Inbound Marketing Blog

If you haven't ever used TripAdvisor, Yelp, or skimmed the reviews while shopping for products on Amazon...this article will be of no interest to you. But if you do, or better yet, if you're a business owner that is actively managing those review sites, you may want to read on. 

A little background first (for those who are not in the know): If you are a current business owner, say a restaurant, landscape company or Chiropractic clinic, then you automatically have a profile on Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google and many other review sites out there. And the reviews your customers are posting are starting to become a more significant part of the success of your business every year. 

A number of years ago I was traveling in upstate New York and went to a Friendly’s restaurant. For those who don’t know the chain, it’s a family restaurant. You wouldn’t necessarily expect the service and food to be stellar but you would still have an expectation that someone says hi, comes and takes your order in a timely manner and gives you food that is halfway decent.

That particular evening as I was sitting in this restaurant it became pretty clear that they didn’t care about me, my money or my experience. I sat in this mostly empty restaurant for nearly 20 minutes before I even got my glass of water and gave my order. I then waited nearly 30 minutes for my fairly simple meal to find it’s way to me. This meal was mediocre at best.

Every time I am looking at going to a new place to eat, to stay, to spend time in, I look at the reviews. I look at the amount of stars and I read what people write. If there is nothing but negative reviews there I move on. I am not interested in spending time at a place that isn’t liked. It’s a yelp generation and it’s crucial that businesses adapt to it.

Monitor

One of the most important things about having different social media platforms is good monitoring. You can schedule posts to go out, but remember not to forget about your pages.  Even if you just check in once a day you will be able to put out fires before they start.  We generally check our social media throughout the day. This makes it easy to be on the top of the game. It’s important to check what your customers are writing and what they think.

We believe that nurturing the relationship with our customers is a crucial part of growing a successful business. Reputation and customer service are a must in the age of technology. An unhappy customer can share their opinion through social media and negatively affect your business. It is important to create an excellent experience for your customers to help develop your company’s relationship with them into love. Customer service isn’t a focus for a lot of businesses. This is your opportunity to stand out. Win them over and make them fall head of heels in love with your business. Here are the 10 steps to get you there.