One of the biggest concerns that funeral professionals and small business owners have about the idea of using social media marketing for their business it that having a social presence will make them more vulnerable to negative comments or bad reviews. This is a legitimate concern and the reply I give is simple: your right!
Let me explain: anytime you have a larger presence somewhere online and become easier to access you are going to be vulnerable to negative comments or reviews. Funeral professionals had the exact same concern when deciding to create a funeral home website.
The fear is really in the unknown, not knowing what kind of response clients will have, or what happens with disgruntled employees; are they going to make negative comments on our Facebook page? This is very possible, but each social networking site has ways for businesses to handle these situations, like deleting the user and blocking them from accessing your page.
The bigger risk for funeral homes is not having an online presence, social media accounts, and not monitoring their firm or brand online. Not knowing what is being said about your business online is far more of a risk then having a large presence online where will be able to monitor and address what is being said. Funeral homes need to be in control of their online brand perception, not the consumer.
The reality is that pissed off and disgruntled clients, ex-staff, friends, even hateful family are going to post negative comments and reviews online whether you’re involved with social media marketing or not. They are going to use Yelp, a blog, and even their own social accounts to spew garbage about your firm. At least by having a social presence and monitoring what is being said about your business will allow you to quickly know what is being said and address the situation at hand.
I recently read an article posted in an online newspaper from the U.K. where a funeral home was the victim of a cyber bully who was posting negative comments on the UK’s largest online reviews site. The negative reviews started showing up first in Google search results for the funeral home. The anonymous poster is believed to have never been a client of the funeral home.
There is no telling how many families or potential clients read those “fake” reviews, but the damage to the funeral homes online reputation could be great.
It is important to monitor your business online and know what is being said so you can address the situation immediately.
Part 2: How to Handle Negative Online Reviews or Comments
Here in the UK I list and review good (in my opinion) funeral directors, and I invite consumer feedback (goodfuneralguide.co.uk). Most of the negative feedback comes from envious fellow funeral directors. It’s very easy to spot, of course (the vocabulary gives it away). The difference between me and, say, Qype, is that I can monitor feedback with some expertise and get rid of the lies and slander. Passive sites that simply record anything anyone has to say are highly dangerous because negative comments are read by prospective clients, most likely at need. Just one negative review is enough to make them shy away.
Nothing gets closer to the client than these unquestionably influential online reviews. A vengeful one can be difficult to get rid of. This is a very serious problem.
that is true, online reviews are very influential. its unfortunate that people are so quick to always look at the negative side of things. good article. as bad as some feedback can be, it can be used to see what consumers want and how to facilitate them.
i think its important to have an online presence and understanding how people feel about a company is the best way to improve
Ryan: Great post, and I can’t wait to see the follow-up post.
Online reviews can be very useful to undecided families. We’ve done research (and will soon post details) on funeral home testimonials, and the reality is that only 28% of individuals find funeral home testimonials to be “somewhat trustworthy” or “very trustworthy.” Yet, when the review is coming from another family that has actually used the service, people seem to have a much higher level of trust.
Verified ratings and reviews is very important to us at eFuneral, as we try to help funeral homes differentiate themselves on service quality by helping them showcase *verified* reviews from families that they’ve actually served. I love other consumer review sites, but at the end of the day — when it comes to funeral service, it’s hard to know whether that review is coming from a real family that has used the service or another competing funeral director.
Again, I can’t wait to hear your take on handling negative reviews, Ryan.