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Are You Sharing Reviews at The Right Time?

When to postWe’ve pointed at the importance of posting positive online reviews on your business Facebook profile in a previous post. It’s a great way to reach an audience beyond your own, help your brand gain momentum, and get new clients. Today, we’re taking it one step further and looking at the best times to share. Waiting a day, or even an hour, to share a positive review with your Facebook friends can have a tremendous effect on how many people see, share, and interact with your post, so it pays to know precisely when your audience is active.

When is the best time to post on Facebook?

You may be eager to share a positive review with your Facebook friends as soon as it’s received, but this might not be the best strategy. Just because you’re most active on social media during work hours doesn’t mean your audience is. In fact, research shows that Facebook users tend to be scrolling through their newsfeed on Wednesday at 3PM. Still, this doesn’t necessarily mean 3PM on Wednesday is the best time for you.  Fortunately, Facebook offers a tool called Facebook Insights, which allows users to see when their audience is most active. With this information, you can see clearly the most effective time to post.

Use Buffer

If Facebook Insights shows that your audience is most active after you’ve already called it a night, you needn’t set an alarm – use Buffer. Buffer is a tool that shows members the best possible time to post, and unlike Facebook Insights, allows you to schedule a status update in advance. They offer a free version – it’s worth checking out.

Respond Promptly

Posting at the right time might not be enough to make you famous on Facebook overnight, but keep at it and you’re sure to see increased engagement. This means that you’ll be responding to more comments. A lot of online marketers recommend that you respond as soon you possibly can. Sure, being prompt shows that you care about what your customers are saying, but don’t let this recommendation stress you out. Feel free to enter the conversation at any point in a 24-hour period. Set aside an hour a night to make sure you’ve responded appropriately to every comment. If you don’t have time or don’t feel comfortable, enlist the help of a social media professional.

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Facebook is always rolling out with new algorithms to increase relevancy and improve personalization. At LinkNow Media, we’re committed to keeping up with these updates to ensure we’re always providing the best Facebook tips! Keep stopping by!

 

 

Online Presence: Tips for Startups

start up

We’ve talked a few times about the importance of responding to online reviews. Whether you’re dealing with a favorable opinion or harsh criticism, it’s important that you acknowledge your customers and respond appropriately. However, before you can respond to any reviews, you first need to be aware that you’ve received reviews. This can be a difficult and time-consuming task for a new business owner juggling several responsibilities. Who has time to keep up with all that? Luckily, there are many tools available that will help you keep up with what people are saying about your business, such as:

Which Monitor Tool is Best?

Some of these tools are more robust than others, so you’ll want to research each one to determine which is best suited for your business. As a startup, it’s in your best interest to go with a more dynamic tool. No one knows who you are, and that means you’ll need a strong web presence from the get-go.

Why Monitoring is Important for New Businesses

People trust online reviews in the same way they trust personal recommendations, but you’re not going to earn trust overnight. Establishing solid relationships with your customers takes time and effort, and it starts online. These days, people are expecting to see a company response, so you can’t afford to not reply. This is your chance to show your customers that you are approachable and can relate to their situation, whether it’s good or bad. It’s also an opportunity to spread the word about how people can get in touch with you, whether that’s by phone, email, or social media.

Why Do You Need A Strong Online Presence?

How people perceive your company is everything, and the stakes are higher for startups. You don’t have the chance to establish yourself then transition online. You’re doing these things tandem, and it can be a lot to handle. Monitoring tools like the ones listed above can make the process of responding a lot less tedious.

Having a strong online presence is an important factor in the success of your business, and having a conversation with your customers in the comments section on review sites like Yelp, Angie’s List, and Trip Advisor is a huge part of that. It’s unfortunate that so many startups fail in the first 5 years simply because business owners struggle when it comes to managing their online presence.

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This is just the tip of the iceberg. We are always looking for new tools that help small business owners manage their online presence, so stay tuned.

4 Tips To Help You Make The Most of Your Testimonial Page

apples

If you are selling a product or providing a service, incorporating a customer testimonial page on your website should be part of your digital marketing strategy. Unbiased comments from a third party greatly increase credibility and can help a client who is on the fence choose your company over your competitor.

