Crowd Media Founder and Managing Director, Judy Sahay

1. Management of a brand Has a strong strategy in place. We believe that every brand online must have a strong digital/social media strategy.The strategy should also consider risk mitigation, preventing negative brand sentiments etc. For instance, it’s important to
know what others are saying about you. But more important to respond to that comment/ review in a timely manner before it starts to spread. Setting up “social mentions”, “Google alerts” every time your brand is mentioned is a great way to be in the “know”.

2. Report false reviews Sadly, brands can get negative reviews from their competitors. If you believe this is the case it’s best to contact the platform where the review is made and make a formal complaint.Tey will try and ask for evidence so it’s good to put a
case together.

Nextrend Furniture Director of Marketing, Noah Henderson

1. The customer is not always right, but how they feel about your product or service represents a part of your customer experience. Social media allows complaints to go viral. Address them quickly, and honestly.

2. Invite your guest to interact with you privately through email or phone. Please keep in mind that they can post your email response, so take care when responding. Avoid pre-determined responses, and interact like a person. Make right where you did wrong and use the feedback and interaction to grow your customer experience.

ServiceSeeking CEO,Jeremy Levit

1. Most customers, left unprompted, do not leave reviews after work is completed even when the job was done to a satisfactory standard. We often find small details like tradespeople who clean up properly after their work, or service providers that remember customer’s names after speaking on the phone, have a surprisingly big impact on whether a review is left or not.

2. Don’t react negatively when you receive a poor review. Begging the customer to edit the review never works. Remember that your overall ratio of positives vs negatives matters much more and focus on using that feedback as a learning about your business and customer service.

Wolf Interactive Digital Marketing Manager, John Rosato

1. Appreciate If somebody has made a conscious effort to share their thoughts about your business, thank them. This appreciation
goes a long way to encourage future reviewers. Even negative reviews can help your business to grow.

2. Designate Whether it is you or your 2IC, delegate the role of replying to reviews to one person. This ensures clean and
consistent responses throughout the platform.

3. Don’t aggravate Don’t enter an online battle for righteousness. Take a deep breath. With the Internet, it is possible to receive
exaggerated or false reviews. Whatever the case, don’t burn a bridge!

MomentFeed Business Development Executive, Ashley Baxter

Brands can make online review management much easier a few ways, including:

1. Limiting the number of employees responding to reviews to one department or small group of employees.

2. Creating a spreadsheet or database to record how many reviews the company is responding to each week.

3. Writing response templates that can be easily customized for each engagement.

4. Investing in a software that will track multiple review channels in one
dashboard to save time in responding.

Directree Digital Marketing Expert and Director, Kevin Spiteri

Develop a list of standard responses to both positive and negative feedback. Most people who leave reviews just want to be acknowledged. A simple copy and paste list in a word document or notes will help to begin communications, something as simple as:

(Positive Feedback)
“Tank you for your kind feedback, we really appreciate your business and look forward to seeing you again soon” or,

(Negative Feedback)
“We are genuinely sorry to hear you have had an unpleasant experience with us. We would appreciate the opportunity to rectify the situation, if you can please send us a private message or email with your contact details, detailing your concerns we will be in touch to discuss a remedy further”. It’s that simple.

Optimising Digital Campaign Manager, Lachlan Wells

1. Find and claim any existing profiles Do some searches for your brand name to uncover any existing business profiles on review platforms like WOMO, ProductReview.com.au, Trip Advisor, Zomato etc. If you haven’t already, claim the profiles so you can be notified of new reviews and respond to them.

2. Have a strategy to build positive reviews Maximise your potential to earn positive reviews by making it easy for customers to leave them. Use a Google review short link (https://support.google.com/business/answer/7035772?hl=en) to send customers directly to your Google review page. You can include this link in your email signature, on your website, or even ask some of your happiest customers directly. You can even offer an incentive for customers to leave a review, such as a discount or a freebie. Tere are ACCC guidelines that you need to follow, so make sure you’re familiar with them first. (https://www.accc. gov.au/business/advertising-promoting your-business/managing-online-reviews)