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Reviews are now the primary factor consumers consider when deciding whether to do business with a company or to pass it up for more highly rated options, according to our research report. As a result, it is critical for companies to take a more proactive approach to managing and maintaining a positive online reputation.

It is our goal at SOCi to continue to empower multi-location businesses with improved ways to monitor online reviews. As the world of online reputation management continues to evolve, it is no longer acceptable for businesses to just respond. Consumers want 1:1 communication with multi-location brands, and reviews are the preferred method of that personalized communication. To proactively manage an online reputation, brands and businesses need to find the root cause(s) of consumer dissatisfaction and address these issues immediately – hopefully, prior to bad reviews being posted.

SOCi has released SOCi Reputation Insights, comprised of sentiment and competitive monitoring. SOCi Reputation Insights is designed to help multi-location marketers identify and manage emerging sentiment and competitive trends from online reviews while analyzing shifts in online reputation over time. Multi-location businesses that leverage SOCi’s powerful technology platform to manage their online reputation can now benefit from the following new functionalities:

Reputation Sentiment


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With SOCi’s new Reputation Sentiment tool in the Reputation module, users can now identify, quantify, and extract frequently used keyword themes in their online reviews at a national and local level – across all connected review sites. This new feature filters out the noise, provides a clearer picture of common keyword usage, and shows if these terms are used in a positive, negative, or neutral manner over a given timeframe. Here are the top two features of Reputation Sentiment update, and how your business should use them:

1. Word Cloud

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What is it?

At a glance, SOCi users can use the word cloud to display up to 100 clickable keywords to gauge which words are used most frequently and the sentiment of the reviews that use these words. Keywords are displayed in different sizes to reflect their frequency. Additionally, the sentiment of the words is color-coded – positive sentiments are represented by green, negative by red, and neutral by grey.

How to use it.

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When you hover over a word in the word cloud tool, it will turn yellow. Users can easily click on a specific word for more in-depth analysis such as the top five positive and negative adjectives used when the word was mentioned or any review that includes the selected keyword. Additionally, users can even respond to those reviews right from this module; preventing the back-and-forth between other modules within the SOCi platform. For instance, if you own a brewery franchise and the word ‘food’ is in ‘green,’ you can click to receive further insight on the reviews including the word ‘food’ and why the sentiment is positive. This will empower users to identify relevant keyword trends and better address their customers’ needs.

2. Sentiment Trends

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What is it?

Users can filter review sentiment data by date, network, and rating (star ratings and Facebook recommendations) in the top menu of the Sentiment module.

How to use it.

Once you filter your reviews, a sentiment trend chart shows the percentage of positive, negative, and neutral keywords over time. With this, users can apply date filters and view changes in sentiment across any of their connected review sites over a given timeframe. For example, if the franchise brewery owner sees a spike in negative sentiment, they can use the custom dates filter to drill down and see when the issue occurred.

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Reputation Competition

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With SOCi’s new Reputation Competition tool in the Reputation module, users can now analyze their competitors’ online reputation at the local level – without any time-consuming manual research. They can quickly and easily identify areas for opportunity in their local market, see any reputation trends across similar brands or businesses, and discover ways to set themselves apart from the competition. Here is the top feature of Reputation Competition update, and how your business should utilize it:

My Competitors – the Competitor Dashboard

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What is it?

The top bar in the Competition module represents the user’s Location stats. Then, using the interactive Google map or search fields, users can select and analyze up to four local competitors based on the category of business, keywords, or business name, which appears below your location’s high-level stats. Once a competitor is added to their dashboard, users will see their total reviews, reviews by network, average review rating, and average response time within 24 hours. From there, you can further break down each of these review categories to show how these statistics have changed over time, for both you and your competitors. Additionally, users can utilize the pie chart in this module drill down on their top 5 keywords mentioned, including sentiment, for their Location compared to competitors’ locations.

How to use it.

Once you select four competitors on the dashboard, you’ll see a variety of metrics by which to compare. What is my reputation compared to local competitors? How long does it take for my competition to respond to reviews? How can I set my brand or business apart? These are questions local business owners need to be able to answer on the fly – and SOCi’s Competition module empowers them to do so.

By analyzing and comparing your online reputation to that of your competitors, you can have a more holistic view of where your strengths and weaknesses stack up, and how you can proactively make changes. For instance, if your response time is slower than your competitors, you can implement a review response guide to help your business better understand their local audience, and potentially improve the customer experience.

Reputation Insights is available immediately — at no additional cost — for customers who are leveraging reputation management within the SOCi platform. For more information on how to uncover deeper insight from online reviews and proactively manage your localized social marketing efforts overall, request a demo today!

Also, check out the release published on PR Newswire.


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