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Reputation Management - Are there any practical methods?

by kyusho77
14 replies
I do mobile/apps/social marketing and one of my clients was asking me about online reputation, positive reviews etc. I've found some info on the internet but it takes some time to put the thing right.

So, what I'm asking in here if someone using any fancy software that can, at least, partially automate the whole process.

I've done my research on this forum and found a few threads that sound quite promising but still don't really reveal what exactly you have to do. Just doing reports for businesses doesn't mean you gonna get their records straight or that's what I think.

There are WSOs (Matthew Iannotti, Sonix) on the subject. Just would like to know if anyone is actually using it and what are the results.

Lots of WSOs with marketing tools but not that many with the tools like software or a method to solve reputation problems.

Thx for any info.
#management #methods #practical #reputation
  • Profile picture of the author Voasi
    The person that just liked your post, Rus Sells, offers a script that helps the business owner collect the positive reviews and weed out the negative reviews.

    Most of the time, reviewers who had a bad experience, just want an outlet - and his script provides that outlet.

    The last thing you want to do is to put up fake reviews - as you can easily get sued for it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Matt Lee
      Originally Posted by Voasi View Post

      The person that just liked your post, Rus Sells, offers a script that helps the business owner collect the positive reviews and weed out the negative reviews.

      Most of the time, reviewers who had a bad experience, just want an outlet - and his script provides that outlet.

      The last thing you want to do is to put up fake reviews - as you can easily get sued for it.
      Yeah i just want to echo this. Most of the clients just want their issue to be heard, and know that the business cares how their customers feel. I've installed that script on 2 client websites now, and my client's reviews have skyrocketed simply because we made it as easy for them as possible.
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      • Profile picture of the author kyusho77
        Great. Thx. Im gonna check that script out.
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        • Profile picture of the author kyusho77
          The last thing I want to do is to do anything illegal to damage my client's business. I have seen quite a few methods that are really questionable or do the job partially. What I'm trying to find out here if there is a system I can use to get my client profit up using reputation management.
          I hear a lot of talking about it but at the moment can't find a practical system that gets reports, teaches how to deal with bad reviews, how not to get them even if there are fair, what to do with the unfair ones, what boosts their image etc.
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          • Profile picture of the author mhdeaton
            Id like to know more about reputation management as well and find little. Maybe its a big secret :-)
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          • Profile picture of the author CageyVet
            Most companies fall into a one of 3 categories in terms of online brand/reputation.

            Category 1 - They have none....There is no mention of them good or bad on the Internet.

            Category 2 - They mix of both Good and Bad reviews/mentions.

            Category 3 - They have a LOT of BAD reviews/mentions.


            Category 1 and 2 are the majority of the normal businesses on/off the web. Category 3 is a minority but since bad reviews stand out more than good, they get noticed a lot more.

            Category 1 and 2 are usually more interested in getting Good reviews/mentions as well as getting in touch with the negative comments/reviews to try to solve the problem the customer had experienced. For these types of businesses, all you need a system that will help the business collect GOOD comments/reviews and post them online where potential customers will see them. While allowing the business to try and contact the negative comment/review owners to solve the problem and turn the frown upside down. This is the majority of what online reputation management involves (there is more to it but this is simple version).

            Category 3 usually deserve the negative reviews/comments OR they are unfortunate to be targeted by a competitor/disgruntled customer that uses this tactic of negative reputation. For these businesses it is ALOT harder to deal with and I stay away from them for MANY reasons. But if you want to work with them, it is just a case of doing everything and any possible to try and out weight the negative reviews with good reviews/comments all the while trying to force the negative items online into an out of sight out of mind scenario. (again simple way of explaining).

            If you want to take on Category 1/2 businesses, there are tons of WSO, courses, Plugins, Software and methods that can help these types of businesses.

            If you want to take on Category 3 businesses, then I would advise that you learn everything there is about SEO, SEM, Social Media, PPC and White/Grey/Blackhat techniques because it will take all of that to turn a large negative reputation campaign into a positive one. Especially if the reviews/comments have been justified, even it they are from the past and the business has changed for the better. On the flip side, you can make a BOAT LOAD of money from these businesses since you have them over a barrel and they know it.


            Originally Posted by kyusho77 View Post

            I hear a lot of talking about it but at the moment can't find a practical system that gets reports, teaches how to deal with bad reviews, how not to get them even if there are fair, what to do with the unfair ones, what boosts their image etc.
            Get reports = There are tons of review site scrapers, bots, programs, plugins that will get information from review sites, directories etc. If you can not find one, get one built. One piece of software is Places Scout.

