July 10, 2024 • 11 mins
On this episode of 1000 Ways to Market Your Business, Samantha Scott, APR, is joined by Ellie Marchiori, Digital Marketing Coordinator at PTE. The two discuss ORM and UGC—not alphabet soup, but two important ways to improve your brand and maintain a strong reputation and presence online.
The episode dives into what online reputation management and user-generated content are, and strategic ways to use both to help your business.
Have a question or feedback to share? Visit www.getpushing.com or one of our many social media channels. We look forward to hearing from you.
#marketing #business #communication #strategy
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Samantha (00:05):
Hi, I'm Samantha Scott, APR.
Welcome to 1000 Ways to MarketYour Business episode three.
Today we're talking about usergenerated content and online
reputation management.
I know UGC ORM sounds likealphabet soup.
We're going to explain all ofit.
And today I'm joined by EllieMarchiori.
Ellie (00:21):
Hi, I am the Digital Marketing Coordinator for
Pushing the Envelope and Ispecialize in social media,
email marketing, and onlinereputation for our partners.
Samantha (00:31):
So, really great expert on this topic and why
these two things are so, soimportant.
Very different, but really,really important to improving
your brand and keeping a strongreputation and just presence in
general online, which we allknow we spend a ton of time
online and that's where we lookfor businesses and try to find
resources.
So first, if you're not familiarwith what we're talking about,
let's explain and start at thebeginning.
(00:52):
So online reputation management.
What is that?
How would you define that?
Ellie (00:57):
The most simple way to explain online reputation
management is it's basicallymonitoring the online presence
for your business.
So going in and checkingreviews, responding to reviews,
both positive and negative,which we'll get a little more
into, and just interacting withyour guests and letting them
know that you appreciate theirfeedback and that you are
(01:18):
actively monitoring your onlinepresence.
Samantha (01:21):
So this is the kind of earned coverage, so to speak, if
we're to use that term.
You don't own these spaces.
You can own your channel.
So for example, you can set upyour own Yelp or TripAdvisor,
Google, etc., depending on yourbusiness or industry.
But what we're talking about isother people's opinions and the
reviews they're leaving,positive, neutral, or negative.
(01:41):
And we'll go into how can youuse that because not all bad
feedback is bad, but it'sdefinitely other people's
opinions and, and content aboutyour business and how do we use
it.
Ellie (01:52):
Yeah.
So one of the really importantthings about online reputation
management is that it buildstrust and authenticity for your
brand.
So it's showing people that youreally care about what they're
saying and that you want to maketheir experience as good as
possible.
So if someone, you know, if youhave a restaurant and someone
comments about their badexperience, you're going on
there and apologizing and, youknow, seeing what you can do to
(02:13):
make it better or letting themknow that you actually care and
you're going to pass along thatfeedback to the rest of the
team.
Samantha (02:18):
We have a lot of really useful tools we'll share
with you and tips on how toleverage online reputation
management.
But let's move into usergenerated content.
So this, I feel like it was kindof a buzzword that started years
ago.
There's lots of other terms thatare used for it.
But user generated content iscontent that your customers,
(02:38):
clients, etc.
take and publish on your behalf.
So you better hope that theyknow how to use their camera
well.
All jokes aside, this is likesomebody shares a photo, a
selfie, and they tag you becausethey're at your restaurant, or
they're showcasing differentproducts that you have, things
like that.
And there's lots of ways to usethat creatively, but you should
ask permission first.
Ellie (02:59):
Yes, absolutely.
As Samantha said, there's a lotof uses for user generated
content.
It can be as simple as sharingsomeone's post to your story if
they're visiting your restaurantor highlighting an online review
that someone has left you.
You can take that, put it into anicely branded template and use
that in your monthly content.
Samantha (03:16):
User generated content, online reputation
management, two differentthings, both live in the digital
space, both can really impactyour brand.
And unfortunately, you don'thave full control of either one
of them.
So let's talk a little bit abouthow you can leverage what you're
getting from your guests andwhat they're publishing online,
and some ways that you canproactively generate more so you
(03:38):
can have a little bit ofdirectional control on the
content that's being publishedabout your business.
So first, Ellie, let's talkabout online reputation
management we'll go inalphabetical order.
So, what are some proactive waysthat businesses can leverage
online reviews for theirbusiness?
Ellie (03:54):
I would recommend asking some of your customers to leave
reviews.
If you know they've had a goodexperience, you can always add
that into your email messagingor social media posts.
Samantha (04:04):
You want to avoid being pushy, right?
I've had that experience.
