Digital Marketing for Dentists: WDA Conference

November is fast approaching and dentists in the Midwest will be gathering at the Wisconsin Dental Association's InSession Conference. In addition to learning about all of the latest research, techniques, services and products available to cutting-edge dental practices, participants will have the opportunity to advance their digital marketing impact.

Bring your laptops as we will be taking time to discuss how to evaluate your practice's current online presence, respond to reviews, build your reputation, and get your business listing up on Google+ and other major search engines and review sites. 

www.impressionsrm.com

Negative Reviews: An Inherited Mess

Negative reviews are tough enough to swallow, but harder still when they weren't your reviews - they belong to the previous business owner!

Negative Reviews Compliments of the Previous Business Owner

You were bright-eyed and idealistic as you bought a business that was struggling and you were determined to turn it around. Unfortunately, the business also had a reputation that you have inherited and it's hurting your online reputation and impacting the number of new customers willing to come through your doors. 

What should you do?

• Claim all of your review website pages - You need to have control over what is being displayed on these sites so that you can direct the conversation and reveal the changes and improvements you've made.
• Post a note on every one of the review websites that the business is under new ownership.
• Reply to the existing negative reviews - Express that you are sorry they had the experience that they did and let them know that you have purchased the business with the intent of improving the service and products offered. Let them know you don't approve of the treatment they received either and that you hope they will give you a chance to show how different the business will be. 
• Read ALL of the negative comments and use that feedback to guide your plans for improvement. 
• Start building your new reputation - As you have new happy clients, ask them to write reviews for you so that, when people go online, they see new comments and evidence that the new owners have turned the place around. 
• Monitor your review websites daily - Be sure to publicly thank the people who leave positive notes for you and to address any comments that voice concerns by offering to speak with the customer offline. 

Grow Your Reputation

As time goes on, your reputation will stand on its own and the memory of the previous business owner will fade. You have the choice of growing a solid reputation both online and off, but as is true with anything worth doing, it will take diligence. 

Claim your business listings, monitor for new reviews, and interact with customers who take the time to write reviews for you. Listen to your customers and use their feedback to positively impact your local online advertising!

www.impressionsrm.com 

Fake Reviews: Fooling Only Yourself

Writing fake reviews is not only unethical and illegal, it also hurts your reputation even worse than simply ignoring your online reviews.

Writing Fake Reviews

I just had an interaction with one of the nastiest business owners with whom I have had the misfortune to meet. He has numerous negative reviews on the web and refuses to accept what is being said by his clients on social media sites which really are not that bad of comments and could give him the tools he needs to make business improvements and significantly impact his influx of new customers. He is rude to those he deems beneath him and it shows in the interactions I have experienced and it is echoed in his online reviews.

Instead of making changes and using the feedback he is receiving, it appears he is writing and having others write fake reviews for him. The more I work with reviews, the easier it becomes to spot the fakes and his simply scream FAKE.

Obviously it's unethical. It's also been the subject of court cases by Yelp - cases they have won and that have resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

Recognizing Fake Reviews

How can you tell if a review is fake? Sometimes you can't, but when you see multiple reviews using language that's not common to everyone, it's a pretty good sign that the reviews are being written by someone or a few people who have insider knowledge about the industry for which they are writing. 

For example, when you see several reviews all posted in close time frame of each other and every one of them mentions a specific service or product being offered by that business, you could be seeing fake reviews:

• I love that this place has flexible hours.
• Isn't it great that the hours are so flexible?
• Their hours are way more flexible than ABC Business.
• Their flexible hours make it easy for me to visit them!

Handling Fake Reviews

So, if you think a series of reviews are fake, what should you do? 

Several of the review websites like Google+ and Yelp allow you to "flag" a review. You can click a button that looks like a flag and then you will be given some options on why you are flagging the review. It doesn't necessarily mean that the reviews will be removed, but the website is more likely to take a look and investigate further. They are also pretty good about letting you know if they agree with you and will remove the reviews or if they think there is not enough evidence to warrant removal. 

What's a Small Business To Do?

It IS frustrating when negative reviews are posted on websites and social media about your business. You pour your life into this business and oftentimes the review is not entirely based in fact. Negative reviews have a huge impact on sales and the temptation is to cheat a bit. 

Just like your offline reputation though, your online reputation will be in jeopardy if you choose to try to cheat your way to the top. Instead, you can take control of your online reputation and build it ethically into a solid representation of your quality products and services. 

Don't sell yourself short. Take control and use online reviews to advertise your excellence. No amount of fake reviews will overcome a true strong online presence.