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 A Smarter Way to Protect Your Company’s Reputation

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

From Bnet.com
By Christopher Elliott

You probably already know the value of managing your company’s reputation.

But just in case you don’t, here are a few points to ponder:

* BP’s handling of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is a classic case of a company in dire need of a managed reputation. Yeah, it tried buying adwords on Google after the incident, but it was too little, too late. By then, BP’s name had already become a punchline, and it will probably always be synonymous with a disastrous gusher, linked forever like Exxon and Valdez.
* Remember United Breaks Guitars, the video I showed you last week? That rep management slip-up reportedly cost it $185 million. Had it managed the crisis better, it might have lost far less.
* Last month, a video of GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons shooting an elephant in Zimbabwe made the rounds online. You’d think someone as Internet-savvy as Parsons would try to avert the damage with a sophisticated rep management campaign. Instead, he suggested his critics were clueless, even after calls for a boycott against the domain name registration company. “GoDaddy lost customers after that,” says Kent Lewis, president of Anvil Media. “I was on an email list of Internet pundits, where the major discussion was who offered the best alternative to GoDaddy for hosting. They all left.”

Saving money and face are great reasons to manage your reputation, of course. But experts say that’s not good enough.

Customers Demand It

Do it for your customers.

“Reputation management, and reputation management firms, are largely tasked with disaster cleanup,” says Scott McAndrew of the digital marketing firm Terralever. “They come in when things are bad, and, in many cases, use tactics that hide what’s bad, and try to court what’s good.”

But rep management like that is the rough equivalent of treating the symptom without looking for a cure. It’s crisis PR plus.

How Protecting Your Reputation Improves Customer Service, and Vice Versa

“Even the best reputation management can’t hide a business that is truly lousy in customer service and their are simply too many other choices out there then to buy from a business that does not value you,” says Marc Karasu, founder of the customer-service site MeasuredUp.

Reputation management can drive better customer service, though.

Instead of rebranding themselves whenever there’s a reputation problem, companies should try to use the tools of rep management to determine where customer service problems are — and fix them.

Yesterday, I covered one company’s bold plan to embrace the bad reviews it gets. What if negative reviews could be incorporated into a more comprehensive reputation management program?

Read the rest of the article here

 Covering Your Bases with an Integrated Approach to Social Media Marketing and Customer Service

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

From Gigcoin.com

Whether your business is prepared to handle customer service questions via your social networking sites or not, the day will come probably sooner than later—when people will start reaching out to you there—expecting timely responses. If you haven’t started to integrate social media and customer service you might be surprised to learn that for the most part you already have the tools you need right at your disposal. You may just need to be thinking about using them a little differently.

Heidi Cohen writes in the post, How to Integrate Customer Service into Social Media Marketing, “Social media has changed customer service from being a support function to being an extension of marketing. In the social media ecosystem, customers want to know that you’re listening and responding.”

Heidi identifies 12 Ways that Social Media Enhances Customer Service and extends your marketing efforts:

1. Gives business a human face
2. Listens to what customers are saying
3. Proactively engages with prospects and customers
4. Provides additional product-related content
5. Answers product-related questions
6. Supplies alternative contact channel
7. Gives customers a channel to talk to each other
8. Shares customer feedback
9. Celebrates your customers
10. Shows customers behind the scenes
11. Makes special offers
12. Create new purchase options

Tools for Listening and Responding
How are businesses going about listening and responding? Through recent conversations with representatives from over twenty businesses, Twitter and Facebook were mentioned repeatedly as reliable tools for both listening and responding. Other tools referred to included LinkedIn groups, blog comments, community forums, Google alerts, Social Mention, BackType and Disqus. Several businesses were using dedicated social CRM products–Nimble, Get Satisfaction and MeasuredUp.

Types of Problems and Queries
Businesses are also finding that the types of problems and queries being made through social media runs a wide spectrum from broken web links, service requests, pricing and location questions, customer feedback, general FAQ about services to dissatisfied customers who don’t know where else to turn to communicate with the company and are looking for an immediate response.

Importance of Responses
Listening and responding is one part of the equation but certainly not the whole picture. Businesses need to have processes in place for everyone who speaks on behalf of the brand–even the CEO! Take for example the recent fiasco with Kenneth Cole on Twitter where he used the #Cairo hashtag that had been employed by Twitter users to denote discussion of current events in Egypt to advertise Cole’s spring collection. Not only was the tweet considered insensitive and in extremely poor taste, “it also went against an unofficial but generally observed policy for the use of hashtags on Twitter. The site’s help center page about hashtags notes that they should be used only on Tweets relevant to the topic.” Business leaders and their company representatives should make sure they know the difference between acceptable and unacceptable communications because everything today is not only public but also permanent. What happens on Twitter stays on Twitter.

