Online reviews are a double-edged sword. On one hand, they can be beneficial for your dental practice by providing positive feedback and word-of-mouth advertising for your business. But on the other, negative reviews could have an adverse effect on your reputation and lead to potential customers being turned off from doing business with you.
Here are some tips on how to get more traffic coming in while simultaneously managing the online review process:
Provide regular updates.
Online reviews tend to be pretty unforgiving, so if you’re just starting out on social media and want an initial boost in terms of traffic coming into your website via online review sites like Yelp or Google My Business, then regularly posting new content is one way for potential customers to find you more easily. It also allows you to control the conversation around your dental practice, rather than waiting for others to start talking about you.
Make it easy for customers to leave reviews.
This tip ties in with the former one. Make it easy for your customers to leave helpful reviews by linking up their social media accounts directly on your website or business page, asking them politely through email, or offering incentives like discounted treatments if they do so.
Respond privately and publicly.
If you are concerned about negative feedback appearing online, there are a number of ways you can respond without appearing too aggressive or defensive. You can contact a reviewer privately and ask them to remove their review if they feel it is unfair, for example by linking back to your website on third-party sites where the reviews are hosted. Or you could publicly engage with the customer through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter – this will help you to control the conversation and show potential customers that your practice is willing to engage with them.
Monitor your online presence.
Keep track of what people are saying about you on the internet, and make sure that any negative comments or reviews are addressed promptly. This can be done by using a tool like Google Alerts, which will notify you when specific keywords (including your business name) are mentioned on the web.
By following these simple tips, you can make sure that online reviews are working for you – and not against you.
If you have any questions or concerns about online reviews, please don’t hesitate to contact us today. We would be happy to help!
