Our Reputation Management Software is the brain of WebPunch and from the beginning, we’ve put a lot of energy into that sucker. It’s the piece that is always running in the background; constantly analyzing, organizing and prioritizing information. The heart is our one-on-one customer service and our Reputation Defenders who craft online review responses.
When companies choose an Online Reputation Software, ours or a different one, we think there are some key components that should be included with the Online Reputation Software you select. If yours doesn’t have them, that’s a sure sign you should keep shopping.
See our early post, “Things You’ll Love About Online Management Software.”
Automation
First off, your Reputation Management Software should be automated. If it’s not automated, you’ll be doing a lot more headache-inducing work than you need to be doing. It will be especially time-consuming if the software relies on your franchisees to compile and monitor their online reviews. If it’s relying on your franchisees, well, it may not even be software, more like a random guy in the arctic supposedly “training” your franchisees on what to do.
Your software should be automated and finely tuned to comb through the billions of pieces of data on the internet to find trigger words around your business.
Site Diversity
If your Reputation Management Software isn’t generating reviews on multiple sites, like five to ten sites, move along. As a business owner, you want to be working with 3-5 online review sites (even the lesser-known sites), not just one or two, because not all reviews sites are treated equal. You’ll be missing out on much of the conversation around your business if your software is only looking at a couple of review sites; just because you aren’t reading it, doesn’t mean it’s not being said. And, if you’re only working with a couple of sites, you won’t rank as high on Google.
Employees are Talking Too!
Don’t forget, your employees are talking about your company, too. On sites like Glassdoor.com and Indeed.com, employees can anonymously rate the company they work for and its management. It provides consumers with a holistic view of the company, showing them that their public values are consistent in their internal workplace. If Online Reputation Software isn’t incorporating information from these kinds of sites into its data, don’t use it. Monitoring online reviews left by your employees is equally as important as monitoring those left by consumers.
Don’t Ask Just ANYBODY
If your Reputation Software is targeting everybody for a survey and an online review, you definitely don’t want that. The automated software needs to be targeting every customer for a survey, which will stay private. However, it shouldn’t be asking everyone to post a review online. Detractors are much more motivated to gripe about their experience with you than a promoter is to praise you online about their wonderful transaction. Therefore, if you’re asking everyone to post an online review, you may get more negative feedback gone public than you’re looking for. Instead, ask your promoters to review you online because they are your little free nuggets of marketing.
New Horizons
Online Reputation Software that isn’t programmed to work with new opportunities like Nextdoor.com or Thumbtack ain’t for you! We’re living on the web folks and there’s a new way (or dozens of ways) every day that can help businesses reach out to customers. If your software isn’t utilizing new opportunities, break it of into little biteable bits and give it the birds.
Are YOU Responding?
Online Reputation Management is a two-way street! Your Reputation Management Software should have avenues for you to respond to online reviews, both positive negative. Praise your promoters and get back those detractors. Not only that, responses should be inline with an overall SEO and reputation strategy—Online Reputation Management is an extension of your marketing department. Responding to online reviews will not only open lines of communication between you and your customers, it will also help you understand what your company is doing right and what needs improving. Also, responding to online reviews helps you in the wonderful land of Google rankings.
We usually stay pretty positive, but when making a big purchase, it’s important to understand what you don’t want in a product, especially Reputation Management Software. You want it to work for you! You want it to make online reputation management seamless and effective and that can only be done with software that is automated, open to new opportunities and diversity, and is calibrated so that your company’s brand continues to be exalted.