Human Resources
Businesses are finding too that they need to have dedicated resources to staff their social media presences to field questions and comments. Here’s how businesses are approaching staffing solutions:

Jon Stein, CEO of Betterment.com, says “Everyone in our office, all the way up to the CEO, is monitoring our social media channels. Its that important because if someone posts a message on our Facebook wall and we don’t respond–we not only miss an opportunity with that customer, but we also send an implicit message to all of our customers that we are not responsive to their needs.”

Michelle Judd at Ergotron says, “Right now we have two people from our Technical services team monitoring the forum and three people monitoring Twitter. One person monitors Facebook, although we have seen very few customer questions through Facebook. Our CSRs manage email, chat and phone calls.”

Lindsey Olsen at Evil Controllers says, “We have one person logged on Facebook at all times during the day ready to respond, as well as another person monitoring Twitter at all times as well. Both specialists spend the entirety of their day focusing on response, and reaching out via social media.”

Stephanie Bullis at Grasshopper.com says, “We have a social media coordinator that monitors all our social platforms and alerts the appropriate people within the company when action needs to be taken in reaching out to specific customers.”

Community Managers

An important new job function at businesses too is the role of the Community Manager. According to GetSatisfaction the Community Manager is a “jack of all trades and master of many…the only way to accurately reflect their contribution would be to understand that they work at the very edge of your organization, the place where the line between company and customer is blurriest and their job is to understand, manage and stimulate the collective passions of your customers in a way that creates value for both company and customer.” Marc Karasu, CEO at MeasuredUp says “Businesses should consider a blended approach to digital customer service and online reputation management.” Jon Ferrara, CEO at Nimble says, “With the advent of social media, the way we communicate with each other has changed, yet business needs stay the same. Now more than ever before, community managers are driving business success—traditional relationship building models need to expand to include social channels.”

Jeremiah Owyang of the Altimeter Group describes the Community Manager as the backbone of customer service in today’s modern online marketplace. He says, “As the Community Manager role continues to grow into a key piece of the customer experience lifecycle, remember to approach this space with humility and patience to teach internal stakeholders the value of the role.”

Read the rest of the article here

 New iPhone Photo App Changes The Way You Go Shopping

Friday, December 17th, 2010

The Next Step in Customer Engagement?
By CM Arnold

Contrary to popular belief, the customer is not always right, but an unhappy customer can do a lot of damage. Hence, the implementation of telephone and internet surveys by retailers like Macy’s, CVS and Walmart.

More and more, sales receipts include toll free numbers and website addresses accompanied by calls to action encouraging customers to give their opinions. How many people actually do that, even if they had negative experiences?

In many cases it is not convenient or possible to find a customer service person in the store, and in most cases, if and when you do find someone to speak with, he is either incapable of solving the problem or doesn’t want to help you, said Marc Karasu, founder of MeasuredUp.com, who believes his company’s new “Hotline App” for the iPhone will solve that problem. The Hotline App allows you to “document” something at the store that is not right: long lines, incorrect prices, messy aisles, dangerous situations etc. Likewise the App can be used to “report” a complaint or say thanks for a job well done.

Customer satisfaction is a key element to any company’s success. The instant gratification aspect of MeasuredUp.com’s new app, which would actually allow a customer with a complaint to receive a response from someone in management within minutes, might increase the number of people who give honest and constructive feedback. On the other hand, such a feature could lead to a massive influx of frivolous complaints that might otherwise have been posted on someone’s Twitter or Facebook page. Caveat venditor.

Read the article here

 iPhone Photo App Empowers Shoppers With A Mobile ‘Hotline’ this Holiday Season

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

MeasuredUp.com free iPhone App allows shoppers to instantly and directly report long lines, poor customer service or incorrect prices with photos while actively shopping

NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Just in time for the Holiday Shopping Season MeasuredUp.com, the leading customer service resolution and online reputation social media website, is releasing its new, free photo shopping application named the “MeasuredUp Hotline” for the popular iPhone, available at MeasuredUp Hotline App and the iTunes Store or on your iPhone App Store. A picture is worth a thousand words and the new “Hotline” photo app allows consumers to instantly report shopping experiences and complaints like long lines, incorrect prices or messy stores directly to the businesses management with photos from the iPhone.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101208/NY14145LOGO )

The “Hotline” allows customers a new, immediate and effective way to report on the shopping experience so that business owners can respond to their customers and improve their customer service reputation, consumer loyalty and shopping experience.

