reuputation

6 Critical Precautions to Protect Yourself from a Bad Online Reputation or Review

reuputationBack in the day—you know, before the internet—it was a lot easier to protect yourself or your company’s reputation. Previously, if someone had a bad experience with you, he or she would tell a few people or those within their close circle and that was about the extent of the impact. Today, people have the potential to tell, what often feels like, the entire world online. Here are some precautions you and your agency can take to protect yourself from a bad online review.

How to Protect Yourself from a Bad Online Review

1. Create an Online Strategy and Social Media Strategy

It’s not just millennials who use the internet to research when considering buying or selling property, more and more individuals are turning to the internet before they begin their real estate journey. This means it’s critical to have an online strategy and to actively manage your online reputation.

You can be proactive in creating a positive reputation and excellent online brand awareness via social media posts, relevant and informative blog posts, and by curating content tailored to your audience. You can also lay the framework for how you’ll respond to poor reviews or negative comments and who will respond, should you receive any. A strategy is crucial to ensure you’re creating the right online reputation.

2. Respond to Negative Feedback and Continue to Post Positive Reviews and Content

If you manage negative feedback well, you can reverse it by being very apologetic and letting the unhappy client know that he or she can get in touch with you to sort things out. If any other potential clients see the negative feedback, they’ll see that you’re professional, respectful, and quick to address concerns.

Once you’ve apologised, continue to post positive content to drown out the negative noise.

3. Request Testimonials from Happy Clients

If a negative review was left and it’s being featured at the top of a review website or in a place where you can’t drown it out with lots of great curated content, seek out testimonials from happy customers. You likely have tons of happy customers and now is the time to start asking for feedback.

You should constantly encourage buyers, sellers, tenants, landlords, and vendors to go online and leave positive feedback about their great experience with you or your agency.

If you’re not quite sure how to professionally request and receive a fabulous testimonial, check out our blog post, “How to Ask a Real Estate Client for a Great Testimonial.”

4. Use Alert Tools and Be Proactive

Utilise Google Alerts or Mention to stay on top of any time your name, agency, or website is mentioned online. These tools will notify you when you’re mentioned and help you proactively respond to good and bad reviews.

Create content around keywords that potential clients are searching for, such as “best {fill in the area} real estate agent,” so that when they search, they discover you. It’s one of the many ways to help the customer find you.

5. Outsource or Enlist Help When Necessary

In addition to social media companies that will either post for you or help with sponsored or boosted posts, there are also companies that assist with online reputation management. These companies will either assist you on a regular basis or once off, in the case of a significant negative event. If you don’t have the necessary resources to properly manage your online reputation or social media platforms, outsourcing to a company that knows what they’re doing can be very beneficial.

6. Focus on Prevention

The age old adage is true: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Do your best to ensure your customers have a positive experience with you and everyone in your agency. While customer service and care can be interpreted differently depending on the people you encounter, you can still work on ensuring that from the receptionist to the admin team to the agent, every customer is getting the best possible service.

 

For more helpful real estate tips and information like this, check out our blog. You can also follow us on Facebook.

At iProperty, we provide leading online property management and real estate software,  responsive websites, and more.

 

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