Important Advice for Managing Your Law Firm’s Online Reputation

1. Important Advice for Managing Your Law Firm’s Online Reputation

2. As a parent, I’ve taught my child to be more concerned with character than reputation. After all, your character is who you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are. However, in the business world, the reality is that consumers focus first and foremost on your reputation. A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is – it is what consumers tell each other it is. Scott Cook, Founder, Intuit

3. I can’t emphasize enough the need for every business, including law firms, to pay attention to their online reputation and to the need for ongoing online reputation management (ORM). I want to share with you how social media can be a powerful, fast-paced outlet for angry, upset consumers to create chaos for any business, including law firms. Then, I will give practical advice regarding online reputation management including simple tools to monitor what people are saying about your law firm (or business) and how to respond to negative reviews. Also, I will explain how you can clean up negative reviews on Yelp and Facebook. The (Viral) Nature of Customer Complaints Online Social media can promote the exchange of ideas and social awareness, spark intelligent conversations, and positive influence minds and hearts. On the other hand, social media can be a cesspool of irresponsible gossip, misinformation, and hateful exchanges. Regrettably, Social media is filled with users who have no filter, who exercise no restraint, who don’t fact check, and who have a knee-jerk public reaction to anything that upsets them. Many of their followers react the same way. Before long, a digital backlash against any business can be exponential to include negative reviews and comments from persons who are not your clients.

4. Don’t Ignore the Need for Online Reputation Management For many law firms, I see that they are largely ignoring their online reputation. For example, many law firms do not claim their Yelp listing. Consequently, they ignore reviews on their listing. By ignoring these reviews, including positive ones, you are suggesting to consumers that you don’t care about their experiences. These firms also ignore reviews on Google. Lastly, many firms to not respond to any reviews, either positive or negative, on Facebook. It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently. Warren Buffet The takeaway is this – don’t ignore what is being said about your law firm online. Claim your Yelp listings so you can review and respond to what your clients are saying. Similarly, respond to ALL reviews that are left on Facebook or Google. Take the time to either say thank you for the positive reviews or to respond to the negative ones in the ways I describe below.