Once integrated, encourage satisfied clients to share their words of praise on your website. If they’re happy with your services, they’ll be happy to do so. These reviews can prompt visitors to make a purchase or encourage an already satisfied client to follow suit with a comment. Even when customer testimonials are coming in, you shouldn’t go on autopilot. There’s more you can do to drive traffic to your website. Here are some tips that will help you make the most of your testimonials:

Showcase Your Testimonials

Reviews needn’t be relegated to the testimonial page. Consider using testimonials elsewhere on your website, such as your homepage. Your homepage serves as an introduction to your company, so why toot your own horn? No one likes a bragger! Let your happy clients do the legwork.

Consider Video Testimonials

Seeing and hearing a real person talk about your company can have a greater impact than simply reading. Approach a loyal client with the idea of creating a short video about how they benefited from your service or product. Video testimonials can provide visitors with the experience they’re looking for.

Include a Visual  

Numerous studies indicate that including a human face on your website can increase conversions. This is because people often buy based on emotional factors, so an image of a person can be an effective way to connect with your audience. Including a photo of your happy customer alongside their testimonial can significantly elevate the text.

Write Testimonials For Other Companies

As the old saying goes, what goes around comes around. As a small business, you should always be looking to build relationships with other businesses in your area. If you need a professional, like a plumber or a painter, team up with someone local. If you are pleased with their services, leave a testimonial on their webpage. It’s not only a nice thing to do, but it is a great way to build links back to your website. Not to mention, they’ll be giving you a call when they’re in a pickle. It’s a win-win.

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Never underestimate the power of customer reviews. If technical work isn’t in your wheelhouse, get in touch with your web designer to get the ball rolling on your testimonial page.

How Successful Companies Respond to Tweets

planeThere’s no shortage of people on the internet sharing advice on the best and worst ways to respond to negative feedback. A lot of it seems like common-sense: be kind, be prompt, offer an apology. Still, as much as fighting fire with fire seems like an obvious no-no, keeping cool can be difficult when faced with harsh criticism. Hearing nasty words about your company isn’t easy, especially when a lot of people can see it, so your gut reaction may be to go on the defense. You can brush up all you want on the do’s and don’ts, but it doesn’t change the fact that negative Tweets can often leave you at a loss for words. Likewise, even words of praise can prove difficult. How do you show your customer’s your appreciation in a way that is personable? Sometimes, it helps to take a hint from the pros.

Quick Response Times and Problem Solvers

Airlines probably get the most abuse in terms of customer reviews. Think about it, one thing goes wrong and it’s the end of the world. Travelers are often overtired, jet lagged and in a hurry to get home or begin their trip. No one writes a scathing review like an unsatisfied vacationer who has a delayed flight or missing baggage. Jet Blue usually responds to online comments within an hour. Their Twitter feed is impressive! People experiencing flight concerns, luggage hassles, Wi-Fi or boarding issues are less likely to post a negative review if they receive speedy social media replies. Sometimes a negative comment will be retracted and replaced with a positive one. As long as you show your support and demonstrate that your company is working its hardest to deliver the best services available everything will be just fine! Just use Jet Blue as your guiding Twitter source.

Always empathetic, Jet Blue demonstrates their ability to empathize with unhappy customers. In this instance, it took them 30 minutes to resolve an issue during a flight.

The Client is Always Right

A client is always right, even when they’re not. Customer satisfaction means knowing that whatever the circumstance, the client is top priority. No matter how upset, angry or insulting their feedback is; always respond professionally and empathetically. The professionalism will reflect positively on your brand and makes it easier for people to voice their opinion.

Personalized Responses

Just apologizing and directing an unsatisfied client to a helpline or saying a generic thanks to a raving review is not enough. Show your customers that what they say matters and make your replies personal. What are you more likely to respond to; a massive text for a party or a friend’s personal invite?  Exactly. You want to directly tag people, use personalized well written responses, and refrain from all things mechanical, generic and impersonal.  When you actively engage with online followers, you’ll gain more visibility and improve ratings. Zipcar is known for their positive responses to clients who are either frustrated or satisfied with services.

