Your online reputation matters - here's why
Everyone is a food critic today. When we’re looking for somewhere to eat, stay, or shop we now are much more likely to be influenced by reviews on Tripadvisor, Google, or Facebook than we are by a business’s website, social media or even reviews by professional critics.
Reputation Economy
We’re living in the ‘Reputation Economy’ where choosing where to eat has been democratised. Online reviews are the new word of mouth - just a bit more public than a chat over a drink with friends.
Don’t bury your head in the sand.
Restaurants, hotels and pubs cannot afford to ignore what is being said about them online (and that includes social media). Making time to track and respond to online reviews and customer feedback is crucial to all hospitality businesses.
Your online presence on sites from Tripadvisor or Facebook to specialist sites like Squaremeal or OpenTable is just as, if not more important than your website and social media.
Why responding to reviews matters
Keep your finger on the pulse and your business will reap the rewards. Responding to reviews, listening to the voice of the customer, and resolving their issues will go a long way in helping you protect your restaurant’s online reputation; more importantly, review management will provide you with the insights that you need to consistently deliver great dining experiences.
Prove it to me
- 87% of consumers in Europe and US say they are influenced by online reviews
- 53% 18-34s say online reviews play an important role in their decisions
- 7 in 8 diners will go online to choose where to eat
- 86% will check menus online before eating out
- 44% turn to their mobiles to find somewhere to eat while they are out and about
- 80% make reservations online
- People look at 6-12 reviews before making a decision
- 53% expect businesses to respond to negative reviews within a week
- 94% say an online review has convinced them to avoid a business.
What does this mean for my restaurant?
Start by Googling your business and go through all the results to see what people are saying about you and which sites are having the most influence on your reputation.
Pay most attention to the first page of results, but don’t stop there….
If you have Google Analytics set up on your website, look at which sites are driving the most traffic to your website.
Do an audit
Start by making a list of all the places your business is mentioned online. Is all the information up to date - opening hours, contact information, menus and photographs up to date? What’s your star rating and general feedback like? Make an action plan to update each listing and add your current menus and fresh quality photos.
Follow these 10 simple steps to manage your online reputation >
Which review sites are most important and where should I focus?
Tripadvisor, Google, Facebook, SquareMeal, OpenTable, Zomato, Yelp, Hardens, AA, Instagram, Twitter, your website - understandably it can seem overwhelming to manage reviews and listings and share fresh content in all these places.
Which review sites are the most influential and where should you focus your effort.
It goes without saying that Google is the world’s biggest and most powerful search engine but it’s also increasingly becoming the most influential restaurant review platform. While Google Business means that we can access all the key information we want from the home page without even visiting a website.
Google Maps is even starting to role out showing customers queuing times for a table or service, although it’s not arrived in the UK yet, it won’t be long.
63.6% of consumers say they are likely to check online reviews on Google before visiting a business — more than any other review site.
Google’s dominance is only going to grow and to eclipse other sites. In addition, user reviews will start to heavily influence search engine optimisation (SEO) results as Google’s algorithms take into account positive and negative reviews, prioritising positively reviewed businesses.
TRIPADVISOR
Is the world’s biggest travel site. It launched in 2000 and every month 456 million people – about one in every 16 people on earth - visit TripAdvisor.com to plan or review a trip. According to Tripadvisor’s own “Diner Decision Making Survey”
UK consumers surveyed:
- 87% said online reviewers influence their decisions about where to eat
- 87% say Tripadvisor inspires them to try new restaurants
- 52% say online photos influence them
- 95% say Tripadvisor is the most accurate review site - 2% Facebook and 3% Google.
OTHERS YOU CAN'T IGNORE
And don’t forget to monitor what people are saying about your brand on Twitter and Instagram and thank or respond to them there too.
Trends to consider
Reviews are getting shorter, simpler and more to-the-point reviews. The average review is 65% shorter since 2010 and is now roughly the size of a tweet.
There are more and more positive reviews. Reviews are increasingly shifting from being a place where consumers air their grievances to being a place to recommend businesses after a positive experience.
For more recommendations on how to manage your online reputation follow these 10 simple steps >
