Where do people go in ever increasing numbers to buy products and services these days?
That’s right! Online. OK, we all knew that one.
Where do people go to research those products by talking to their friends, getting peer to peer reviews, and reading up on what’s said about a product or service?
Again, the answer is (drumroll please) … Online. You were right!
Where do people spend almost all their facetime speaking directly to others these days?
Wow! Right again! Online. Email’s getting less and less popular as the means for this direct communication to friends. In fact, it’s been shown in 2010 that people now spend 80% of their online time on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. These social networks have systems for sending direct communication (email, instant messages, direct messages) that don’t get spammed so that’s where people usually talk to each other.
Think about that: 80% of time online. That is a huge change in a very short time. In fact, social media sites have been making it more and more appealing to access the rest of the world through them rather than directly, so expect that shockingly high number not to get any smaller any time soon.
Where do people go to discover solutions to problems they may be having with products and services?
Online. That’s right, a search is now the FIRST resort, done before phone calls, before emails, and usually before the issue has spiraled out of control (if it’s going to). What are people searching for? Not usually your white papers or manuals or online FAQ. Sorry, that’s not what they look for. They usually look for peer-to-peer reviews. That’s right – other mentions by people like them in any online venue they can find. They research you like a Private Investigator before they call you with their problem now. And they may find the answer they look for. Wouldn’t you rather that answer was yours than the one given by a disgruntled customer?
Where do people go to complain about products or services they’re not happy with?
Online, in as public a place as they have access to, or as accurate a venue as they have knowledge of. When they know of a peer-to-peer review site, they’ll go there. If not, they’ll bring it to the masses via their social media accounts. Reasons for this are many. Unfortunately, as usual, the grumpy ones talk more often and louder than the happy ones.
Just look up your favorite restaurant on Google Local, on 4Square, on Yelp, on CitySearch, or do a facebook search … the list of places where people mention it online goes on and on and on. There will be reviews and other peer-to-peer mentions all over these sites. Even if you KNOW that restaurant is fabulous, there will be at least one awful review.
And remember, these people mention you – positively or negatively – in the exact same places that your potential customers go to find out more about you before buying.
Each time a customer speaks badly of you in a public place online, it can cost you up to 30 more customers, according to the experts. But if you then positively respond and assist that unhappy customer, you can often turn that negative mention into positive publicity, providing you handle the customer properly. And that can result in more new customers.
You’ve got doubts?
“Well,” you say, “That’s all well and good, but we have a great customer support staff that handle all our incoming calls and emails in a timely and satisfactory manner. We’re on top of this already. If we nip it in the bud, we won’t have a problem.”
But, do people always call into hotlines now? Or seek out your proper email addresses? Or go to your website to search out how to contact you there? Not as often as they used to. The rest only call by phone as a last resort if online research into their issue doesn’t provide their answers or they don’t find a suitable place to complain about you. And even if they do call in, they may still have a grievance and air that online. Or have aired it while it was happening and then left the issue there, looking unresolved, for all to read. People tell the entire world what they ate for breakfast now. Do you really think every single customer will leave their (temporary) grievance with your company completely unmentioned?
As you can tell, the PR landscape has changed drastically.
There used to be only you (1st party), and them (2nd party). (And sometimes they would tell their friends. But that was usually limited to two or three people who heard about it.)
But now there is a 3rd party (the rest of the world is now listening, too). People who speak in social media are often speaking to the entire world, provided only the rest of the world listens. And listen they do. Peer-to-peer brand mentions are VERY highly ranked in search because they are so much more trusted and because so many people seek them out.
You need to be proactively grabbing up these highly public conversations, joining the conversation and turning every one of them you can into a positive mention or a resolved situation. Or at the very least, providing your response to the issue to the originator (and to anyone else who might be listening).
You say, “OK. I’m convinced. But in order to respond to these people talking about me, I need to know where to look, how to find out THAT they’re talking about me online, before I can respond. How the heck do I do THAT? And what’s it gonna cost me?”
Well, this requires what’s called “Reputation Monitoring“.
Reputation Monitoring used to be a field for just PR firms. Or it required a dedicated employee with access to special tools. And only large companies could really think about doing it. They hired firms to carefully review magazines, newspapers, everywhere that information was distributed back then. They circled, cut out, saved each “mention” of you and sent you a summary to look over.