Have Some Fun!

Unsure on how to respond to sarcastic twitter remarks and followers poking fun at your company? First step is to not take yourselves too seriously and maybe even poke back, in a friendly sassy way! Not only will humor detract from a rude or sarcastic comment, it’ll showcase your company as a brand that knows how to have fun and can take a joke. Old Spice is known for their provocative and funny Twitter feed. They respond to ridiculous posts on a regular basis and in return end up creating a lot more visibility for themselves.

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So what do you do when a disgruntled customer writes a horrible evaluation online for everyone to see? Feeling offended by a biting review is normal, but the most important thing to do is to sit back, and think to yourself; am I reacting or responding? What message am I sending out and how will this reflect on the company? If I were a distraught client, how would I want customer service to respond and what would make me feel better?  Treat others the way you would like to be treated, and you’ll be more than fine!

3 Reasons Why You Should Share Yelp Reviews on Facebook

yelp yelpFacebook is a great platform for enhancing your brand image, sharing ongoing promotions, and building meaningful relationships. If you manage your company’s Facebook page and post regularly, you are likely already doing these things. However, can you be doing more? If you have a Yelp profile, you should consider sharing your customer’s positive reviews with your Facebook friends. This is one area that many businesses shy away from because it involves tooting your own horn, but you shouldn’t be afraid to share what others are saying about you, especially words of praise.

If you don’t like the idea of boasting your achievements, here are three reasons that might change your mind:

Your customers will love it!

Yelpers take writing reviews very seriously. They see it their duty to help others by sharing their experience with your company, regardless of if it was positive or negative. So, what’s in it for them? Besides perks, like free food at restaurants, Yelpers don’t really get paid. Putting a Yelp reviewer in the spotlight is like giving them a virtual slap on the back. They will love the limelight, and this exposure has the potential to opens doors of opportunity.

It’s free and easy advisement!

Word of mouth is still the best form of advertisement, and it won’t cost you a cent! Plus, Yelp makes sharing reviews via Facebook as easy as clicking a few buttons. All you need to do is log in to your business account, go to “Account Settings”, click “Change Settings” in “External Services,” then click “Connect to Facebook.” From there, all you need to do is log in to your Facebook account and click the “Allow” button. Now, all of your Yelp reviews will post to your Facebook wall. That means negative reviews, too. This something that every business will have to deal with at one point or another, even businesses with high ratings. Look at it as an opportunity to show your customers that you will go the extra mile to find a solution and fix a problem.

Others will follow suit!

Sometimes all it takes is one happy customer for positive reviews to spread like wildfire. A positive review can encourage a Facebook friend to comment or head to Yelp to share a similar experience. Sharing your Yelp reviews on Facebook grants you access to an audience you couldn’t reach on Yelp alone. Keep in mind, if you don’t want to automatically share reviews, you can always copy and paste the review as a status.

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While Yelp may be more popular for those in the food and beverage industry, any business of any size can benefit from creating a Yelp profile. Once created, your customers can easily find your business location, post reviews and photos, and rate your business! Let them do most of the legwork. You work hard enough!

 

 

3 Ways to Attract Online Customer Reviews

email 2Positive customer reviews are important. How important? Consider this: 88% of consumers are influenced by online reviews. That means what your customers are saying about you online plays a HUGE role in the buying process, for better or worse. The key to getting positive reviews is, well, doing a good a job. It’s that simple. Put your customer first, deliver excellent service, and offer excellent products. Many business owners tend to overthink getting positive reviews and will go to great lengths to get them, even if that means going against Google’s guidelines.

Here are three legitimate ways you can attract online customer reviews:

Make forms easy

People like writing reviews. Whether sharing a good experience or bad experience, a majority of people will take 5 minutes out of their day to let others know if your company is worth their time or money. So, throw them a bone. Make it easy for them. Unless someone has something really bad to say about your company, no one is going spend time looking for a place to write a review. Create profiles wherever you can: Yelp, LinkedIn, Yahoo Local, Google Local, Trip Advisor, and Angie’s List. It’s also helpful to integrate a testimonials page on your website. This will allow a customer to leave a review with ease, and it’s a great way to boost your ranking on search listings.

