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The Internet, Social
Media and Your
Online Reputation
Eric Casey
Executive Director, NOWRA
2018 MOWA Annual
Conference
January 31, 2018
Today’s presentation:
• Why you should care what people
are saying about you online
• How to find out what people are
saying about you
• How to handle negative information
• Why you need to have an online
presence
• How to get started
Why Your Online Presence
Matters
Whether or not you think you need be online, know
this….
YOU ALREADY HAVE AN
ONLINE PRESENCE
Why Your Online Presence
Matters
86% of people will hesitate to purchase products and
services from companies with negative reviews
Another study says 88% of consumers read reviews to
determine the quality of local businesses
Why Your Online Presence
Matters
• It can potentially help your business grow
• It can potentially destroy your business
Type your name or your company’s name
into Google and see what happens
Why Your Online Presence
MattersBusiness review websites
• Home Advisor
• Yelp
• Angies List
• Google My Business
• Yellow Pages (yp.com)
• BBB
• Manta
How reviews can hurt you
How Reviews Can Hurt You
Why Your Online Presence
Matters
• Internet content lives forever
• Smart phones mean prospective customers can
find out about you any time, anywhere
• If you don’t know it’s there, you can’t do
anything about it.
What you can do to
protect your reputation• Google yourself and your company.
• Do the same with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
• Use free tools to keep track of company reviews on
a regular basis
• Set up Google Alerts with key words about your
business so that you can be notified on an ongoing
basis of online mentions of your company/people
Online reputation management
tools –GoFish Digital
Online reputation management
tools - talkwalker
What you can do to
protect your reputation– Fix inaccurate listings – add marketing info if you can
– Try to address negative information directly with the
website or the customer
– If you have a chance to offer your side of the story, do so,
but be respectful
– If good reviews greatly outnumber bad reviews, trust the
consumer to understand the difference
Creating an online presence
Website-Easy to do
-Don’t need to know
html programming
-Most sites also include
free email account
w/domain
-Lots of free images
-Can be done for free
or very low cost
Creating an online presence
• Website creation
– Select a domain name and design template
– Decide what information you want to include
• Title page – who you are and what you do
• Services – Descriptions and pictures
• Helpful consumer information – links to health dept regs, articles
on maintenance, how septic tanks work, etc.
• Customer testimonials
• Pricing/guarantees
• Contact information
– Invest in a good copywriting and good photos
Make Sure Your Website Gets
Noticed• Set up a Google My Business account
Keys to Ensure Your Site Gets
Noticed• Build a fast, mobile-friendly website
• Use the Google Search console
– Identify good keywords
– Any problems with your site’s performance
– Lots of other good tools
• Claim your physical address on Google Maps
• Have a clear URL structure – consumer should be able
to figure out page content from URL
• Set up Google Analytics
Keys to Ensure Your Site Gets
Noticed• Use a unique title for each page on your
site
Website Management
• Be genuine
• Don’t copy content from other sites
• Don’t expect immediate results from your
efforts
• Make sure your customers/prospects can
provide feedback
Creating an online presence
– Easy to set up and track
– Needs care and feeding once it’s set up
• Monitoring
• Posting
– Facebook is a search engine
– Can be linked to a website and Twitter account
Creating an online presence
– Avoid these pitfalls
• Broadcasting. Facebook is a
conversation
• Fire and forget. Responsiveness is critical
• Being boring or predictable. Don’t just have one type of
message
• Not leveraging Facebook’s tools. Enhancing the look of
your page, analyzing traffic, proper logo displays
• Wordiness – Brevity matters
Creating an online presence
– Primarily a tool for professional networking
– Good for discussions
– Not strong as a business promotion tool
– Microblogging site – 140 characters or less
– Works better as a promotional tool when you have a
website, blog or Facebook page
– Probably not the first thing on which to focus
Questions?
Thanks for your
time!For More Information
www.nowra.org
National Onsite Wastewater Recycling
Association
4601 Fairfax Dr., Suite 1200
Arlington, VA 22203
executivedirector@nowra.org
800.966.2942
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