Build Your Online Reputation, One Customer at a Time By Sonny Ganguly,


Chief Marketing Officer, WeddingWire, Inc.


Reputation matters! Word of mouth and referrals have traditionally been a significant source of business for wedding professionals because people trust recommendations from others, especially from friends and family. Engaged couples and newlyweds are talking about wedding businesses all the time, sharing both positive and negative feelings. A solid reputation amongst customers can help drive success for years to come.


People are now tweeting, posting, blogging, reviewing, and discussing your business online. The rapid rise of social media has made it easier for customers to quickly share their opinions, while making it more difficult for businesses to have control of what their customers are saying. However, technology provides easy ways to monitor and manage online feedback.


You can build your online reputation in 4 easy steps:


Step 1: Know What People are Saying


The first step to building a positive online reputation starts with knowing what people are saying about your business. The best places to monitor what peo- ple are saying are on Facebook, Twitter and Google. Through the Facebook Search, enter your business name or any other topic to see “Posts by Everyone.” This will allow you to see what everyone with a pub- lic profile is saying about a topic.


Through a Twitter Search, you can receive real-time search results with or without an account. Just visit http://search.twitter.com to see real-time search in action. Google Alerts provide the easiest way to monitor what people are saying. An “alert” will be emailed to you when your search terms are found anywhere on the web. Easily set up alerts by visiting: http://www.google.com/alerts


WedBiz Journal NAWP Connect 2011 Step 2: Promote Positive Feedback


As a business owner, it is good to promote all types of positive feedback, like Reviews, Testimonials and Endorsements. Reviews enhance credibility and have become extremely important as consumers want to make informed decisions. Building reviews for your business is critical to success and should be aggregated on reputable websites that showcase reviews across a wide set of businesses.


Testimonials are another great form of feedback and can be used very effectively on your website or blog. If you receive letters or messages about the work you have done, show it off. Testimonials tend to be less formal than reviews, but can showcase the great work you have done. Also, it is important to get peer endorsements. Reviews and testimonials come from your clients, but having other wedding professionals vouch for your services can provide additional credibility.


The most important part of the process is to actively ask for feedback and not just hope customers will share their feedback. You need to push them to share their thoughts. Build feedback into your sales


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