Offer incentives

When it comes to online reviews, you need to be ethical. If you’re a startup, you may be tempted to buy positive online reviews. Quick word of advice: don’t. If your customers can’t spot the fakes, online review sites will. Not only will that cost you your reputation, you’ll also have to pay a hefty fine. Fake reviews are fraud. Why shoot yourself in the foot? Sometimes, all your customer needs is a little push to write a review. Offering an incentive, such as a discount on a future service, can be that extra thing that gets them sharing their thoughts about their experience. If you have a physical storefront hang up posters to let them know about the contest, or you can share it on social media.

Share reviews

Creating a company Facebook page is free and easy –  there is no reason why your business shouldn’t have one. It’s a great way to enhance your brand, share ongoing specials and promotions, and build and maintain relationships with your clientele. It can also be used to share positive reviews. Your customers will love being in the limelight, and their good word will motivate other satisfied customers to follow suit. It’s a win-win.

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Online reviews are the new word of mouth. The more positive reviews you have, the more likely people are to choose your company over local competition. Keep in mind, that you will get a negative review from time to time. That’s life. See it as opportunity to show your clients that you care about your company by finding a solution to their problem.

3 Reasons You Should Not Buy Fake Customer Reviews

3 reasons you should not buyPositive customer reviews greatly impact the purchasing process and are essential in running a successful business. 92% of consumers read online reviews when searching for a service or product. What customers are saying about you on Yelp, Trip Advisor, and Amazon can be a deciding factor in whether or not you’ll be getting a phone call. The more positive reviews your company has the more likely a consumer is to choose your services or products. Not to mention, they help to move your website up on search result pages.

Given all that good stuff, it is not surprising that there are a ton of fake customer review writing companies for hire. If you’re a startup, you might be tempted to pay for such a service to get the ball rolling. Here’s three reasons why you shouldn’t:

Your Customers Can Spot Fake Reviews

Your customers are on the ball when it comes to reading online customer reviews. Fake reviews sound fake. They tend to be short, generic, and not at all helpful. A phony comment isn’t hard to spot, and it can wind up costing you your reputation. If you have glowing reviews about your customer service, but the beat on the street is otherwise, something clearly isn’t adding up. Lying to your customers is not a good way to earn their trust. You’re setting yourself up for failure.

Review Sites Are Smarter Than You Think

As much as it might hurt to see the dozens of online reviews your competition has, the age-old adage applies here: quality over quantity. It’s better to have a few real positive reviews than a hundred fake positive reviews. If your customers can’t spot the fakes, online review sites will, and that’ll cost you much more than your reputation. Fake reviews are fraud. Getting caught writing fake reviews comes with a pretty hefty fine. Why risk it?

You Miss the Opportunity to Have a Conversation

Reviews come in all types of flavors, both good and bad. Your job is to respond to them. A positive review is an awesome opportunity to provide your customers with a thoughtful thank you. And, while negative reviews suck, they’re a chance to show that you care about your company and will do what you can to find a solution to their problem. This type of engagement and interaction isn’t possible with fake customer reviews.

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Making a good name for yourself can take time. If you are a new business, don’t get discouraged. Reviews will come. Negative reviews, too. See them as an opportunity to improve. It’s better to be flawed than fake.

 

 

How to Get the Most Out of Your Companies Online Reviews

How to Get the Most Out of Your Companies Online Reviews by LinkNow Media

Constructive criticism, feedback – every company needs it. It’s a great way to learn, grow, and improve your business. An awesome, but often feared, means of obtaining that kind of helpful feedback is through online reviews. Instead of being afraid of how online reviews might effect business, it’s time for your team to embrace them. Here are several ways you can actually get the most out of your online reviews.

1. Don’t fear the negative review.

A lot of people stay away from online reviews simply because they are scared of receiving a bad review. But the truth of the matter is that most online reviews tend to be positive, not negative. And if you are confident you are offering a good product, there’s really nothing you should be afraid of. But realistically all businesses will have to accept this fact: you will eventually receive a bad review. And that’s okay. In fact, 68% of consumers trust reviews more when they a mix of both good and bad ratings.

