Mr. Kall

Social Media & PR

How to Do Online Reputation Trending – a Primer

By Rob Kall, President, Bookt LLC

If you are just beginning to pay attention to Online Reputation Management, to be completely candid with you – you are a bit late to the ball. But do not fear. Reputation Management is classical Marketing, Customer Service and Public Relations. And, to that point, today’s Internet makes it straightforward and transparent to understand what people are saying about you, saying about your staff, saying about your service, and saying about your property. Thus, Online Reputation Management is actually easier than you might think.

Think “High School”

Remember the good old days – before the Internet, Facebook, and Twitter? When he-said-she-said-they-said all those positive/negative things about you behind your back? Like when you found out in study hall that a rumor about you had been floating around school for several weeks that just ain’t true!

“I swear I didn’t do that! And even if I did, you haven’t heard my side of the story. I fixed it right away. I really, really did. ...Who told you that anyway???” But, alas, it was too late. You were weeks behind those tattle tales. The “what” that you didn’t even know that you didn’t even know had morphed side-ways, and your reputation had been smeared, and your critics had their pound of raw and pimply teenage flesh. Back in the day, the social chatter network was impossible to control, manage and respond to. The buzz boys and gossip girls could have their way with you and there was very little you could do about it.

Well – these are NOT the good old days. These are the much better days where you can know right away – in real time – what people are saying, thinking and critiquing about you and yours. The Internet is chitchat central. Today’s public square. And it must also be your listening post for what he-said-she-said-they-said. Good and bad.

What is Reputation Management?

While we will get to that in a moment, in the 1st century BC, Latin maxim writer Publilius Syrus said, “A good reputation is more valuable than money.” I get that. But to update this maxim for today’s instantaneous Internet-Age, a good reputation is money! And a bad one is lost bookings and lost revenue for your property.

Fact: The majority of travel purchases today have an online component. Specifically, even if the booking is not made online, travel-shoppers habitually do online research before they book with you or a competitor. Further, a growing travel trend is to not only research a “product” online but to also Google the “company” to see if it has a good reputation, is worthy to “buy” from, and look for “feedback” on how past guests have been treated.

Just like in your own life, when you are about to make a big and important purchase, don’t you Google the company to see if there are “reviews” from happy/unhappy clients before you pull the trigger and pull out your credit card or mobile phone? Exactly! While it is not always easy to measure the extent of business lost by having a bad online reputation, it is certainly a sea-change of business reality that is having a greater and more profound online effect as these key travel technology social-waves surge and swell. At Bookt, for example, we are BIG fans of TripAdvisor and their vacation-rental counterpart, FlipKey. Both of these sites and companies are the market leaders when it comes to vacation-travel-shoppers searching for Guest Reviews online. At Bookt, we have gone so far as to integrate Guest Reviews from these companies within our technology platform to make it easier and seamless for travel-shoppers to find out about another guest’s experience without having to leave our clients’ websites – in other words, at the point of sale. By providing travel-shoppers with this often compulsory information at this precise point in time, this is how we help our clients control the “ball” in reputation management, so as not to let a booker escape and search for this required evidence someplace else where he/she may get distracted or, perhaps even worse, see other lodging options from local competitors after leaving our client’s website.

Oh yes... What is Reputation Management? Technically, it is the process of you tracking actions and opinions about those actions; reporting on those actions and opinions; and reacting to that report creating a feedback loop; with tracking and reporting ranging from word-of-mouth to statistical analysis of thousands of on and offline data points. TIP: Make sure that your web company has automated processes that can help you track these online events, gives you the tools so you may react quickly and, especially – puts you in position to control the ball.

Speaking of Balls...

Two millennia after Publilius Syrus said, “A good reputation is more valuable than money,” legendary basketball coach John Wooden said two insightful things that you should be aware of and act on accordingly.

One, he said... “Never make excuses. Your friends don't need them and your foes won't believe them.” Two, to paraphrase, Wooden said... “Character is what you really are. Reputation is what others think you are.”

