When it comes to online reviews, there is no denying the effects they have on whether a prospective customer buys a product or decides to accept a job from an employer. The vast majority of people will choose an item or a position from a company that has received positive reviews in the past and over the past number of years, reputation marketing as it is known, has really become popular and for good reasons. Many businesses are now starting to understand the impact these review sites have on their business and their staff turnover.
Causes Change
Allowing people, for example, to give their opinions and thus their reviews on current and past employers is a mutual service offered, that is to the benefit of all. If they are currently working for that company and wish to make changes while also being anonymous, what better way to enact change than by telling prospective employees the issues that the company currently has and why they need to change. This will help the current employee and also the incoming one. On the other hand, if the company is doing great things for their employees, then this is a very positive thing and it makes the competitors sit up, listen and hopefully change. It is a win win situation for all.
Positive Marketing
Reading online reviews is now a normal part of online shopping or when searching for a new job. The majority of people will select the company who has the most positive reviews and it has now come to the point that companies are openly asking for reviews that they would have been terrified about, in the past. They now understand that businesses can connect with customers through reviews and that potential customers are now making decisions quicker due to these review sites. Getting a positive review from one or multiple customers is the best marketing that you can get and it is free.
Higher Rankings
These positive reviews work in other ways too. They help your business to rank better on popular search engines and prospective customers click on your links when you show up more in the search engines. These positive reviews build trust amongst the buying community and so getting a positive review needs to be an ongoing process where your business sells an item, provides a service or offers a job and then follows up with the customer or employee. When it gets to the point that people actually take the time to post a positive review, then you know that you are doing something right.
Bad Can Be Good
Even bad reviews can be good as they list what someone thinks is wrong. You can then try to get to the route of the issue and hopefully fix it. There is always a good side to negative reviews because they help you to find business issues that would probably have been overlooked or even ignored. It provides a great service to both consumers and businesses who use reputation marketing.
At the end of the day, getting positive reviews is one way to make your company stand out from the rest and anything that helps you to do this needs to be looked at.