Reviews Monitoring: Why it's Such a Time-Consuming Process

Reviews monitoring is a crucial part of maintaining a healthy online presence for your business, but if it’s something you have tried to juggle along with small business ownership…well, you know it’s a very time-consuming process. Why is it so time-consuming? Allow us to explain…

Reviews Monitoring: Why it’s Such a Time-Consuming Process

Let’s begin by taking a moment to talk about why it’s important to monitor reviews of your small business (or any business!) online.

We have made a few posts in the past about the importance of monitoring business reviews but in case you missed them, we recommend starting here:

Essentially, every business needs to monitor reviews of their business online because:

Once it’s online, it’s going to be there for a long time to come and reflect your business in the process.
Your response or lack of response indicates how involved you are with your business and how much customer satisfaction matters to you as a business owner.
A bad review can be turned around with the right management.
Even people who leave positive reviews like to be acknowledged for sharing their opinions.
Fake reviews can be detrimental to your business so it’s important to catch them before they “spread” (and believe us, they spread like wildfire) and have them taken down.

But Why Does Reviews Monitoring Take So Much Time?

If you have tried in the past to monitor online reviews of your company, you already know that it takes a considerable amount of time to do, but if you’re new to the whole online reputation management thing, then you may be wondering why it takes so long to “reply to a few reviews”…

There Are How Many Review Sites?

Have you ever stopped to think about just how many review sites are out there? Not including the small independent websites that review businesses, there are still more than just a few sites where people can leave a review of your business. By design, these sites are set up to allow users to give their honest opinion about your business, so you need to monitor these sites carefully to track what is being said about your business. This isn’t only so that you can respond to reviews (both positive and negative) but also so that you can do a little market research – what are people saying about your business?

So, you need to sit down and bookmark all of the relevant websites where customers can leave their opinion of your business and visit them regularly to watch for changes or updates. You can also use these sites to sign up for RSS feed emails so that you get an e-mail when a post is made with a particular keyword or made to a particular section of the site.

Setting Up Profiles

In addition to bookmarking these sites, you need to have a profile set up on each of them in the name of your business. Make sure that your username and profile picture are both professional and ensure that you identify yourself as the owner of your business.

In order to make comments on reviews, request that reviews be taken down, etc. it’s necessary to have an account set up, so you want to do that now and not when you have a situation on your hands and need to post a reply right away!

Diplomacy

It’s easy to respond to critical reviews and comments when you just let the words fly, but to keep up a professional front to your business, you have to take time to plan your words carefully. Speak diplomatically and know that whatever you say or type is publicly accessible and a testament to your business.

Replication

Remember all of those review sites we talked about earlier? Well, you have to check ALL of them for mentions, reviews, content, and reposts of reviews from other sites. If you notice duplicate reviews have been posted, you now need to go in and reply to that post indicating that you have responded to that post on another website, but kindly repost your reply. And remember, BE DIPLOMATIC AND POLITE!

Notifications

Notifications are a good way to get notified that your business has been mentioned online or that a new review has been posted to your Google Business page. You don’t only have to set up these notifications so that you get emails telling you when your business has been mentioned, you also have to scan through those emails at least once daily. You’d be shocked at how many email notifications you get each day of mentions of your company, but to maintain your reputation you have to read through each and respond when necessary.

Or…

Or, if you find yourself pressed for time, you can look into an online reputation management company who can manage every step of reviews monitoring for you so that you can get back to doing what you do best!

Need Help With Reviews Monitoring?

For those of you who have been neglecting your reviews monitoring online, it’s time that you did something about it! If you are the typical small business owner and have your hands full, take advantage of our free consultation and let us know that you need help with your reviews monitoring! Just give us a call at 727-475-6460!

Reviews Monitoring: Why it’s Such a Time-Consuming Process

Reviews Monitoring: Why it’s Such a Time-Consuming Process