“The Hotline App means consumers are ready for any shopping situation and can make sure they receive great Customer Service,” said MeasuredUp.com founder Marc Karasu. “No one should go shopping without this app.”

How The Hotline App Works

“The Hotline app allows shoppers to report a problem, complaint or issue in seconds by including a short title, rating, photo and optional review from their iPhone which is connected to the MeasuredUp.com website where it is seen by partner businesses. Thousands of National chain stores and small local businesses already use the MeasuredUp website Business Tools to track, fix and build their Customer Service and Online Reputation.

Whether it is alerting a Business owner to open more checkout lines, adjust an incorrect price on a product, clean up a messy aisle or any number of customer observations now a Business Owner can improve the store and shopping experience and keep their retail customers happy by replying directly to specific “Hotline” reports fast.

About MeasuredUp.com

MeasuredUp.com is the leading Customer Service Resolution social media website site where consumers rate and review their customer service experiences. Thousands of Partner Businesses use MeasuredUp everyday to reply to customers, build customer service brand and manage online reputation. Hundreds of thousands of consumers use MeasuredUp to make their voice heard and get answers directly from Businesses.

Read the article at http://finance.yahoo.com/news/iPhone-Photo-App-Empowers-prnews-3439669846.html?x=0&.v=1

 Twitter Does Not Work For Businesses

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

By Marc Karasu

The only thing worse then bad customer service is no customer service.

Twitter seems to exacerbate this problem or at least companies are not really using Twitter correctly.

In recent months we are starting to see those ubiquitous little twitter icons on tv commercials and print ads the same way every ad in 2000 had the novelty of a “.com” url to go along with the company logo.

The difference is that a customer that actually does go to Twitter to find a company is more often then not going to be let down by the poor to nonexistent customer service they get from the company on twitter.

Of course there are exceptions to the rule like Zappos and a few others who have great traditional customer service. But the majority of companies with a Twitter account burp out a lame tweet or two every few hours and in many cases only once or twice a day. And the tweets themselves are skimpy. Usually a promotion or some pathetic twaste like “Thanks for the props. We love your comments”. Often these companies don’t even answer the customer tweets. This is the dirty secret.

They are trying to position themselves as consumer centric and while in reality they have just built a new room where the lights are on but no one is in the office.

Thanks for nothing, is what they are saying and what the customer is left thinking.

Is this what “Digital customer service” is in the twitter age?

Happily some more useful business applications like MeasuredUp.com, Yelp.com and Angies list exist that actually provide value to both the consumer and the company.

This is not to say Twitter is a bad service because it is not. And in full disclosure I manage MeasuredUp.com.

Its just that the companies that use Twitter appear lazy and often seem to be relegating their twitter accounts to the intern or junior marketer which means huge lapses in coverage when invariably the people managing the account leave for other jobs. Twitter is in fact littered with empty company accounts with old stale comments. In many cases there are several company accounts with similar twitter account names which is surely a sign that the company could not figure out the login info and had to open another new account.

Worse are the twitter accounts that seem to be run by either a third party or hack in the marketing department that simply churn out promotional white noise. This is not a help. It is in fact part of the twitter problem which is that seemingly half of all tweets are some schmo trying to sell you a get rich quick twitter scheme or a company heaving some crappy offer at you.

The bottom line is that companies today are not using many of the real online business tools that exist and are twasting everyones time with rinky dink attempts on Twitter that are so annoying it would be better if they had no account.

Clearly Twitter is trying to push itself as a business tool but if companies keep taking the low road they will over time ruin twitter and completely turn it into a noise machine.

If consumers care enough to hit the internet to find your company, then you should be smart enough to engage them meaningfully and convert them into sales. If you do not then expect your competitors that do figure it out to take you behind the wood shed.

 Small-Business Marketing Strategies

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

New small businesses pop up every day trying to get footholds in larger markets. In order to attract desired patrons, they must market themselves in unique, fun and interesting ways to a wide variety of consumers. In today’s world, effective consumer marketing strategies always include using the Internet, with online surveys or reviews playing a large part.

