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Reputation management is the idea that by influencing and controlling a group’s reputation through the internet and through channels of social media can produce beneficial results for law firms with both good and bad reviews. Many law firms notoriously ignore their online reputations, some even failing to claim their Yelp listings. Ignoring such important aspects of their online presence places unneeded distance between them and potential clients. By claiming their reviews, they can highlight the good ones while alleviating the negative ones, even directly responding to the negative ones to show their dedication to transparency and to get better. By taking a handle on the law firm reputation management and addressing what is being said about one’s law firm, the public can grow to appreciate the firm’s dedication to its clients. It is important for lawyers to:
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Know How To Respond To Online Negativity
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The Best Way To Manage Your Firm’s Online Reviews
Know How To Respond To Online Negativity
Lawyers should never respond emotionally when dealing with negative complaints that are being voiced on an online forum. It is sadly commonplace for businesses and law firms to respond in hostile ways that often work to their detriment by focusing on “their side of the story,” and how they perceived that a customer or client was in the wrong, rather than the business or firm in question. Lawyers should be keen on responding to a client’s complaint in an empathetic manner, regardless of how one views the client’s complaint, or whether the client is justified. By addressing the client and the client’s complaint in an empathetic manner and offering a solution, the law firm will be seen in a positive light. By offering a solution, even one that does not directly appease the customer, it shows the firm’s willingness to take corrective measures and to admit that they may have been in the wrong.
The Best Way To Manage Your Firm’s Online Reviews
The best way for a law firm to manage its firm’s online reviews is to use the opportunity to respond to the reviews as just another way to sell the firm. Positive and negative reviews alike are typically somewhat good for the firm, as they promote word-of-mouth publicity, but more importantly, they grant the firm the opportunity to respond. Positive reviews typically will not demand versatile responses. Negative reviews, however, grant the firm the chance to control the narrative and to take responsibility for what may have been a genuinely poor experience on part of the client. By granting an empathetic response to someone who claims to have had a bad experience at the firm, and even by offering up an apology, one can appear more impressive and caring than they would have with a generally positive review. By employing a dedicated professional for the law firm reputation management efforts, some of the law firm’s characteristics will permeate such as concerned tone, which shows that you value listening to clients and genuinely are accepting of criticism about the firm. Using a respectful and apologetic tone in the response will cast doubts for other potential clients about the weight of the negative review and could render public favor on the side of the firm.