As the online travel market continues to expand and thrive, successful lodging companies and the savvy managers who run them are quickly acknowledging the level of importance that reputation management plays in their overall marketing strategy. Case and point in our travel industry. Remember the “United Breaks Guitars” video that showed up on YouTube a few years ago, watched over ten million times? While it is hard to fully know just how many millions of booking dollars United lost, it points out how just one unhappy Guest can ruin your day (and career). Fact: Guitars broke. It happened. Never make excuses. Instead of doing nothing, which is what United did, they should have made their own video, posted it on YouTube, taken responsibility, and said what they are going to do – or did about it – including how they can assure other prospective travelers that it doesn’t happen to them.

Yes – this is an extreme example. However, pretending it never happened is not good for business or your reputation. Fix it. Address it. Talk about it. Take responsibility. Online Reputation Management is a way to show your character, and to shelter and safeguard what people think about you in real-time. Control the ball! And there are two balls you need to actively control.

Macro Online Reputation Management

Ball one is dealing with news on the Macro level, employed when there is a major negative hit being broadcast about you and your property. Here, you need to act quickly using the same channels where the news/event is circulating. Like last year’s Gulf Oil Spill. So, for example, if you were a beachfront hotel in Florida’s Panhandle, you should have been out there quickly with blogs, press releases, Facebook posts and Tweets about how you were NOT being affected and are open for business as usual. Perhaps a video placed on your website and on YouTube as a typical family walks the pristine beaches in front of your property enjoying the fun, sun and surf – leisure as usual. Control that ball.

Micro Online Reputation Management

Ball two encompasses dealing with smaller, individual issues and opinions, and again employs the same micro channels where the criticism is being levied. Yes – while the “micro” scale can be more challenging to administer, individual opinions should not be underestimated. How to prepare? Have smart automatic monitoring tools in place so you can see the issues in real-time and answer in same. It is easy in today’s Internet to monitor public opinion and news about you and your property on forums and blogs and keep track of the discussion there via keyword alerts. If there is bad publicity or negative reviews, you must respond quickly. Based on the posting, either take responsibility or give your side of the story (in a respectful and non-threatening “soft” way) – and thank the citizen journalist for her/his comments. Good news or publicity is easy to respond and react to. It is the negative feedback or news that you must handle with a professional tone and composure.

Monitoring your Online Reputation

How can your news and review watch be efficiently accomplished? Make sure you are working with a web company (or specialized vendor) who can integrate one of the many services that handles review monitoring. Some providers make it easy by providing an RSS feed – automating the process of bringing the data into your management system so you can measure and classify, score and quantify, and deliver reports so you may analyze general and particular trends. Of course, this analysis comes only after you have reacted quickly and responded to macro and micro issues throughout the relevant broadcast channels.

Whether you are late to the ball or it is by this time business as usual, considers the following as a complete Online Reputation Management program and protocol in order to best control the ball.

1. Uncover and promote the positive news and reviews about you and your property.
2. Regularly broadcast press releases and educational articles about your property and destination.
3. Consistently share new and upbeat success stories on the websites and blogs that you control.
4. Leverage all key social media channels for positive news and successes.
5. Post professional bios and other info about your people and property on your site and LinkedIn.
6. Analyze your results, patterns and progress – reward those responsible in your organization for improvements. Monitor your local competitors and look for opportunities to stand out by comparison.
7. And NEVER break that guy’s guitars.

I’d love to get your feedback. What works for your company? What doesn’t? Have questions? Need advice? Email me at rob@bookt.com and let’s chat. Maybe I could even include your comments and ideas in my next article – coming soon.

Rob Kall, President of Bookt LLC, is a 'technopreneur' at heart. Drawing upon his 12+ years of experience in developing and implementing real estate and property websites he founded Bookt in 2007 to fill a void in the global vacation rental industry. Mr. Kall is a master of emerging web technologies, especially as applied to the travel industry, as well as behavioral targeting and engagement, deciphering marketing trends into widgets and applications, and online distribution hubs beyond the GDS. Mr. Kall holds a Bachelors in Computer Science from University of Boras, Sweden. Mr. Kall can be contacted at 800-941-0868 or rob@bookt.com Extended Bio...

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