I had that at car dealershipwhere, you know, you're done
with your purchase and thesalesperson goes, I need you to
write a review and don't give mefive stars, then I'm gonna get
in trouble.
Don't go that route.
The pressure tactic does notwork.
Ellie (04:18):
Yeah so you definitely don't want to be pushy when
you're asking your customers oryour guests to leave a review.
So some strategies when it comesto online reputation management
in your business.
If you establish a process,setting up daily tasks to check
your accounts online and makingsure that you respond to those
reviews in a timely manner isreally going to make a big
difference for your customersand just leaving them with an
(04:40):
overall positive experience.
Also learning from the feedback,using that feedback from the
customer, relaying that to therest of your team.
So if you have a restaurant, youknow, and you keep hearing over
and over about the same serviceor the same dish, that's
something that, yes, that'ssomething that you really want
to show your customers thatyou're listening and relay that
feedback to the rest of theteam.
Samantha (05:01):
Absolutely.
And this even kind of bleedsinto a function of public
relations to a degree becauseyou want to make sure that your
customers having a greatexperience, you to make that
they're recognized, but it alsocan go into marketing and sales
because if somebody left areview, say a year ago, but
maybe you have a new chef or youhave completely renovated your
product line or whatever thecase may be.
(05:22):
You can use that to youradvantage to follow up with that
lapsed customer and say, Hey,it's been a while since you've
been in.
We'd love to have you come.
Some other ways that you canleverage online reputation
management would be use thosereviews as testimonials on
social media.
So take that quote, you don'thave to, you know, give the
person's whole name, it couldjust be by Ellie M or something
like that, and share that as ameme or some kind of graphic on
(05:43):
your social channels.
You can include it in yournewsletter, etcetera.
There's lots of ways you canleverage this, and it's really
important because this issomeone else saying your
business is good.
It's not you saying yourbusiness is good.
Everybody expects that asconsumers.
We understand that advertisinghas been around for a very long
time.
You know, I liken it to ifyou're shopping for something on
Amazon, you read the reviews.
Ellie (06:04):
Yes.
And how people respond to thereviews.
You know, if you see a negativeone and the company responds,
you know, it's going to leavebetter taste in your mouth.
Samantha (06:11):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Much more trustworthy then.
You know, I, I say like, okay,I'm shopping for a rug and I
think I found the one that Iwant.
Well, Sally Jo posted somethingsuper negative.
Well, now I'm not going to buythat or I'm going to really
think twice about it.
So, other people's opinionsmatter, and it's really
important, and I would touch onwhat you said about kind of
giving that feedback to yourteam.
We had a client a long time agowho just didn't like any of
(06:31):
these negative reviews, and oneof them, I will give him the
benefit of the doubt, was kindof outlandish.
It was a deep sea fishingcompany, and somebody complained
about getting wet.
It's laughable! And he was like,that's ridiculous, just delete
it and remove it.
And I said, no, this could be areally great learning
opportunity that maybe we needto do a little bit more prep for
your customers and remind themthat while we would assume they
(06:52):
would know that that they'regoing to get wet and they can
prepare accordingly.
So, not all serious, but,there's lots of ways to use
online reputation management tobenefit your business.
So, why don't we move into usergenerated content?
And I made the joke about hopeyour customers use their camera
and video well, because you donot control this.
This is content that otherpeople are creating and they're
(07:14):
doing it out of their own freewill.
So we really have to begrateful.
That really should apply toreputation management as well
because people are much morelikely to leave negative
reviews.
Yes.
So if they leave a positive one,make sure you thank them.
But on user generated content,this is where people are taking
pictures.
You know, restaurants definitelyget a ton of this.
Yeah.
People take pictures of theirfood.
But there's also hospitalityimplications.
(07:35):
Lots of different places wherepeople are creating this
content.
So, why don't we talk aboutthat?
Ellie (07:39):
Along with online reputation management, user
generated content is going toreally build authenticity and
trust for your brand, soengaging with that when you can
is a good practice to follow.
Samantha (07:50):
Target's a great example of that.
So if you shop Target online, inthe app or on their website, now
if you tag Target when you takea selfie or whatever, they share
that with the actual product, soyou can see people wearing the
clothes or using the product,and personally, I find that
really valuable.
But that's a really greatexample how a big brand is using
this, but you could applysomething similar.
Ellie (08:10):
Yeah, and again, it just builds that trust, you know, you
see real people wearing clothesat Target you're gonna be more
compelled to buy something likethat and to trust that brand.
So another benefit it's costeffective, so instead of always
having to do heavily producedcontent, benefiting from using
user generated content is goingto go a long way and there's
different ways you can use it,whether that be sharing
(08:32):
something to your story, using areview in your social media
feed, reposting a video thatsomebody produced, as a review,
there's a lot of cost effectiveways to use user generated
content.
