I was having a phone conversation with a colleague yesterday that was a bit skeptical about social media. Just for fun, I Googled his name while we were talking. Fourth down from the top was a photo of him associated with a YouTube video. Not only was he high on the top page of Google, but the only photo in the search results. And on top of that, he had no idea he was there. Someone had video taped him from an event and placed it up YouTube with his name in the title, description and tags.
How important is this? According to Nielsen in the US, “consumer opinions posted online” are the second most powerful form of influence behind “recommendation from people known.” This was an endorsement of hi work in a big way.
- Some 70% of Americans say they consult product reviews or consumer ratings before making a purchase, according to an October 2008 survey by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, a research and consulting firm. (Business Week, October 2009)
- The Trust in Advertising survey of 26,000+ found that Consumer Recommendations are the most credible form of advertising. (“Social Media Marketing: The Right Strategy for Tough Economic Times” Awareness, 2008)
- 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content (Socialnomics, 2009)
What does all this mean? It means that we need to think about how we empower other people’s opinions of us to be found online. That can be through LinkedIn Recommendations, Yelp Reviews, Google Profiles, blog posts, etc. And don’t wait for them to just happen. You have to be proactive about going out to loyal customers and asking them to review you. If they are loyal, then you should have no problem. Then link to all these great validations of your expertise from your website and blog.
Now you are taking control of your online reputation. And after a few months go by, you will see how the search rankings for your name and company name start filling up with really great things being said from a number of sources. That is when I hand people my business card and say, “This has my contact information, but if you would like to know more about me, Google my name and company name and look through the results.” You can’t buy that, or have the same result in testimonials on your website.
Good luck.
