Advising our physicians and aesthetic & cosmetic practices on the importance of generating reviews is nothing new. For years we’ve been pushing the need to grow your online reputation. So why is this news?
On a recent call with Google I actually had a rep from Google+ Places confirm that reviews, both good and bad, help improve your cosmetic practice’s Google+ position on the Google map results.
This news confirms what we already suspected, so the validation is encouraging. I also think this re-affirms the fact that your practice should not fear review sites. Just because an old patient left a unwarranted negative review, on Yelp for example, doesn’t mean you should say “well I’m not dealing with Yelp anymore.” If anything, you should focus more on these sites.
Most review sites allow you to respond to patients’ reviews directly, and most also allow you to challenge reviews that are blatantly fraudulent. You also need to put some faith in people reading reviews to spot irrational thoughts, such as “This practice sucks, they aren’t open on Sunday’s.” Well, if it’s clear on your website and marketing material that you aren’t open on Sunday’s then that review is irrelevant. Have faith people will read the review and comprehend it and not just see the star rating.
Make sure you share the wealth and refer patients to your different review sites. Focus on Google+, Yelp and Real Self (if applicable). Here’s a complete list of review sites your practice should not only have a presence on, but also actively encouraging more reviews.
So how do you get more reviews? In this article I highlight a cool new idea for increasing your reviews.
As far as Google+ goes, it’s worth noting that reviews themselves won’t suddenly propel your Google+ business listing to the top of the map results. You need to first make sure it’s 100% complete, which is very easy to do since Google will tell you how complete your page is when you login. Make sure you add as many photos and videos as you can; add links to your website pages and social media pages in the About section of G+; and post regularly to G+.
If you’d like to learn more about reputation management and marketing then please leave TRBO a message here. You can also reach us directly at 877-673-7096 x2.