Samantha (08:43):
And there are so many talented people now, and the
content they share is reallybeautiful, but I think you're
right when you talk about theheavily produced stuff, is
you're not going to do acommercial photo shoot every
week, every month, evensometimes every year, so you're
going to run out of content ifyou're the one that's solely
producing it eventually.
Either that, or you're going toprobably have somebody on staff
or a partner who's doing thatregularly.
(09:03):
So this is a way get new contenteasily and inexpensively or
free.
You should give credit thoughand ask permission.
I've had that experience, I'vetagged businesses and they've
asked, Oh, can I use yourcontent?
Sure.
Just make sure that you do thatand you document it, that you
have that person's permission ifyou're going to be sharing it.
I don't think that necessarilyapplies if you're sharing to a
reel or story and they'regetting credit because they'll
(09:24):
already know about it.
But also be careful that if youdo that and that person, you
know, messages you and says,hey, can you take down?
that you honor that request aswell.
Ellie (09:32):
And, just a tip for asking your customers for user
generated content.
If you post in your monthlycontent engaging questions,
asking people what's yourfavorite drink or food, show us
in the comments below, puttingout engaging content like that
is going to encourage yourcustomers or your guests to
leave photos that you can uselater on.
Samantha (09:53):
We've also done photo contests in the past, which are
really fun.
You can come up with somethinginexpensive or even free to give
away and ask people share, shareyour best sunset photo here,
share your favorite use of thisproduct, fill in the blank, and
enter for a chance to win, andthere's tons of ways that you
can do that.
And people love getting freestuff and love showing off their
things.
So, that could be reallysuccessful as well.
Ellie (10:15):
Yeah.
And people also really likeseeing their content being
published on your website or onyour social channels.
So that incentive is anothergreat way to encourage people to
share.
Samantha (10:25):
And think of these folks as brand ambassadors for
you.
You know, if they love yourbrand that much, or your
business, your establishment somuch, they want to take content
and share it, that's really,really powerful.
And you absolutely shouldleverage that and respect and
honor them.
And, like, think of how happythey're going to be if they love
you and you've shared theirstuff, then they're just going
to be that much more excited tofrequent your establishment.
(10:45):
Well, I hope this has beenhelpful.
Lots of talk about usergenerated content, online
reputation management.
Why these two digital elementsare so, so important for your
brand.
If you've got questions, pleasefeel free to leave a comment and
tune in for the next episode of1000 Ways to Market Your
Business.
Hi, I'm Samantha Scott, APR.
Welcome to 1000 Ways to MarketYour Business episode three.
Today we're talking about usergenerated content and online
reputation management.
I know UGC ORM sounds likealphabet soup.
We're going to explain all ofit.
And today I'm joined by EllieMarchiori.
Ellie (00:21):
Hi, I am the Digital Marketing Coordinator for
Pushing the Envelope and Ispecialize in social media,
email marketing, and onlinereputation for our partners.
Samantha (00:31):
So, really great expert on this topic and why
these two things are so, soimportant.
Very different, but really,really important to improving
your brand and keeping a strongreputation and just presence in
general online, which we allknow we spend a ton of time
online and that's where we lookfor businesses and try to find
resources.
So first, if you're not familiarwith what we're talking about,
let's explain and start at thebeginning.
(00:52):
So online reputation management.
What is that?
How would you define that?
Ellie (00:57):
The most simple way to explain online reputation
management is it's basicallymonitoring the online presence
for your business.
So going in and checkingreviews, responding to reviews,
both positive and negative,which we'll get a little more
into, and just interacting withyour guests and letting them
know that you appreciate theirfeedback and that you are
(01:18):
actively monitoring your onlinepresence.
Samantha (01:21):
So this is the kind of earned coverage, so to speak, if
we're to use that term.
You don't own these spaces.
You can own your channel.
So for example, you can set upyour own Yelp or TripAdvisor,
Google, etc., depending on yourbusiness or industry.
But what we're talking about isother people's opinions and the
reviews they're leaving,positive, neutral, or negative.
(01:41):
And we'll go into how can youuse that because not all bad
feedback is bad, but it'sdefinitely other people's
opinions and, and content aboutyour business and how do we use
it.
Ellie (01:52):
Yeah.
So one of the really importantthings about online reputation
management is that it buildstrust and authenticity for your
brand.
So it's showing people that youreally care about what they're
saying and that you want to maketheir experience as good as
possible.
