E-Reputation

Hello there!
Today we are going through an Introduction to Consumer Generated Content and Online Reviews.

Consumer Generated Content or Consumer Generated Advertising (CGA) is any social media content by unpaid contributors.
Google Business, TripAdvisor and OTAs such as Booking.com and AirBnB are great review platforms for e-Tourism.

Online reviews are one of the most trusted methods of CGA and these help boost reputations and increase bookings through word-of-mouth.
Managing reviews is an important part of e-Tourism as it's the most effective marketing method. Potential customers can view star ratings, total reviews and business information. Keep in mind that our business may get reviews on certain platforms without registration.

Here's when to ask for a review;

• As a response to praise
• During/after check-out

Now let's learn about managing and mitigating review impacts.

Knowing how to respond to good as well as bad reviews builds online brand character and it is a skill we should learn before setting up.

This is how to respond to reviews;

• Good Reviews
• Express appreciation
• Be specific
• Reinforce the positive
• Be timely
• Keep it short



• Bad Reviews
• Respond ASAP
• It's not a personal attack
• Thank the guest by name
• Apologise for the bad experience
• Highlight changes that will be made or made
• Evaluate follow-up procedures

An extra step to take is to email the guest with a personal apology note and compensation, if needed.

Next let's learn about reviews on TripAdvisor. By now we know that TripAdvisor is a free and easy to use platform with over 760 million reviews and opinions.

There are two methods we can list a business on TripAdvisor;

1. Request a listing as a business
2. TripAdvisor user generated reviews

Remember to check if a traveler has already added our business before requesting a listing.
Once listed, add in all relevant information about the business and property. Choose an attractive picture and then submit.

Five days after submission, TripAdvisor editors will verify and confirm the listing.

Top 5 navigation features of TripAdvisor;

• Manage information
• Drive bookings
• Marketing tools
• Reviews
• Helps and Settings

This is how we optimise our listing;

• Upload multiple images
• Provide all details from the start
• Keep images and text information up-to-date
• Respond to reviews
• Connect TripAdvisor with the business website

If it applies to our business, we can add TripAdvisor badges and reviews to our business website too!

If a bad review on any platform has been resolved, we could ask the customer to update or remove their review as business owners are unable to edit reviews.

Now that we understand how online word-of-mouth helps our business, we are ready to take this course and learn how to manage our reviews and opinions to suit our business.

Let's get ready to learn!