rsz_keyboard-597007_640There’s one quick and easy way to begin influencing the public’s perception of your company, and that is with reviews. It’s true that you should not post reviews of yourself. What you do with reviews others create and how you respond to them after they get posted (good or bad) will say a lot about your company, and it will do quite a lot to color and shade the public’s perception of the company. Here’s how you should handle reviews if you want to begin changing minds and controlling perception.

Positive Reviews

Everybody likes getting positive reviews, but if all you’re doing is getting them, then you’re missing a golden opportunity. Do two things with every positive review you get. First, share them. Re-post them on your Facebook and other social media pages. It’s free, user-generated content, and it makes sure that your review is seen by a wider audience than it otherwise would have. This plants seeds in the minds of everyone who sees it, and helps to shape public opinion.

Every bit as important as that though, is to respond to the positive reviews you get. That’s an opportunity for engagement. An opportunity to start a conversation with a satisfied customer, and it needs to happen, not just once in a while, but consistently. Every single time.

Negative Reviews

Negative reviews are a bit trickier. You absolutely want to respond to each one of these you get too, but of course, you must do so in a level-headed, professional manner. Again, consistency matters here. You can’t just ignore a negative review, and really, why would you want to? Statistics have shown that responding to a negative review gives you roughly a one in four chance of turning it around. You’ve got no chance at all if you just leave it out there and don’t respond to it. One in four’s better than zero, so what have you got to lose?

When responding to a negative review, meet it head on. Acknowledge the problem or failing, then offer to fix the customer’s issue. Take that part offline though. Again, what this does is that it plants seeds in the minds of all who see the review and your response to it. You’re seen as an active, engaged company that takes customer service seriously, and that’s the kind of thing that people will remember.

You also want to share negative reviews. It sounds counterintuitive, but ask yourself this question: If you went to a review site, or a company Facebook page, and the only thing you ever saw were positive reviews, how seriously would you take it? The negative reviews are there to provide balance. It makes you real. It makes you believable. Mostly though, it speaks to credibility and accountability. Rather than sweeping them under the rug, you display them and your efforts to resolve the problems of your customers. It’s just a matter of turning the negative into a positive.

Do those things well and consistently, and over time, you will help shape and change public perception about your company.