So if someone, you know, if youhave a restaurant and someone
comments about their badexperience, you're going on
there and apologizing and, youknow, seeing what you can do to
(02:13):
make it better or letting themknow that you actually care and
you're going to pass along thatfeedback to the rest of the
team.
Samantha (02:18):
We have a lot of really useful tools we'll share
with you and tips on how toleverage online reputation
management.
But let's move into usergenerated content.
So this, I feel like it was kindof a buzzword that started years
ago.
There's lots of other terms thatare used for it.
But user generated content iscontent that your customers,
(02:38):
clients, etc.
take and publish on your behalf.
So you better hope that theyknow how to use their camera
well.
All jokes aside, this is likesomebody shares a photo, a
selfie, and they tag you becausethey're at your restaurant, or
they're showcasing differentproducts that you have, things
like that.
And there's lots of ways to usethat creatively, but you should
ask permission first.
Ellie (02:59):
Yes, absolutely.
As Samantha said, there's a lotof uses for user generated
content.
It can be as simple as sharingsomeone's post to your story if
they're visiting your restaurantor highlighting an online review
that someone has left you.
You can take that, put it into anicely branded template and use
that in your monthly content.
Samantha (03:16):
User generated content, online reputation
management, two differentthings, both live in the digital
space, both can really impactyour brand.
And unfortunately, you don'thave full control of either one
of them.
So let's talk a little bit abouthow you can leverage what you're
getting from your guests andwhat they're publishing online,
and some ways that you canproactively generate more so you
(03:38):
can have a little bit ofdirectional control on the
content that's being publishedabout your business.
So first, Ellie, let's talkabout online reputation
management we'll go inalphabetical order.
So, what are some proactive waysthat businesses can leverage
online reviews for theirbusiness?
Ellie (03:54):
I would recommend asking some of your customers to leave
reviews.
If you know they've had a goodexperience, you can always add
that into your email messagingor social media posts.
Samantha (04:04):
You want to avoid being pushy, right?
I've had that experience.
I had that at car dealershipwhere, you know, you're done
with your purchase and thesalesperson goes, I need you to
write a review and don't give mefive stars, then I'm gonna get
in trouble.
Don't go that route.
The pressure tactic does notwork.
Ellie (04:18):
Yeah so you definitely don't want to be pushy when
you're asking your customers oryour guests to leave a review.
So some strategies when it comesto online reputation management
in your business.
If you establish a process,setting up daily tasks to check
your accounts online and makingsure that you respond to those
reviews in a timely manner isreally going to make a big
difference for your customersand just leaving them with an
(04:40):
overall positive experience.
Also learning from the feedback,using that feedback from the
customer, relaying that to therest of your team.
So if you have a restaurant, youknow, and you keep hearing over
and over about the same serviceor the same dish, that's
something that, yes, that'ssomething that you really want
to show your customers thatyou're listening and relay that
feedback to the rest of theteam.
Samantha (05:01):
Absolutely.
And this even kind of bleedsinto a function of public
relations to a degree becauseyou want to make sure that your
customers having a greatexperience, you to make that
they're recognized, but it alsocan go into marketing and sales
because if somebody left areview, say a year ago, but
maybe you have a new chef or youhave completely renovated your
product line or whatever thecase may be.
(05:22):
You can use that to youradvantage to follow up with that
lapsed customer and say, Hey,it's been a while since you've
been in.
We'd love to have you come.
Some other ways that you canleverage online reputation
management would be use thosereviews as testimonials on
social media.
So take that quote, you don'thave to, you know, give the
person's whole name, it couldjust be by Ellie M or something
like that, and share that as ameme or some kind of graphic on
(05:43):
your social channels.
You can include it in yournewsletter, etcetera.
There's lots of ways you canleverage this, and it's really
important because this issomeone else saying your
business is good.
It's not you saying yourbusiness is good.
Everybody expects that asconsumers.
We understand that advertisinghas been around for a very long
time.
You know, I liken it to ifyou're shopping for something on
Amazon, you read the reviews.
Ellie (06:04):
Yes.
And how people respond to thereviews.
You know, if you see a negativeone and the company responds,
you know, it's going to leavebetter taste in your mouth.
Samantha (06:11):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Much more trustworthy then.
You know, I, I say like, okay,I'm shopping for a rug and I
think I found the one that Iwant.
Well, Sally Jo posted somethingsuper negative.
Well, now I'm not going to buythat or I'm going to really
think twice about it.
So, other people's opinionsmatter, and it's really
important, and I would touch onwhat you said about kind of
giving that feedback to yourteam.
We had a client a long time agowho just didn't like any of
(06:31):
these negative reviews, and oneof them, I will give him the
benefit of the doubt, was kindof outlandish.
