Reviewing Your Social Media

By: Elyssa Cherney

Nowadays, social media is synonymous with tweets and Facebook likes.
Both play a crucial role in forging your online reputation.

Although I am one of those savvy youths responsible for this digital explosion, and consider myself Facebook and Twitter literate, I still have trouble grasping exactly what social media means and what strategies should be used to support it.

So when I attended a technology lecture at the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce called “Is Social Media Making Your Business Anti-Social???” I expected to learn about muploads (that’s mobile uploads) and retweeting. However, what keynote speaker Steven Dimmitt spoke about shattered the strict borders I had imposed on the social media world.

As the CEO of abSRDdity, an online reputation management service, Dimmitt shared his insights about the shifting relationship between advertising and the current world.

Technological, economic, and psychological factors are all redrawing the lines in conventional marketing. What used to be a one-way dialogue, controlled by the business, has now morphed into a two-way communication that gives the consumer more power.

Because there are more options for just about everything today, the consumer controls more of this process. He chooses how to search or find businesses and, because of this, he doesn’t have to settle for anything less than a deal.

This has forced the business model to change, with an increased focus on engaging the consumer. Social media is one of the ways businesses can reach out to potential audiences and hold their attention.

So you’ve got your Facebook page, your Twitter, a LinkedIN profile, and maybe even a blog. With all those platforms, your SEO must be climbing the ranks. It should be that much closer to making it on the first page of a search.

But here’s the kicker: though you are creating all that content, 80 percent of search results are user-generated. Instead of exposing potential clients to the material you chose, they are seeing what others have written about you in reviews, blogs, and other posts.

And they’re listening.

About 84 percent of users say that consumer reviews influenced their purchasing.

The online review, a sector that completely escaped my thoughts before hearing from Dimmitt, is another huge component of your online identity.

Most business have a Google Place Page, a Yelp site, a Bing listing, or a City Search review where customers post their feelings about companies

Consumers are more likely to post their thoughts after an unpleasant experience, denouncing the business and the service in a public rant.

Dimmitt pointed out that one bad review can cost you up to 30 potential customers. For damage control, he recommends five good testimonials for every negative one.

But when you do your job correctly, and a person has a positive experience, they probably won’t feel as compelled to gush about you online. The challenge is getting them to do just that, though it might not be as hard as you thought.

Just ask. If you see a consumer who is satisfied, invite them to write a review in person and e-mail them the link to your review site. It’s that easy.

Don’t let social laziness cost you customers.

Dimmitt offered three steps to building the online brand of your dreams—Assess, repair, maintain.

Claim online venues, respond to current dialogue and be diligent about getting positive reviews.

Do not ignore negative reviews. If there is a bad post, digest it, respond, and e–mail your employees about what went wrong. Contact the author of the review, inquire about their experience, and personally apologize.

If there is a positive review, share it over your social media and propel it to reach as many people as possible.

While I admit I still don’t understand the inner workings of social media, I know enough to realize it can be one of the most powerful business tools of today.

If you don’t get it, hire someone who does. Dimmitt suggests assigning a full time role as social media manager to one of your employees.

At Davidoff Communications, we too are realizing the power of the online world and using our summer interns (that’s me!) to refresh and update our own social media efforts. Writing frequent blogs, such as this one, is one component of this much larger project, but we also have one intern manning our online board and getting our name out there through Twitter and Facebook.

And if that wasn’t enough, now we know to monitor our online reviews too.