If you are a small business, it is important that you leverage the Internet to better market your company, said Marc Karasu, founder of Measuredup.com, in an e-mail interview.

Karasu shared his thoughts on how small businesses can use Internet marketing to broaden their customer horizons.

1. Take charge of what is said about your business online. Unbenownst to you, there may be many unflattering things being said about your business that you need to refute or correct, Karasu warned.

2. Consumers use the Internet for shopping research. If your company does not come up near the top of searches on sites like Google or, worse, has bad reviews associated with it, then you could be losing out on new sales.

3. Build a great customer service brand to increase sales and engender customer loyalty. It’s more important than ever for small-business owners to join the conversation online and help to manage their companies’ reputations.

Establishing a good rapport with consumers is probably one of the biggest challenges that faces small-business owners as they try to break into larger markets. Providing quality products and services are only half the battle. The other half, as Karasu pointed out, is creating effective marketing campaigns, which include taking the time to create comprehensive consumer surveys that will allow small-business owners to know going in just what consumers require.

Read article here:
http://survey.cvent.com/blog/cvent-survey/0/0/small-business-marketing-strategies

 Businesses online marketing to increase holiday sales

Sunday, September 26th, 2010

If you are a small or medium sized business it is important that you prepare your company to leverage online reviews to help increase your holiday sales and to start advertising online.

Consumers use the the internet and search engines to do their shopping research and if your company does not come up near the top of those searches on sites like Google or worse, has bad reviews associated with it then you could be losing out on new sales.

To get your company up to date and ready for this holiday shopping season here are some resources you should look into right away to help you with your marketing and search engine results.

They cost little or nothing and require nothing more then some time on your part.

In no particular order:

Get a Facebook page for your business.  Its free.  Go to www.Facebook.com

Contact Groupon and see if advertising with them makes sense for your business. www.Groupon.com

Claim your free business page at MeasuredUp and help your customer service and online reputation. www.MeasuredUp.com

If you have a website, buy some keywords for your marketing at Google. It costs some money but you only pay for consumers clicks. www.Adwords.google.com

Write a review about your business on Yelp. www.Yelp.com

Create a twitter page for your business. www.Twitter.com

These are just a few easy and effective marketing suggestions.  Start with these and then lets give some others a try.

More online tools and resources then ever exist to help you with your business marketing.  They are easy to use and most are free.  You have no excuse not to use these tools and if you dont you can be sure your competitors are.

 How Small Businesses can build their Online Reputation

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

Times are tough and the economy is not helping small businesses.  Yes their are spending bills and loan programs etc but the real backbone of any small business is or at least should be great customer service.

After all, it’s the one thing you can do better then the big guys and it costs you nothing right?  So why don’t more small businesses do more to build up their customer service reputation?  That is, beyond the obligatory thanks and “Nice to see you, come back again soon, hear”

What I am getting at is why don’t more small business owners better harness and utilize the internet and search to help drive business, take business away from bigger competitors and build consumer loyalty.  Well, that’s easy,  many small business owners  just really don’t understand the internet and search and are scared to learn.  But really, is that a good excuse?

If their is one thing you do for your small business advertising and brand it is that you should learn how to leverage the internet and search to build and promote your customer service, manage your online reputation and drive leads and sales.  It’s just too easy and effective to ignore.  Sites like MeasuredUp.com and Yelp and Angies list and many others allow you for the first time to actually compete on an even footing with the big box stores.  Yes, you heard me right.

Think about it.

Most consumers today start a purchase with research on the internet.  Even if they are just looking for the address of that big box store or a coupon for Amazon.com they are “Searching”  on Google or another search engine and this is your opportunity to intercept them with your business and products.  Entice them to deviate and come on by.   Motivate them to try you instead of them.

You could not compete with the advertising budgets of the big stores.  The newspaper ads, the tv commercials, the billboards.  But now you have a means to interact with potential customers at the exactly the moment that they are researching a purchase.  And you can do it for Free or almost free as effectively as the big guys.  Really, what more could you ask for.  The internet has truly leveled the playing field when it comes to small business marketing and local advertising.  For a few dollars a day and maybe an hour a week you can mount an online offensive that will keep your business front and center for online shoppers, researchers and browsers who are looking for your core products and services.

You can start to really develop a customer loyalty, following and customer service brand.  This is called your online reputation.

To start building your online reputation go to Google.com and do a search for your business name, the core products you sell and the general category you are in.  Look at the Organic search (free) results.  Look at the paid ads on the top and the right of the search results page.  See what your competition is marketing, the prices and what they are saying.