            Dealing with bad reviews = Find them first of all. Find out if they are valid complaints or not. If valid, attempt to reach out to complainer to resolve issue(might mean commenting back, email, phone, most wanted poster, etc) If not valid, then learn SEO and other techniques to drive that bad review down out of sight or try to get it removed for being invalid.

            Not getting bad reviews = Allow customers a channel in which they can vent and have that channel lead back to the business owner so that they can deal with the problem first hand before it gets to potential customers. This is the ONLY way to deal with bad reviews in a proper business. There is a few plugins/themes/scripts that create such a channel. Forget the names as I have my own custom theme for this...Also, DO NOT PROVIDE BAD SERVICE = NO BAD REVIEWS for the business owners that do deserve the bad review.

            Boosting Brand Image = This is just general positive marketing. Showing the world that the brand is a good one that they should trust, nothing more, nothing less. Simple online/offline marketing takes care of this...
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    One other step you can legally and ethically take is to try and get bad reviews deleted if they violate the terms of the site where they are posted. TripAdvisor, for example, may delete a review if they deem that it is false, not by an actual customer or visitor, posted by a competitor or his friend, posted by a friend or employee of the business, or posted by a someone who has already posted a review (in case they have a vendetta against the business).

    Just to clarify what CageyVet has said, review sites post in chronological order. The ones I deal with (mainly TripAdvisor, Hotels.com, and Booking.com) by default post the most recent reviews first. So, as the client gets more good reviews, the bad ones get pushed down lower on the page and search engines.

    Another thing you can do is encourage customers to leave reviews. Print out the URL of the desired review site and business (example: yelp.com GorgeousPainter Denver, CO) on a post card or business card and have it handed out to customers, or somehow readily available to customers. Make it as easy as possible for the customer to get right to the proper page on the site and post their review. Many review sites provide something you can print off.

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  • Profile picture of the author CageyVet
    Thank you for expanding on my post Dan, did not want mine to get overly long....

    The one things that many people do not think about is the fact that Review sites are in business to make money. So many will bend over backwards to help out legitimate businesses look better on their sites...from taking down false reviews, showcasing reviews/businesses and making it SUPER EASY for a customer to post and find reviews....

    As a Rep Management person, you just have to show the business owners how to effectively work with those review sites or do it for them.
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    • Profile picture of the author kyusho77
      Does anyone know any good reputation management software that can make reports, etc? It would make my life much easier. I mentioned 2 softwares in my first post but no comments about those ones yet. Would like to hear from someone who actually is using them now.
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      • Profile picture of the author TheCG
        Originally Posted by kyusho77 View Post

        Does anyone know any good reputation management software that can make reports, etc? It would make my life much easier. I mentioned 2 softwares in my first post but no comments about those ones yet. Would like to hear from someone who actually is using them now.
        Places Scout is fantastic and the customer service you get from Mark is second to none.
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        • Profile picture of the author kyusho77
          OK. Gonna check them out. Hope they are up to high standards.
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          • Profile picture of the author kyusho77
            PlacesScout is good and looks solid but my argument is that I can't find any softwares or a list of actual method and technique how to repair companies bad reputation without spending too much time with one client.
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  • Profile picture of the author Arzak
    No need to get caught up in WSOs for this. The ones you mentioned unsurprisingly don't even seem to provide support anymore anyway. And what they do you can do yourself easily. I'll get to this in a sec.

    The thing with reputation "management" is that it isn't all about cutting off negative reviews. It's about knowing what's going on and solving the issues. This means actively responding to problems and immediately taking care of them. And in the case of a negative review, you respond to it professionally and timely - publicly. The negative review itself isn't a problem because one of these will happen:
    • The customer will revise the rating
    • The customer didn't change the rating, but everyone can see you've acknowledged and addressed the problem, which is just as good
    So negative reviews aren't that bad as long as you address them and prevent them from occurring in the future. If you keep getting negative reviews with or without a portal, that's something else entirely. So solve the underlying problems, not try to hide them.

    If you want to make your own portal, you can easily make one yourself. Something like this:
    • Positive experience: list of review pages for them to choose
    • Negative experience: display a form for them to submit their negative experience. If you want to receive a text, have it sent to the phone carrier's email to SMS function or use one of many available plugins.

    Keep in mind that portals can cause friction, and some people would rather just go directly to the listing themselves.

    If you do want to use some sort of software, check out Places Scout. You won't need to worry about quality or whether or not it will still be supported and not just a thing hastily compiled for some quick cash. In your case, it might not be worth the price if all you want are reports. It's mostly for local SEO which for obvious reasons ties together well with reputation.
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    • Profile picture of the author kyusho77
      Thanks, Arzak. Sounds like you know what you're talking about.
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