The trick is to get as many reviews as possible. Consumers are smarter than marketers often give them credit for. When consumers see a good amount of positive reviews versus one or two negative reviews, they can discern whether those bad reviews were fake or simply isolated situations that don’t reflect what their experience would most likely be like.

2. Make your reviews and your review form easily accessible.

Tests show that brands using online reviews increase their sales as much as 58%, and that 71% of customers are more confident in making purchases after reading those reviews. Making your reviews visible to your customers shows that you are a trustworthy company that has nothing to hide.

Moreover, by making the review form easily available to customers, you are showing you truly value their opinion and want more of it. Companies that demonstrate they are committed to improving usually have more trusting, loyal customers.

3. Don’t just address bad reviews, incorporate them into operations.

When and if you get a negative review, embrace it! You should know that it’s important not to ignore bad reviews; they’re an invaluable opportunity to showcase how caring and responsive your company is. But don’t stop there. After you contact the customer who left the bad review and genuinely try to solve the problem he or she encountered, make sure you address the root of the problem internally.

While hearing something negative about your business might feel like a bad thing at the time, you are actually being given the chance to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of your business and, most importantly, improve upon them.

Research has shown that 95% of customers continue to do business with a brand they once criticized if issues are handled quickly and competently, but the best business practice would be to avoid the issue in the first place because ultimately what customers really want is hassle free service.

Improving upon your products, services, and customer support based on customer feedback will organically improve your sales and ROI. If you do a good job at responding to these issues, you will not only win back once unhappy customers, you will also gain more customers who witness and respect your excellent customer satisfaction skills.

Conclusion

Success doesn’t come from getting everything right the first time. It is cultivated from being able to respond appropriately to problems, find resolutions, and adapt formal changes to prevent them from reoccurring in the future. Successful companies make the most out of every situation, good and bad. Online reviews are no different.

7 Tips to Getting Positive Online Reviews

If you open your business up to online reviews, inevitably you’re going to get at least one unfavorable review. This doesn’t mean the business is doing anything wrong or that someone within the company wasn’t doing their job correctly. It’s just a fact: you can’t make every customer a happy customer, all of the time.

The good news is, your business is also going to receive positive reviews! And these positive reviews will have an important impact on the customers who end up reading those pesky negative ones. It’s important to get as many positive reviews as possible, so customers can have a more fair view of your business, customer service, and quality of offerings. We all know that people are more likely to leave a review because of a negative experience than a positive one, so here are seven tips for encouraging those positive ones to start rolling in:

Listen to the reviews you already have. If your business already has a few negative reviews, it’s important to review them openly and honestly with yourself. Are these reviews negative because of something you couldn’t control (i.e. they were in a bad mood that day, they weren’t a good fit for your service but insisted in using you anyways, they had unrealistic expectations, etc.) or something you could (i.e. one of your employees were rude to them, you provided a low quality service, or didn’t provide enough customer service)? This may seem obvious, but you aren’t going to get good reviews if you aren’t providing a quality product or service. If your negative reviews are due to bad business practices, your first step should be fixing that. If you’re seeing a common theme in your reviews, it’s time to tackle the heart of the problem head on. You’d be surprised how quickly the negative reviews stop when you refocus on quality.

Don’t be afraid to ask for reviews. Because we know customers are more likely to leave a review when their experience is negative, it’s critically important to encourage all your customers to leave reviews. Customers with pleasant experiences often tell their friends or family about the experience, but don’t think ot put it online. Make sure you’re not just making the review process available to your customers via email, your social sites, or anywhere your customers are interacting with your brand, but that you’re actively encouraging them to leave an honest review (not just a good review) after you’ve delivered your service. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how many people leave a positive review when asked to simply be honest.

Get social. Younger generations especially are so accustomed to posting online about every experience they have, they will probably be sharing their thoughts about your product or service all on their own. Make sure you have the proper social profiles set up, so you can be tagged accordingly. When someone shares a positive experience, make sure to interact with your happy customers and share their reviews! Not only will this create engagement, but it will spread the word about your business without you having to spend a single dollar on advertising. (Not sure where to start? Make a Facebook group and Twitter account for your business at the very least.)