Now think about your business.  The products that you feature, the prices, and the customers.  Find where your competitors are weak.  Is it the hours? The location? The prices?  The selection? Or the simple fact they are big and impersonal and you are small and local.

Spend the time to figure out your brands real positioning and value proposition.  All this means is “what is it that you do better then anyone else”.

Now, go to www.MeasuredUp.com, Yelp and Angies list and write a review about your business.  Be honest that you are the proprieter.  Readers dont like to be misled and can spot a phony review.  Be clear about your business and your value proposition.  Share a promotion or sale.  Talk up your free parking, selection and most important, your hometown and great customer service.  If you do not have good customer service then this is your time to get focused on it and make it a business priority and investment.  If you already have a good customer service reputation and online reviews then great.  Your job is never done.  Write more.  Have your customers write more.

The point is that the more sites you write a free review about your business on the more good reviews their are about your business online and the more likely that a potential customer comes upon your review in their search and comes on by to give you a try.

It’s free advertising.  It’s targeted.  It works.

If you really want to go the extra bit then tell your best customers to go on MeasuredUp.com to write a review about your business.  Again, the idea is that the more good, honest reviews about your business online the better.

Their are many other ways to market your business online from Google adwords to banners to PR and social media but until you take advantage of the Free online reputation management tools you should not bother with the others.  Your Customer Service reputation is your Online Reputation and the good reviews shoppers read about your customer service and business when they search online will build your brand, drive leads and increase sales.

 Wall Street Journal On a Tight Budget? How to Land a Client

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

By EMILY MALTBY

It’s a common conundrum for business owners when sales aren’t pouring in.

To get more customers, you need to market and advertise. But when cash is sparse, it’s tough to allocate dollars toward promotional efforts, especially when there’s no guarantee of a return.

Amid the economic downturn, nearly half of business owners say they’re straining to find efficient or innovative ways to market their products or services, according to a March survey of 734 entrepreneurs by American Express OPEN, the company’s small-business division.

For many, the outlay of cash is simply too risky. “It’s a Catch-22. When business is slow, entrepreneurs don’t have as much money [but] one of the things you need is more advertising,” says Greg Gould, director of the Maine Small Business Development Center in Portland. “You should be spending more in a slow economy, not less.”

To minimize the potential drain on the budget, some business owners are trying creative or highly targeted means of reaching potential clients, Mr. Gould says. (Please read how numerous entrepreneurs are trying to land clients in the gallery at bottom.)

For example, Mr. Gould is seeing more owners aggressively aiming to reach a specific demographic. A small company selling baby toys, for instance, might comb wedding announcements and send catalogues or brochures to recently married couples, rather than placing a generic ad in a newspaper or a magazine. Otherwise, “you might be paying to reach people you may not want to reach,” he says.

Other business owners are focusing more on niches or specialties within their industry.

Lisa Feierstein, president of Active Healthcare Inc. in Raleigh, N.C., which provides medical equipment to treat a variety of respiratory conditions, directs her marketing efforts toward sleep apnea sufferers. “We were determined to not be a victim of the economy,” says Ms. Feierstein, who used to wait for physicians to refer clients to her.

One day a week last March, which is Sleep Awareness Month, she held free sleep apnea screenings and provided free repairs on sleep apnea equipment, even if purchased from a competitor.

The efforts proved successful. About 150 people came in for screenings, and between 10% and 15% returned as patients, Ms. Feierstein estimates. And of the 50 people who came to get their equipment serviced, about 75% are now repeat customers who get services and supplies through her company.

Mr. Gould says that offering free services can work to entice new customers, but that owners should go a step further, handing out coupons or promotions to encourage customers to come back. Otherwise, the strategy could end up being quite costly.

Other small-business owners less keen on offering freebies are dedicating more time to strengthening their online presence, says Marc Karasu, a marketing consultant in New York who specializes in digital-marketing tools. “You don’t need to be an expert,” he says. “There are resources that didn’t exist even a few years ago that level the playing field.”

Some entrepreneurs are learning more about search engine optimization. Others are providing customers with online newsletters or blog feeds. Owners are also responding and engaging customers on review sites such as Yelp and Angie’s List, Mr. Karasu says.

Owners can also build communities using social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Still, 74% of business owners say they do not use social-networking tools, according to the American Express survey.

Michael Sinkin, a dentist in New York, says he used to be “intimidated” at the thought of developing an online presence. Last year, he was skeptical of the effort required to create a website, “but once the site was launched and I saw it, I realized it was nifty,” he says.

