- Apr 20, 2009
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I remember the first time I saw the original "Did You Know" video. The slide that impacted me the most when paraphrased said that "By the time current college students graduate... most of what they learned will be obsolete."
What I do is far from rocket science, but that same theory applies. Look at how many changes have surrounded Online Reputation Management in the last 18 months. Many Vendors and Consultants that have entered this sector during that time were taught that review stations and paying a third party to load content on their behalf were acceptable practices, some even called that a "best practice." We can now clearly see that those strategies were detrimental to the entire vertical as many lost hard won reviews in Aug when Google started to actively enforce their TOU. It was a setback for the entire industry.
Refresh Friends, I'm concerned about the next wave of Vendor driven "Best Practices" that are on the horizon. Here is the latest "did you know" style video. Pay close attention to the stats presented at 2:27:
90% trust a peer recommendation; 14% trust advertising
Put on your customer shoes for a minute and take a walk with me.
I read a lot of reviews for dealers. In a strong percentage of the negative ones the consumer's perception is that they were intentionally misled by the dealer. I work with a lot of great dealers and I hate that a stereotype still causes the consumer to feel that a simple miscommunication was active deception, but one thing I know will NOT help to close that gap is ADVERTISING disguised as a PEER RECOMMENDATION.
"Branded Testimonial" pages ARE advertising!
Sure, you may be advertising a testimonial, but it's still advertising in the consumer's mind. By definition a "branded page" is BRANDED. It is a communication FROM your brand ABOUT your brand, that's an advertisement, not a peer recommendation. Just like the pin-board by your drink station, consumers will assume that the testimonials displayed on your branded page are the one's YOU want them to see and the rest have been swept under a rug.
Please don't hear what I'm not saying. I have no problem with a branded testimonial page so long as the dealer knows that it is only considered trustworthy by 14% of the consumer base and will not satisfy a consumer looking for a peer recommendation. I believe that dealers are about to be pitched these branded testimonial pages very strongly because of the loss of Google reviews and Yelp's filtering algorithm. I think some vendors are trying to capitalize on the uncertainty of those platforms due to the bad advice that dealer's received about collection strategies. The "own your own content" message may be appealing, but it isn't a realistic replacement for positive reviews on properties you do not own.
Google treats these branded pages differently than a review site. They may index in SERP 1, but there are currently no stars in the SERP associated with a branded testimonial page. This should be a strong reminder that your consumer will view the content there differently than content that indexes on a review site. Which of these links would get your click if you were looking for a 5 star peer recommendation?
Last Thoughts:
This isn't a pitch post. Hopefully those that are a part of this community don't need me to say that, but I will anyway. You should be actively building reviews on ALL influential sites that show in basic searches for your name and your name plus "auto-fill" recommendations.
No amount of advertising can supersede a poor reputation in the consumer's mind. If you transfer 100% of your collection focus to a branded site you will likely see more negatives than positives on the influential 3rd party sites. Please don't get sold that a branded page carries the same weight with your consumer as G+L, Yelp or any other independent review repository.
What I do is far from rocket science, but that same theory applies. Look at how many changes have surrounded Online Reputation Management in the last 18 months. Many Vendors and Consultants that have entered this sector during that time were taught that review stations and paying a third party to load content on their behalf were acceptable practices, some even called that a "best practice." We can now clearly see that those strategies were detrimental to the entire vertical as many lost hard won reviews in Aug when Google started to actively enforce their TOU. It was a setback for the entire industry.
Refresh Friends, I'm concerned about the next wave of Vendor driven "Best Practices" that are on the horizon. Here is the latest "did you know" style video. Pay close attention to the stats presented at 2:27:
90% trust a peer recommendation; 14% trust advertising
Put on your customer shoes for a minute and take a walk with me.
I read a lot of reviews for dealers. In a strong percentage of the negative ones the consumer's perception is that they were intentionally misled by the dealer. I work with a lot of great dealers and I hate that a stereotype still causes the consumer to feel that a simple miscommunication was active deception, but one thing I know will NOT help to close that gap is ADVERTISING disguised as a PEER RECOMMENDATION.
"Branded Testimonial" pages ARE advertising!
Sure, you may be advertising a testimonial, but it's still advertising in the consumer's mind. By definition a "branded page" is BRANDED. It is a communication FROM your brand ABOUT your brand, that's an advertisement, not a peer recommendation. Just like the pin-board by your drink station, consumers will assume that the testimonials displayed on your branded page are the one's YOU want them to see and the rest have been swept under a rug.
Please don't hear what I'm not saying. I have no problem with a branded testimonial page so long as the dealer knows that it is only considered trustworthy by 14% of the consumer base and will not satisfy a consumer looking for a peer recommendation. I believe that dealers are about to be pitched these branded testimonial pages very strongly because of the loss of Google reviews and Yelp's filtering algorithm. I think some vendors are trying to capitalize on the uncertainty of those platforms due to the bad advice that dealer's received about collection strategies. The "own your own content" message may be appealing, but it isn't a realistic replacement for positive reviews on properties you do not own.
Google treats these branded pages differently than a review site. They may index in SERP 1, but there are currently no stars in the SERP associated with a branded testimonial page. This should be a strong reminder that your consumer will view the content there differently than content that indexes on a review site. Which of these links would get your click if you were looking for a 5 star peer recommendation?
Last Thoughts:
This isn't a pitch post. Hopefully those that are a part of this community don't need me to say that, but I will anyway. You should be actively building reviews on ALL influential sites that show in basic searches for your name and your name plus "auto-fill" recommendations.
No amount of advertising can supersede a poor reputation in the consumer's mind. If you transfer 100% of your collection focus to a branded site you will likely see more negatives than positives on the influential 3rd party sites. Please don't get sold that a branded page carries the same weight with your consumer as G+L, Yelp or any other independent review repository.