Later, early in the days of computers, someone brilliant came up with LexxusNexxus (one of the first comprehensive searchable databases in the world) to find these “mentions”, mostly still in print, and it was expensive and time consuming to have a Lexxus Nexxus membership or to hire a firm to review and send them to you for resolution. And it was never timely enough to resolve much of anything except a sort of aftermath clean-up.
Nothing like that anymore. You don’t need an outside firm anymore. Monitoring your reputation online is easy, even if it sounds like you’d have to have your ear pressed against every door in the world. All those places a customer might mention you nowadays! Such a daunting task to search out and respond to all of these possible mentions.
Fortunately, with the advent of the modern internet, the task was made easier, as well as much more necessary.
With a few simple steps, you can set up a system to find these online mentions using simple tools available online for free and even have an alert sent to you every time someone mentions you or your products, so you can hop right on it. Using simple tools. Again, they’re free. FREE.
So why aren’t you doing this already?
Well, for most of you, it’s because you don’t really know where to start, how to do it. Or you think it would mean having to assign a dedicated employee.
Well, I can help you set up your system so that you can monitor brand mentions and direct these as emails to anyone you choose, a receptionist for sorting, your PR staff, your customer support staff, even your sales staff. No having to add staff. You already have people with the job of talking to your customers, right?
If you’re ambitious about it, you can even buy software to help you manage, handle, categorize, and link these mentions into your existing databases for managing this stuff. If there are many mentions at all, taking the 30 to 1 customer loss ratio mentioned before into account should make it simple to get approval for a decent software to manage the process.
But even then you STILL wouldn’t need a dedicated employee – you’ve already got all the people you need for this – the same ones who presently handle phone calls and emails.
It’s now easier to set up and monitor your brand online than it is to keep in touch with all your friends on their birthdays. And you’re already doing that. It’s easier to set it up from end to end, than it is to talk about setting it up. And you’re already doing that, too.
In fact, in the time it took me to write this blog post about it, I could have set up online brand monitoring for you.
You say, “Why should we handle these mentions in-house? That’s what PR firms are for, right?”
Unless you’re a very large company, I do not recommend out-sourcing this reputation management to a PR firm or web consultant (like me). It really ought to be resolved in house. A web consultant or PR firm should help you set it up, but then you should take the reins.
Think of it this way… Imagine you’re Jane Doe, and you just bought a computer from ABC Computers. It doesn’t work, and you spend hours trying to resolve it. You’re frustrated. So you tweet about it, mentioning that ABC Computers are no darn good (in possibly more vehement terms). ABC computers doesn’t respond, but their PR firm, XYZ Consultants does. Would this resolve your issue? Even if XYZ Consultants saw this, informed ABC Computers about your grievance by email, who responded the next day, they’ve probably still lost customers and the advantage of a timely response from leaving a negative mention unanswered for 24 hours.
And since we’re Jane Doe in this example, which would you prefer from these options?
- Hearing from a PR firm immediately.
- Hearing from a tech support person immediately.
- Not hearing at all from anyone.
- Hearing from a tech support person after you’ve had the problem for a while and possibly gone to a competitor who was faster on the draw.
Responding to people when they’re most in need – and sometimes before they’ve even reached the point where they’re contacting you – is a powerful tool. Being timely and responsive turns ranting unhappy customers into raving happy, vocal people. You already KNOW these people are vocal, but now you’ve turned them into happy, vocal people – if you handled it right. Turning negatives into positives is actually possible if you can be both timely and helpful.
And again, the tools most of you will need to use to monitor your reputation online are free, readily available. And easy to set-up in just a few hours.
Still not convinced to do this? Well, here’s the clincher. It’s likely that your competition is doing it. Companies are jumping into social media to \”join the conversation\” faster than spawning salmon jumping upstream. And it’s just as chaotic. If you set this up well right now you can edge out competition by showing your customers your greater willingness to help. And all of their friends. And the whole world while you’re at it.
I’m happy to help you get started toward monitoring your customers and potential customers attitude toward you. Being communicative, open and responsive online can be unbelievably powerful, and can affect your future business greatly.
If you’d like my assistance setting up reputation monitoring online, deciding who to inform in the organization, or helping your staff understand how to properly resolve the resultant brand mentions, please contact me. I can do this onsite (if you’re in the LA area), through phone consulting, or online.
It’s easier to set up reputation monitoring than it is to continually think about whether to set it up. it won’t take long and we can have you ready to take on the world… or at least your own clients.
It’s really no longer an option to monitor your brand. Either you move into the new social landscape with your clients, or they move on without you… and bring your future customers with them.