With 88% of consumers trusting online reviews as much as a personal recommendation, managing your online reputation becomes essential. So, where do you start?

First, you need reviews.

The more consumers talk about your business online, the more search engines will push you up the rankings. Google and the other search engines will position websites in search engine page results according to different ranking factors and review signals represent 10% of these factors. Both review quantity and diversity are contributing factors when it comes to ranking your page. That is why you need to get your satisfied customers to leave online reviews. To help build your review strategy online, you can use email marketing automation and entice your best clients to talk about their positive experience.

Now that you have reviews, you need to manage them.

This is where you can open the discussion with your consumers. Whether it is a positive or a negative comment, make sure you take the time to answer. A positive comment can convert your customer into brand ambassadors. On the other hand, a negative comment you answer with empathy, including a contextual solution can turn a bad experience into a positive experience. One thing though: make sure you get that reply online as soon as possible to avoid frustration build-up.

Canned responses will allow you to answer in a timely manner, but we recommend to always add a personal touch and adapt the message to the comment.

Tracking, analyzing and answering to all your locations’ online reviews in all local directories can easily become a full-time job when done manually. That is why we built TECHLOCAL, so business managers can spend less time on finding the reviews and more time analyzing and optimizing their online presence strategy. Our tool lets you see, track, analyze and answer all your locations’ online reviews in one place. To learn more on TECHLOCAL, click here.