How Consumer Reviews Are Affecting Local Businesses

Forget the paper map, the local phone directory or coupon book found at the highway rest area. Consumers have smartphones now and they can find anything they want by simply typing a few keywords.

By using platforms such as Yelp or Google Maps, not only can consumers locate local businesses, but they can also read about previous consumers’ experiences and contribute their own.

This week is National Small Business Week. What does review management mean for local businesses? Should businesses pay attention to what is said about them online? Is any publicity good publicity?

Google Maps

Google Maps provides a great platform for consumers. They have the ability to rank businesses out of 5 stars, add pictures and personal comments.

Good rankings on Google Maps are crucial as they are automatically linked to search results on Google. Therefore, as soon as a business is googled, not only is the address and phone number made available but also consumer reviews and user picture contributions.

Now that brands can engage in two way conversation with brands, local businesses can directly interact with consumers and get instant feedback on their products and services. On their end, consumers can pass on their content to other users via social media or share their reviews with their friends.

Bearing this in mind, Google provides businesses with the possibility of replying to reviews. This way, businesses have a chance to acknowledge their successes and apologize for their mishaps.

Trip Advisor

Similar to the solutions Google Maps provides but without the navigation component, Trip Advisor is a platform on which consumers can share their experiences. For each city, establishments can be ranked and commented on. On Trip Advisor, businesses are able to claim their business page and have a provided platform to respond to user reviews. The main downside of Trip Advisor is that reviews can stay for a very long time. Therefore, there could have been a wide array of managerial changes about a local business between 2006 and 2016, but very negative reviews from a long time ago can drag down the average ranking of your business. Therefore, being listed on TripAdvisor is an incentive for businesses to prevent negative reviews because once those are posted, they are published for a very long time. The authenticity of Trip Advisor reviews is verified but it is said that businesses can easily incentivize customers to post positive reviews with a reward of some sort like a draw or a gift card.

 

Yelp

Yelp is similar to Google Maps and Trip Advisor, also featuring a street view component where you can see local businesses listed with their reviews. The main difference is that fewer reviews get approved and published, as their authenticity verification system is harder to crack. Therefore, businesses would not be able to incentivize customers to post positive reviews for an incentive. This further incentivizes them to take good care of their clientele to avoid negative word-of-mouth.

Society has changed. The Internet has given every consumer the opportunity to voice their opinion and share their experience about local businesses they visit. If local businesses acknowledge this new means of communication and caters to their clientele right, this could lean to more conversions and positive word-of-mouth. If they don’t, negative word-of-mouth can snowball and incur challenging repercussions.

Are Consumer Reviews Affecting Your Local Business?

Consider the average online consumer review.  With platforms like Google Maps, Yelp and Trip Advisor simplifying distribution of customer reviews, should we use algorithms to build presence of quality reviews in consumer search?  If so, what are the standards for those quality reviews?

Ratings from 1 to 5 stars are in place.  The definition of those stars varies by reviewer.  The content of consumer reviews vary, as well.  If we sent the consumer a rating request by category, would the reviews change?  Example - Service, rate 1-5 stars, next rate Quality 1-5 stars, Experience etc.  Is that the answer?  Consider this article on how consumer reviews affect local businesses, the individual and you.  Please collaborate, share comments and links here.

Social Engagement Strategies to Reach Consumers Today

Social engagement should be the heart of social marketing strategy.  Marketers planning digital strategies are finding the social media user evolves in social interests of platforms and communities. This new target is not only using social media, they are contributing to news online.  They are collaborating and expect you to become part of that collaboration.  The days of one way communication have come and gone.  Consumers expect to be entertained.  CMOs and top markers today are building strategies which not only entertain the audience, but engage the new target market to assist in marketing efforts as they leverage the social network of each engaged consumer.

Your brand's reputation will be affected by social strategy, to include brand image seen within social communities, in comments of users, posts to blogs.  These strategies to reach social media users will include images, video, and social aggregation of content.  Engagement of consumers in social media begins with images, video and animated gifs. in posts.

Provide content which the target market can identify with and serve the content, in a new and interesting way, to enable social user engagement, shares, and likes.  For example, if you are targeting women, of a certain demographic, consider general interests.  Consider needs of the market, where they collaborate within social media and listen to what they are saying.

Presenting fashion trends of 2015, served to Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter users, with images and animated files found online would engage social female users.  It would provide teens and college students with prom dress ideas, Gen Y with fashionable work attire and women of all ages with the latest trends on fashion.  In order to serve this content, we do not have to necessarily be selling fashion.  We could be marketing services and realize consumers who are engaged in material we provide them will appreciate the content, have a desire to like, share and contribute to it.


Follow NY Fashion Week on Pinterest.


Stay up with current events and review trends of your target market.
Social media planning should include review of current trending topics, as consumers are responding to current trends and collaborating on the topic.  Fashion, Food, Movies and Art have a big impact on social culture.  Use images with animated gifs to add interest and entice engagement.

Twitter and Dove released information on recent social media use, associated with comments tweeted by women.  Dove launched a campaign, to contribute to the social good through #SpeakBeautiful which gained respect of consumers, media and marketing peers alike.  Look up #socialmarketingcircle on Twitter or Google+ to see more on Social Media Outreach .  We embedded a tweet of Arianna Huffington on the subject, in social conversation held last night on Twitter.

One tweet can start a trend. Let's #SpeakBeautiful. http://t.co/SLpBop9DAN
— Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) February 23, 2015

Include social media outreach to give back.
Position your brand to contribute to the social good.  This generation of mobile users is interested in sharing content and affiliations to brands which they are proud to associate with.

Consider customer loyalty programs.
Earn loyal customers through transparent customer loyalty programs. Tell them what they will be getting for brand shares and interaction up front.  Build relationships with social consumers.  Include Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Tumblr in your plan.

Advertise in the social media.
Many social media users are rarely disconnected.  Advertising in social media, with use of images and video, is converting to visitors and online sales.  Advertise to reach the consumer and drive traffic back to the page they will convert on.  Use Facebook display ads to link directly to your site or targeted landing page.  Use retargeting display advertising to bring consumers back to your website. Make sure your brand stays in front of the target market, with a message they are responding to.  Post buy analysis of social marketing strategies should take place frequently.  Don't wait 90 days to change a negative trend or optimize a positive campaign.

Trending campaign analysis can be found via social network engagement of advertising on Facebook and Twitter, for example, in metrics found in Ad management dashboards.  Watch views and engagement  of certain elements, to refine strategy.

Watch what your audience is responding to and move swiftly.  Although social media campaigns involve planning, the frequently optimized campaign could realize higher returns. See an example in our engagement of the bridal runway gif advertisement trending on Google @rostinventures


Social media customers are producing a measurable economic impact in 2015.

Contribute to brand acceptance of this market through a clear vision and understanding of the future.   Creative thinking is required when structuring a social marketing plan. Reach social users with these strategies, and they will reward your brand with increased acceptance, brand loyalty, and valuable online reputation.

Use social aggregation and content curation platforms like Storify.com to reach, quote, and contribute to social media strategy for 2015.  Join The Social Marketing Circle to learn from experts in social media marketing as we review examples of brand strategies of the SMB to the Enterprise. Engage through High PR Valued Sites on a paid ranking strategy. Get #1 on Google with PR4-PR8 Contextual Links - GUARANTEED rankings & PageRank increase on Google. Check out the details.