Now, Dr. Sinkin is a regular social-media guru. He regularly writes on his blog, which he then touts on Twitter and Facebook.

This summer, the number of new patients seeking his service has doubled. Part of the success, he says, came from a situation where a British businesswoman, traveling in New York for a short stint, sent out a Twitter message asking for dental help because her tooth had cracked. One of Dr. Sinkin’s Twitter followers replied to her, providing his office details. Dr. Sinkin fixed the dental problem the next day. After the businesswoman left, she turned to Twitter again to rave about the level of care the dentist had provided.

“Virtual word of mouth becomes viral,” says Dr. Sinkin, who has 1,500 Twitter followers and estimates picking up six new patients from the traveler’s tweets. “I used to just give toothbrushes and toothpaste but now I have cards printed up that say ‘Follow me on Twitter.’ “

 Importance of Online Customer Service and Reputation Management

Friday, June 11th, 2010

Read entire article:

http://www.b2cmarketinginsider.com/online-marketing/importance-of-online-customer-service-and-reputation-management-0496

Whether you are at an established company or at a startup the pressure on you as a marketer to deliver is immense.  To make matters more challenging it is likely that your marketing budget has been cut.  Every dollar you spend is questioned for ROI and in most meetings you are asked about developments in social networking, customer service and online reputation management because it is in the press and tantalizingly promises high return at low cost.

Whatever category your business is in, online customer service and reputation management are marketing tactics you should be employing that compliment almost any brand at very little cost.

Customer Service

In today’s economy no single thing matters as much for your sales and loyalty as building a great customer service brand.  This is an area of marketing often overlooked or muddled with expensive and hard to use tools.   If you are even aware of your customer service problem it is likely you first came across it the way most consumers do by finding a review about your company online on a search engine.

Online reviews are here to stay and many current and potential customers use internet search engines to help guide their online research in deciding where to buy.  You can leverage the world of online consumer reviews in your favor and often have more impact on thousands of active consumers’ purchasing intent then the best TV commercial.

Whether you have a large customer service department or none at all, already have a good customer service reputation or need to build one, many new online customer service tools exist today that are often free or low cost.

What You Can Do Now to Improve Customer Service and Reputation

Start asking your top customers to review you on customer service sites like MeasuredUp.com or angieslist.com.  By confidently asking top customers for customer service reviews you will have dozens of complimentary reviews of your company online in no time.   These will negate most bad reviews, increase your ranking on search engines and help interested potential customers to find and trust you when researching online.  The goal is not to have only good reviews as even the best companies have some bad reviews about them online.  The goal is to have a balance and to demonstrate through association that your brand is focused on improving customer service.

Online Comments

Individuals are talking about you on the Internet whether you like it or not.  On thousands of personal sites, as well as Facebook and Twitter, content that mentions you or a competitor is constantly being added.  You need to join this conversation even if you can’t control it.

What You Can Do Now to Respond to Online Comments

Identify a person on your staff to spend about 5 hours a week searching for unflattering reviews or mentions about your company or articles about something that is relevant to your business.  When there is a comment field have them write some intelligent and helpful content in response.  State that they are an employee of the company and include a URL to your site.  Do not try and pretend to be a consumer as this will likely be found out and create further uncomplimentary content.  This effort will help rebut negative views, show your company cares about its reputation and will help drive traffic to your company website.  If you come across compliments add on a quick “Thank You” comment and that you care about your reputation and appreciate the support of customers.

This tactic is focused totally on trolling Facebook, Twitter and Blogs to “invite” connections with current and potential customers.  This is a hard position to measure effectiveness on but you have to consider this proactive marketing.  The opportunity cost saved is that you don’t have uncontrolled rumors online.  Many PR firms are starting to offer this service but the fact is they don’t really get it and won’t be able to react as quickly as someone in your company culture who understands your brand.

With these two easy and inexpensive marketing tactics you can quickly augment your existing marketing efforts and start to raise your company’s social media presence, customer service and online profile while helping increase sales and build online reputation.

These tactics should be factored into your budget as the cost of doing business if you want to compete in today’s interconnected digital world.

About the author: Marc Karasu is a senior marketing executive and digital marketing expert with 20 years experience.  He is also the founder of Measuredup.com, the leader in online customer service and reputation management. He can be reached at MeasuredUp.com or his marketing consulting website MAKtaste.com.

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