Online reputation management is the practice of managing your online presence by looking after your online reviews at the location level. They typically involve a strategy to monitor and respond to reviews across the relevant review sites that your outlets are listed on. The most popular platforms include global sites such as Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp, Facebook and Foursquare and regional sites including Zomato, Talabat and ReserveOut.

First, you need to make sure that all of your outlet’s digital listing as complete and accurate.

Before you embark on managing your online reputation and practice review management, also known as online review management, you need to make sure that you have accurate and complete digital listings across all of these platforms. This means that you should claim and verify your Google Maps listing by creating a Google My Business account, claiming each listing and set up Google alerts. The verification processes which enables you to update the Google listing information and have the ability to respond to reviews can be a challenging one but there are companies including Localyser that can help you with that. Google My Business is an opportunity to improve your search engine optimization and ultimately improve your brands online image.

The other platforms are more straight forward to setup but it is important to make the distinction between a Facebook brand page and a Facebook location page. Your outlets’ listings on Facebook should be under the brand page which allows your customers to leave reviews for the correct location.

Once your platforms are set up and profiles have been created, it is time to start the review monitoring. To improve your online image, you need to look after negative comments, positive content, and any review in between. Online content is your direct link to content marketing and improves your positive reputation. Online reputation management companies is the answer to your problems and the start to review management.

Second, start drafting how you want to respond to reviews by creating suggested response text for each sentiment.

Once you have updated all of your listings across the different platforms, then you are ready to start your online reputation management strategy. Start by drafting suggested text for each sentiment, positive and negating rating. An important part of review management is responding to the reviews.  These suggested response templates can take the share of something like this:

Positive reviews suggested response text:

• Hi {Name}, thank you for the positive feedback! We're always happy to hear good things from our guests. {Brand} Team.
• We are glad you enjoyed your experience at {Brand}. Please visit us again soon! {Brand} Team.
• Greetings from {Brand}! Thank you for your review, {Name}. We look forward to seeing you again soon. {Brand} Team.

Negative reviews suggested response text:

• We're sad to see your negative review and we would like to know more behind it. Please let us know how we can reach you here: {add the best way to contact you}. {Brand} Team.
• Hi {Name}, we are truly saddened that your experience was not as great as we would have liked. We take bad reviews very seriously, and we would like to ensure that your experience is better next time. Brand} Team.
• Hello {Name}, we're so sorry to hear about your experience. We want to know more to help resolve the situation. Please let us know how we can contact you: {add the best way to contact you} {Brand} Team

For a more accurate response, try to create additional templates that address every issues such as food-related or service-related.  This will help with your reputation score and review management.

Use your reviews to improve your social media platforms and provide content creation.

It is important to log on to your social media accounts and take control of your social media profiles by posting positive content. Using your reviews off of multiple search engines and review platforms will improve your search engine optimization. Social media posts are the easiest way to achieve social media marketing. Digital marketing is the direction restaurant marketing is going in. Stay connected with your customers and use their feedback for content creation for your social media presence. Review management is how you leverage the customer reviews in a optimizing way on social profiles. It is called social proof.

Be aware of your customer experience and use online reputation management services.

It is imperative to know what occurs daily in your business to consumer activities. Online comments and reviews are the ultimate giveaway. If your restaurant is creating a negative experience, you will find this from online reviews. A bad experience can make a happy customer turn into a negative reviewer. It is important to keep updated on online review platforms and social media channels. Online reputation monitoring gives your company a chance to mend mistakes. Fake reviews can be a hassle, and knowing the difference between a real negative experience and a fake one is extremely detrimental to your online business and could be the difference between a bad reputation and a 5-star review. Online content is the location where most of your answers are. Using online reputation management companies such as Localyser can be the missing puzzle piece in your overall business reputation plan.

Leverage online reputation management automation for multi-location.

If you are a chain or a group that operates multiple-brands with several locations each, you should consider using an online reputation management tool to help you automate the process of review management and content strategy. At Localyser, for example, we provide our clients with high-quality content. A single dashboard to monitor and respond to all reviews from across the Web. This makes it super efficient as you don’t need to log in and out of every platform, thus saving you time and resources. It is an easier way to look after your online presence. Your online image will improve before you have time to think about your online reputation management services.

You should also consider decentralizing the responsibility of online reputation management and allow each restaurant or store manager to respond to their own outlet’s reviews. This gives you the added value of making sure that each outlets is exposed to their customer feedback in real-time that they can in turn take immediate action to resolve.Talk about a positive reputation and improvement to your reputation score.

Online reputation management is ideal for any business that receives online reviews for their outlet.

If you receive online reviews on at least one site, which most businesses do, then you need an online reputation management strategy. It is especially important for brands that have multiple locations and receive online reviews from several review sites. It is a way to attract a potential customer and stay on top of negative content and encourage positive content. Some companies are extremely busy and have very little time to look after their online reputation management work and do not have the time to interview online reputation managers. Localyser is the answer to those situations. We will look after your online reputation management services and provide your restaurant with positive customer reviews, avoid fake reviews and improve your overall online image.

Restaurants, hotels, healthcare and entertainment companies are prime candidates to have an online reputation management solution to help them effectively listen to their customers’ needs and respond to their issues by monitoring review management.

After all, if you are not listing, then you are not learning. It is all about review management.

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