Doctors and dentists tell patients, "all your reviews belong to us"

 "The receptionist handed me a clipboard with forms to fill out. After the usual patient information form, there was a "mutual privacy agreement" that asked me to transfer ownership of any public commentary I might write in the future to Dr. Cirka."
This is quite an amusing story about review paranoia and third parties using a  sledgehammer to crack the proverbial nut.  Only in America.
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79% of ‘Young Consumers' Trust Online Reviews as Much as Personal Recommendations

 A  poll by SEO specialists, BrightLocal.com, finds that 69% of people trust online customer reviews as much as personal recommendations. This figure rises to 79% among 16-34 year olds and remains strong for the growing numbers of online and IT literate baby boomers (62%).
Other stats include;

• 70% of people have used the internet to find a local business in the last 12 months
• Younger consumers use the internet more frequently to find local businesses than older consumers
• 67% of local consumers have consulted online customer reviews of local businesses
• Younger consumers are more influenced by positive online reviews that older consumers
• Female consumers are more likely to select a local business that has positive customer reviews
• 69% of local consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations

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Don’t Be Afraid of Negative Consumer Reviews

Authentic Reputation Management Works.
Andrew Ward of TrustFX writes, "One of the biggest concerns that I hear from business owners about social media, is their fear of negative reviews. They fear that negative reviews will sour potential customers or patients who read it. The proliferation of reputation management services speak to the fear of negative feedback and the desire to present a “managed reputation”.
But he quite rightly goes on to say, "Don’t be afraid of negative reviews. A recent Forrester report found that 50 percent of online shoppers proceeded with a purchase after reading negative reviews on it. The point is that the presence of negative reviews doesn’t prevent sales. I am not suggesting that mediocrity is a marketable advantage, but projecting a competitive reputation that is authentic will increase its ability to attract and influence people looking for the services that you provide and will produce better long term business results."
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The Future Of Selling: It's Social

Social media has had an enormous impact on buying behavior with 49% of sellers seeing social media as important to their success. In fact, among the most successful salespeople, over two-thirds believe social media is integral to their sales success.
A good article by OgilvyOne's Brian Fetherstonhaugh

THE F-FACTOR

Consumers are increasingly tapping into their networks of friends, fans, and followers to discover, discuss and purchase goods and services, in ever-more sophisticated ways. As a result, it's never been more important for brands to make sure they too have the F-FACTOR.

Another great article from TrendWatching. 
Read it here

How to Cope with Bad Reviews

With the increasing popularity of user-generated reviews, hoteliers may lament the loss of control over what is being said online, but, as Daniel Edward Craig says, they are  still in full control of how they react.
Below are some suggestions for using negative reviews to effect positive change in your hotel.
1. Speak up.
2. Engage.
3. Show leadership.
4. Take the high road.
5. Make reputation management a priority.
6. Create a cycle of positivity.
7. Prevent escalation.
8. Take the good with the bad.
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The Algorithm + the Crowd are Not Enough

In the last decade, the online world has been ruled by two, twin forces: The Crowd and The Algorithm.
The collective “users” of the Internet (The Crowd) create, click, and rate, while mathematical equations add scalability and findability to these overwhelming quantities of data (The Algorithm).
Like the moon over the ocean, the pull of these two forces help create the tides of popularity (and obscurity) on the Internet.
Information is more accessible, useful, and egalitarian than ever before.
But lately, at least to me [the author Rand Fishkin], the weaknesses of this crowdsourced + algorithmic system are showing, and the next revolution feels inevitable.
Read full article: A very interesting take on some of our favourite sites.

Managing Negative Reviews

The problem with most negative reviews is that whatever you do to make amends, sometimes the review just won't go away, particularly if it's been scraped by other sites like Google Places.
This article has tips and links for how to manage negative reviews and also how to go further.
But first and formost,

1. Keep in mind that most of the people who will read your response are potential customers, not the person with the complaint.
2. Put your best foot forward in showing how you deal with customer concerns.
   
3. Don't write your response as soon as you see the review for the first time. Cool down.
   
4. Write a short, non-defensive reply and describe how the issue has been resolved. This will earn you the trust of your future customers.

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Barbershop Promotes Its Worst Yelp Reviews

Here is a good lesson on how you can turn negative consumer feeback around to your advantage.  Naturally a sense of humour always helps.
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How Not to Manage your Online Reputation

The posts on this blog are self explanatory and well worth a read if only to see how much damage you can create by over-reacting to comments that you may not find to your liking.

Apologies for the break in our HelpHound blog, we've been otherwise engaged in building new modules and some very cool stuff that we will launch very shortly.
As of the middle of April, we will be back in full force