and providing customers the tools to share their story.  If you have anything to add or know of any other solutions to online reputation management, please share below.