Facebook and Bing Team Up

As you may have heard, Facebook and Bing (Microsoft’s search engine) announced a new partnership last fall.
This new collaboration may change the face of search results by connecting Bing search results and info from Facebook. Now, in addition to displaying the most popular local results when you search for an item or service on Bing, you will also see any relevant information posted by your Facebook friends. Here’s an example: if you search for “local plumber” in Bing, the results will display the most popular webpages, but they will also show particular plumbers that your Facebook friends “Like” and any reviews they may have written about local plumbers.

As you might guess, this new partnership makes customer service even more important! Just imagine: a new store opens up in your town, but their service is so poor that customers are not showing support on Facebook. From simply not liking the store’s page to posting negative reviews, these dissatisfied customers’ actions on Facebook will affect how the store performs in Bing searches. As a result of this new feature, the new store won’t be able to gain traction in the Bing search results pages.

Improve Your Facebook Page

However, this feature isn’t all bad! The good news is that Prospect Genius creates a Facebook page for each one of its customers—this puts you one step ahead of any business without a Facebook presence.
Now, to capitalize on the new Bing search feature, all you need to do is get out there and have folks “Like” your page. Check out Aztec Solar Power’s Facebook page as a good example of this.
If you’re a Prospect Genius customer, you already have a Facebook page for your business. You can contact PG for the link to your Facebook profile and start sharing it with local friends and happy customers—and they can start “liking” your business. Customers past and present can even use your Facebook page as a convenient place to write glowing reviews about your company and services! And to get the most value out of those reviews, the PG team can even repost them to various other locations across the web.

Get Your Customers Involved

Getting your customers involved can be the key to getting those coveted reviews and “Likes.” For a great example of how to get your customers involved on your Facebook page, visit Kenny’s Homework on Facebook.
As you can see, one of Kenny’s customers wrote a rave review on his Facebook Wall. You can also encourage satisfied customers to write reviews in the “Reviews” section that you see on the right-hand side of the page.
But what if you’re having trouble getting people to write reviews or “Like” your Facebook page? You’re not alone! Many local businesses struggle with this issue, but you don’t just have to let your business suffer because customers are reluctant to write reviews, etc. Instead, why not take a cue from Ace Appliance Service. This appliance repair company provides customers with a $10 Subway gift card if they post a review on the Ace Appliance Service Google Places page.
Incentives like this can help your company in two ways:

First, it illustrates that you have great customer service.
Second, it can help your Google Places page gain extra traction in the search engines.

Why not try offering customers a $2 Dunkin Donuts gift card for writing a Facebook review or a Google Places review, and maybe a $5 card if they post reviews at both locations? Sometimes all it takes is a little encouragement to get your customers to write online reviews, and by helping your company get a little extra traction in the search engines, it can really pay off.

What Google’s Been Up To…

Because it was reported widely in mainstream media, you may have heard about Google’s recent update. Google has reconfigured their algorithm to change the way in which they rank websites—and subsequently what you may see displayed on a search results page. Dubbed the “Farmer Update,” these changes are designed to eliminate low-quality webpages from Google search results.
As soon as the Farmer Update rolled out, Prospect Genius started working on assessing the implications of the change and how it will impact you, our loyal customers. If you’ve recently noticed that your microsite is ranking higher, lower, or swinging back and forth, it’s likely a result of the tweaks we’re making because of the changes in Google’s algorithm. We’re working to compensate for the Farmer Update, and we’ll keep you posted as we gather more information. But don’t worry, we’re professionals: search engines update their algorithms all the time—it’s our job to work with the updated system to make sure your microsite is ranking the best it can!
If you’re curious about more details of the Farmer Update, check out this article.

Don’t Forget Our Referral Program

Remember, Prospect Genius offers a discount for every additional client you send our way. You’ll get $10 per month (paid quarterly) off your bill for every referral that signs up with PG.
Send your friends to 1-800-689-1273, and make sure they mention you!

The simple truth is that businesses live and die by their reputations. In years past, word of mouth was the primary vehicle for circulating a company’s reputation, good or bad. But with technology today, you have practically a zillion more ways to get the word out about your business. While the Internet makes it easier for you to spread the word about your business, it also has a downside: unhappy customers can put negative information about your company all over the web. As you can imagine, this can have a severe impact on your reputation. That’s why it’s so important to manage what info about your business shows up in the search engines!

Fight Back Against Reputation Killers Online

To find out what’s out there about your business, you’ve got to think like a consumer: Start by searching for your company name in search engines like Google, Yahoo!, or Bing and see what comes up. If you see hits from RipOffReport.com or customer complaint forums, your reputation may already be in some hot water!
However, it’s not the end of the world. A reactive campaign can help you recover your good reputation online. The first step is to correct any inaccurate information about your company that might be floating around online. Reports on Google Reviews or RipOffReport might be inaccurate or incomplete, and these outlets enable you to address those issues. The second step is to promote positive information about your company online. By launching new and positive info in media like articles, press releases, and more, you can share what your company is really about with the online community. And by putting all that new, positive information out there, you can push the negative media farther down in the search results. The ultimate result will be no more nasty comments from unhappy customers showing up on page one of the Google results.

Be Proactive

Even if nothing bad about your business comes up when you search, you may want to start a proactive reputation management campaign. Focusing on getting the word out about the positive aspects of your company, a proactive campaign can promote your business in a positive way—before any negative stuff gets a chance to circulate. When people search for your company online, all they’ll see is fabulous reviews, stellar articles, etc.

Reputation Management Services

If your company finds itself in need of either a reactive or proactive campaign, Prospect Genius is available to help. We offer both services for our customers as well as an ongoing monitoring option that keeps tabs on your online reputation and lets you know if any negativity about your company does crop up.

The Inside Scoop

Keeping track of what’s going on inside your business is just as important as monitoring your online information when it comes to managing your reputation. Whether you’d like to monitor who is authorizing coupons or ensure that the office staff is answering the phone in the prescribed way, call recording can help monitor your staff’s interactions with customers. By recording and listening to all the calls that come into your office, you can make certain your clients are getting only the best possible customer service. Even easier, why not get those call recordings transferred into a text version for fast, simple review.
Prospect Genius has partnered up with the telecommunications company Bluestone for various projects in the past, and their newest product offering will be to convert audio recordings into text. Initially developed for car dealerships to monitor their sales representatives, Bluestone’s product enables you to record phone conversations and then convert the recordings into text for your convenience. This innovative product will even highlight the keywords business owners are looking for, which can enable you to easily track the types of deals your sales reps are closing and the various promises that are made.
This call recording-to-text feature will be available from Bluestone in the second quarter of 2011. A valuable option for your business if you have staff that answers the phone and communicates with customers, this is a simple, straightforward way to control how your customers are treated. For additional information, contact Bluestone at 518-690-0391 or by e-mail at jeffrobinson@bluestonetel.com. There’s also more information available on their website, http://bluestonetel.com.

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