Respond to bad reviews quickly and calmly. While your first (and very human) reaction to seeing a bad review may be to fire back: DON’T. A defensive approach is always the wrong approach. Instead, assess the situation, provide any necessary apologies, and see if you can provide a solution to the customer. Regardless of the outcome, thank them for their feedback, and reassure them that your company takes their reviews seriously. If the situation requires more than an apology, take it offline to resolve it. Offer to call them to work through whatever issue has come up. Often times if you give that customer a little extra attention in order to ease their displeasure, they will go back and update the negative review later to a more neutral or even positive experience.

Respond to positive reviews, too. People love feeling like businesses actively listen to their thoughts and opinions. By responding positive reviews, you’re also encouraging other customers to leave their own reviews. Knowing that their words are being read and appreciated makes happy customers more likely to engage.

More is better. Online reviews can often seem like a double edged sword: the more reviews you get, the more likely you are to get a bad one. There is no way to encourage your customers to only leave positive reviews (in any kind of ethical way), which is why you have to keep in mind that more reviews, even if that leads to a few extra negative ones, is better. 20 reviews comprised of 17 positive and 3 negatives is better than just 1 positive review on it’s own. People are less skeptical of businesses with very limited reviews and more forgiving of negative reviews when they see a lot of positive ones to balance them out.

Make reviewing as easy as possible. If someone has to spend time Googling your business in order to leave a review, chances are they won’t (unless it’s a bad one.) If you want positive reviews, you have to make the process as easy as possible. Whenever you deliver a service or product, you should subsequently be encouraging your customers to review it with a link or form that takes them directly to where they need to go, no searching necessary.

Follow these tips, and you’ll be well on your way to a robust archive of online reviews. Do your best to find a solution to the ones that are bad, and remember to engage with the ones that are good. Your current and future customers will appreciate these efforts.

Importance of Good Reviews

The Importance of Good Reviews

There’s no question about it – online reviews are a great tool for any business to establish a viable web presence. Reviews can increase sales, improve rankings, and create more marketing avenues. But the most important thing reviews can do is engage customers and therefore, breed more reviews. The only catch is that not just any review will benefit your company. Only positive, relevant, and authentic reviews will do the trick, and here’s why. 

According to BrightLocal’s 2015 Local Consumer Review Survey, each year there are more consumers reading a company’s reviews before doing business with them. Just in 2015, the survey showed that 92% of consumers read online reviews. Naturally, while the amount of consumers reading reviews increases on a yearly basis, the amount of consumers not reading reviews decreases, and it’s doing so pretty quickly. According to the same study, in 2011 29% of consumers did not read reviews, by 2014 the amount went down to 12%, and this year, it’s at 8%. 

More important than having a potential customer read an online review, is having quality reviews from which that customer will form an opinion on. According to BrightLocal’s survey, 40% of consumers said that they form an opinion from reading one to three reviews. Additionally, 73% said they need to read one to six reviews before forming an opinion. Based on these numbers, we can deduct that while it’s not important to have thousands of reviews on your company, it is integral to have an overall good business rating. 

Recency is also another key factor about online reviews. Since a good amount of consumers seem to only read anywhere from one to six reviews, it is essential for your company to closely monitor the recency of its reviews. Recency comes into play not only because of the visibility of the online reviews, but also because it plays a big role when a potential customer forms an opinion. According to BrightLocal’s survey, 44% of consumers stated they take into consideration a review that has been written within one month, while 69% consider a three month old review still relevant. Only 31% say that reviews that are older than three months are relevant.

Lastly, authenticity is key when gathering online reviews. BrightLocal’s survey shows that 80% of consumers will trust an online review as if it were a personal recommendation as long as the review seems genuine. Authentic online reviews will undoubtedly help your company to engage potential customers. A personal touch will lower consumers’ fears of reading fake reviews, motivate those consumers to do business with your company, and ultimately breed more reviews from your happy customers. 

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