It was a deep sea fishingcompany, and somebody complained
about getting wet.
It's laughable! And he was like,that's ridiculous, just delete
it and remove it.
And I said, no, this could be areally great learning
opportunity that maybe we needto do a little bit more prep for
your customers and remind themthat while we would assume they
(06:52):
would know that that they'regoing to get wet and they can
prepare accordingly.
So, not all serious, but,there's lots of ways to use
online reputation management tobenefit your business.
So, why don't we move into usergenerated content?
And I made the joke about hopeyour customers use their camera
and video well, because you donot control this.
This is content that otherpeople are creating and they're
(07:14):
doing it out of their own freewill.
So we really have to begrateful.
That really should apply toreputation management as well
because people are much morelikely to leave negative
reviews.
Yes.
So if they leave a positive one,make sure you thank them.
But on user generated content,this is where people are taking
pictures.
You know, restaurants definitelyget a ton of this.
Yeah.
People take pictures of theirfood.
But there's also hospitalityimplications.
(07:35):
Lots of different places wherepeople are creating this
content.
So, why don't we talk aboutthat?
Ellie (07:39):
Along with online reputation management, user
generated content is going toreally build authenticity and
trust for your brand, soengaging with that when you can
is a good practice to follow.
Samantha (07:50):
Target's a great example of that.
So if you shop Target online, inthe app or on their website, now
if you tag Target when you takea selfie or whatever, they share
that with the actual product, soyou can see people wearing the
clothes or using the product,and personally, I find that
really valuable.
But that's a really greatexample how a big brand is using
this, but you could applysomething similar.
Ellie (08:10):
Yeah, and again, it just builds that trust, you know, you
see real people wearing clothesat Target you're gonna be more
compelled to buy something likethat and to trust that brand.
So another benefit it's costeffective, so instead of always
having to do heavily producedcontent, benefiting from using
user generated content is goingto go a long way and there's
different ways you can use it,whether that be sharing
(08:32):
something to your story, using areview in your social media
feed, reposting a video thatsomebody produced, as a review,
there's a lot of cost effectiveways to use user generated
content.
Samantha (08:43):
And there are so many talented people now, and the
content they share is reallybeautiful, but I think you're
right when you talk about theheavily produced stuff, is
you're not going to do acommercial photo shoot every
week, every month, evensometimes every year, so you're
going to run out of content ifyou're the one that's solely
producing it eventually.
Either that, or you're going toprobably have somebody on staff
or a partner who's doing thatregularly.
(09:03):
So this is a way get new contenteasily and inexpensively or
free.
You should give credit thoughand ask permission.
I've had that experience, I'vetagged businesses and they've
asked, Oh, can I use yourcontent?
Sure.
Just make sure that you do thatand you document it, that you
have that person's permission ifyou're going to be sharing it.
I don't think that necessarilyapplies if you're sharing to a
reel or story and they'regetting credit because they'll
(09:24):
already know about it.
But also be careful that if youdo that and that person, you
know, messages you and says,hey, can you take down?
that you honor that request aswell.
Ellie (09:32):
And, just a tip for asking your customers for user
generated content.
If you post in your monthlycontent engaging questions,
asking people what's yourfavorite drink or food, show us
in the comments below, puttingout engaging content like that
is going to encourage yourcustomers or your guests to
leave photos that you can uselater on.
Samantha (09:53):
We've also done photo contests in the past, which are
really fun.
You can come up with somethinginexpensive or even free to give
away and ask people share, shareyour best sunset photo here,
share your favorite use of thisproduct, fill in the blank, and
enter for a chance to win, andthere's tons of ways that you
can do that.
And people love getting freestuff and love showing off their
things.
So, that could be reallysuccessful as well.
Ellie (10:15):
Yeah.
And people also really likeseeing their content being
published on your website or onyour social channels.
So that incentive is anothergreat way to encourage people to
share.
Samantha (10:25):
And think of these folks as brand ambassadors for
you.
You know, if they love yourbrand that much, or your
business, your establishment somuch, they want to take content
and share it, that's really,really powerful.
And you absolutely shouldleverage that and respect and
honor them.
And, like, think of how happythey're going to be if they love
you and you've shared theirstuff, then they're just going
to be that much more excited tofrequent your establishment.
(10:45):
Well, I hope this has beenhelpful.
Lots of talk about usergenerated content, online
reputation management.
Why these two digital elementsare so, so important for your
brand.
If you've got questions, pleasefeel free to leave a comment and
tune in for the next episode of1000 Ways to Market Your
Business.
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