CLAIMING YOUR BUSINESS LISTING AND OWNING IT

WHY CLAIM YOUR SPACE? More credibility in searches You can edit information about your business The ability to customize and add photos Respond to reviews about your business and receive immediate customer feedback

Online reviews impact 67.7% of respondents' purchasing decisions STATISTICS

STATISTICS January 2016 www.destinationanalysists.com

Reviews of hotels, destinations, restaurants & activities are important to travel planners STATISTICS

Where to claim?

google

Claim google local To add your business information to Google, you ll need to create a local Google+ page (or get access to one, if it already exists). 1. Navigate to Google My Business. 2. Search for your business using its name and address. 3. After you complete your business information, click Submit.

Once you ve verified your business information, updates you make to your local business such as contact details, description, photos, business hours are eligible to show up on Google Maps and other Google properties. Claim google local

Claim google local The verification process helps ensure that your business information is accurate and that only you, the business owner or manager, has access to it. You may see one or several types of verification depending on the type of business you manage, but the most common kind is verification via postcard.

If you're returning to verify after creating your page, visit Google My Business, choose the business you want to verify and click Verify now. 1. On the postcard request screen, make sure that your address is displayed accurately. 2. Click Send postcard. 3. Check the mail for your postcard it should arrive in one to two weeks. Claim google local

When you receive your postcard, you will need to enter the verification code online. 1. Visit Google My Business and sign in. 2. Click Manage location on your business listing to access your dashboard. 3. Click the Enter code button in the blue banner at the top of the page. 4. Enter the 5-digit verification code from your postcard in the "Code" field. 5. Click Submit. Claim google local

Respond to reviews Responding to positive and negative reviews clearly demonstrates to both former and prospective guests that you are interested in feedback, and that you take customer service seriously. To respond to reviews you will want to sign into Google My Business and click Reviews at the top of the page to view your inbox. It is important to be sure to stay professional and to stick to a response that is empathy driven.

tripadvisor

Set up tripadvisor Go to the TripAdvisor for Business page and choose the kind of business that you own or manage: accommodation, vacation rental, restaurant, or attraction. Be sure to look at the policies for the different listings to make sure you fall in line with policy.

Set up tripadvisor Once the correct business type is selected, fill out the form with the correct information about your business listing. From here you may also update or correct an existing listing.

Set up tripadvisor Once you enter all the details and submit you will get the below message from TripAdvisor and if everything goes fine your business will appear within 5 days in TripAdvisor. Once you get official communication that your business has been approved for listing in TripAdvisor, you can access your management center page.

Respond to reviews You may sign up to receive an email notification every time a new review is published for your business. This will help bring new reviews to your attention and help identify which reviews to address. Once you find a review you want to respond to you may do so from the TripAdvisor Management Center.

www.tripadvisor.com/owners

Optimize Your Site Optimization Tips Be sure to update all of your amenities and full descriptions with keyword rich content Upload photos and videos. Be sure to choose the best photo for the primary photo and use a high resolution image Don t forget to label each photo and video with keyword rich descriptions of the images/video Add in the widget into your website:

Tracking

yelp

To claim your business on Yelp, search for it at biz.yelp.com. Once your business has been found, you may click the Claim button. You will be asked to create a yelp account at this point if you don t have one already. Set up yelp

Set up yelp You ll now need to verify with Yelp to finalize the process. This may be done via phone where you will be provided a verification code to use on the verification page. If you cannot verify via phone you will need to fill out a form.

Set up yelp Adding your business to Yelp is easy if it does not already appear. Make sure you are signed up for a Yelp account and then select the option to Add Your Business. From here, it s just a matter of filling out the information and then verifying everything. You will receive an email with instructions on how to officially claim the business once it has been added.

Respond to reviews Once your account is set up and verified you ll be able to customize and edit the information about your business including adding photos to show off your business. You will also be able to respond to reviews. Once you log in to your Yelp account you ll be able to visit Reviews to see what is being said about your business and will be able to respond publicly or through private message.

foursquare

If your business is listed on Foursquare you ll need to search for it through the Find My Business page. Claim it by clicking the select button and enter your phone number to allow Foursquare to conduct a phone verification. Set up foursquare

Set up foursquare If you are not listed on Foursquare you will need to set up a personal account on Foursquare before being able to add a business. From here you will be able to add in your business information and pin it to a map. There is no ability to respond to reviews on Foursquare.

IMPORTANCE OF REVIEWS

A study by Cornell University s Center for Hospitality Research found that for every percentage point a hotel improves its online reputation, its RevPAR goes up by 1.4 percent; for every point its reputation improves on a five-point scale, a hotel can raise prices by 11 percent without seeing bookings fall off.

The same practices that apply to community management on your Facebook page apply to reviews of your business. Because of this it is crucial you stay professional or risk looking even worse. Community management

While it is true you cannot please everyone, the ability to respond to reviews on TripAdvisor and other sites provides you with one final chance to redeem a bad experience that would otherwise be impossible to do Community management

.Or you can make a bad situation worse Community management

Make sure you treat these reviews seriously and look at them as a way to improve upon your business and learn from missteps to make your business that much better. Community management

Reminders

WHAT MAKES A GOOD COMMUNITY MANAGER? Best practices

A good community manager should be passionate about their role. Without passion or interest in the product or company the creativity of posts will suffer and customers will take notice. PASSIONATE

Having a crisis management plan and the right community manager in charge of handling complaints and negativity is a crucial part of your public image online. Can handle negativity

A good community manager should look for every opportunity to engage with their community. Like every comment and contribution on your channels and ask follow-up questions when it seems appropriate to further the dialogue. Fans will take notice and will be more apt to continue engaging with your brand. Always engaging

It isn t enough to just come up with solid content, schedule it and move on. A good community manager needs to make sure they check their channels outside of 9-5 while they re not physically at work. This means being ready to engage with urgent matters that require immediate attention. This holds true for weekends and holidays. Thinks outside 9-5

The important thing to keep in mind is that a community manager doesn t need to sacrifice their personal life in order to do a good job. Don t obsess over monitoring your channels. Once you strike a balance between monitoring and your personal time you ll enjoy the job much more. Thinks outside 9-5

Good community managers know how to cultivate a brand on their channels while staying accountable and owning the channel completely. Knows how to market

Be sure to track what works and what doesn t work and make the necessary changes to improve things. Knows how to market

Engaging with a community is great, but a good community manager recognizes regular contributors and works on developing a rapport with them. This creates stronger brand advocates. Cultivates relationships

The Review Claim your spaces Customize the information shown Respond to reviews Learn from feedback Be passionate about social media Be professional with negativity Always engage Think outside 9-5 Think like a marketer Cultivate relationships summary

Dave Serino Founder & Strategist Dave@TwoSixDigital.com Cell: 810-623-1505 www.twitter.com/twosixdigital www.facebook.com/twosixdigital