There are so many people who live here in Atlanta who engage businesses online after purchasing a product or service and are doing so by posting reviews on Google places, Yelp, commenting on Facebook pages – the list goes on. This can be great for businesses, that is, if they are getting positive reviews. However, if they have negative reviews, that’s where an Atlanta reputation management campaign can be extremely beneficial.

There are a lot of people out there who would simply just delete negative comments (if they have permission), that way the only reviews people see are the positive ones. But, this is not what the consumer wants to see. They actually respond better when they notice a company proactively responding to these negative reviews, as well as thanking the customers for positive reviews. This lets your future customer know that you actively care about the customer and their satisfaction. A customer probably won’t be turned off by seeing a page with 100% positive reviews, but they are definitely going to be more intrigued when they notice the constant B2C interaction as they browse from review site to review site.

Check out the first few minutes of this interview with Australia’s David Cannell.

A lot of companies will just create fake content that seems positive to drive the negative results to the end of the search results. We definitely want to create new content to replace the old content, however creating fake content is misleading and can end up negatively affecting your business even more.

The main objective is provide new content that is positive – and TRUE. This can be done through blog posts, encouraging existing clients to write reviews, forum postings, and press releases. But in my opinion, the best way to maintain your reputation – and I want to emphasize this – PROACTIVELY RESPOND TO BOTH NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE REVIEWS DAILY. The problem with this is that it can become time consuming and eats away at time that should be spent doing more internal business processes.

For instance, above is a screen shot of 2 reviews on Yelp for an Atlanta Walmart. One is a positive and one is negative – so, how are you going to decide which review to go with? Would it sway your decision one way if both reviews had a response from Walmart? I think so. If one thanks the customer for their positive review, that shows they’re engaged. If the other response to the negative review thanks them for their visit, apologizes for the bad experience, and asks what they can do to improve – well, that shows they’re engaged AND concerned about the customer having a great experience every time.

Which sites should you be concerned with most?

The top 4 sites to be concerned with for reputation management are Google Places, Yelp, Facebook, and Twitter. There are many other websites you should also keep up with, however these four will be your bread and butter.

Trying to run a business while trying to juggle responding to comments/reviews, writing press releases, blog posts, and encouraging new and existing customers to post can be overwhelming. If you are looking for someone to re-establish your online presence in a positive way, Graceful Penguin would be glad to help. Let our Atlanta reputation management experts take care of it so you can concentrate on the more important business aspects. Sign up for your free consultation.

+Cullie Burris