Google has recently updated its Place pages by removing third party online reviews. There are a variety of reasons for this, but one significant reason is likely due to an ongoing anti trust suit filed against Google. One of the issues was that Google places used reviews from Yelp, Tripadvisor, and other review sites which helped Google provide more value for the places product. But the bigger issue was when Google then started showing Google Places higher up in the rankings over these same sites they were pulling content from. In addition, the recent explosion in review generation on google directly is a contributing factor (“we don’t need your stinkin’ reviews!”). Not anymore anyway.    

   Continue reading “Online Review Management in the new world: 3rd party reviews disappear from Google Places” »

According to a new study, 7 out of 10 potential customers are more likely to buy from a local business when it makes information accessible through a social media site. This yearly study, which is called “Local Search Usage Study: Bridging The Gaps, From Search to Sales,” is a combined effort of TMP Directional Marketing and comScore. The study surveys 4,000 consumers online and contains data obtained by observing one million of those who allowed their online searches to be monitored anonymously.

Continue reading “Is the Online Information about Your Business Correct?” »

The online media revolution has opened the door to a host of new issues for small business owners. Before, everyone was a critic, but the only ones you had to worry about were local newspaper or magazines. Today, with social media available at the palm of consumers’ hands an online review, good or bad, is just a few clicks away, and with a rating system reminiscent of a school GPA one mishap can leave a business owner wondering just what happened. According to a recent article on eMarketer.com even the travel industry has taken to this rapidly growing consumer awareness segment by putting more of their marketing budgets towards digital marketing than any other industry. Stating that, “nearly 70% of US hoteliers responding to the April 2010 study reported online was the marketing channel with the greatest ROI”. Not too surprisingly, the report also mentioned that, “the majority of hotels are using a variety of online channels to reach potential customers, including 69% marketing via social media.” For most of the service industry, recommendations and online reviews are key to their growth strategy. As the article points out “Half said they proactively encouraged guests to post reviews of their hotel, and even those that did not encourage reviews saw the importance of review monitoring them. Nearly seven in 10 did so at least weekly.” It’s no secret, listening to the consumer is what keeps doors open and now with Hotels focusing more of their marketing efforts on social media monitoring and reputation management they are more apt to hear what their customers are saying both good and bad and react accordingly. Source: www.emarketer.com

People are talking about your business? Are you listening? Protect your business’ brand name with online reputation management and social media monitoring. Remember the old saying, “Any press is good press?”  We say, it depends. You can only evaluate and react to bad press, or celebrate the good news, if you know what’s out there. On the internet, this used to be a daunting, if not impossible task.  Not anymore thanks to chatmeter’s online reputation management service for local businesses. Today it is important for all business owners to:

• closely monitor your online reputation and what people are saying about them across the internet
• find out where they are saying it
• keep abreast of your competitors online reputation and internet marketing efforts
• stay ahead of the curve in your industry and market.

Continue reading “Protect Yourself with Reputation Management and Social Media Monitoring” »

As anyone with a following can tell you, there will always be critics.  This is doubly true in the information age, where expanding your reach through blogging and social media opens you up to a world of new opportunities, and new criticisms along with them.

Outside the net, we hear the echo of our parents in our ears, saying, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”  We try not to openly complain—especially when someone gives us something for free!  Often, this rule gets thrown out the window when it comes to our interactions on the web.

Read more: HubSpot’s Inbound Internet Marketing Blog