Reputation Management: Placement of Online Reviews Matter

More often than not these days, real estate consumers are researching agents and brokers online to verify their reputation before contacting one to buy or sell a home. While it is an effective marketing strategy to increase your sphere of influence through content on social media, blogs, and broker websites, potential clients really want to hear what others are saying about you. While proactively engaging clients to provide online reviews can bolster your reputation as a real estate crackerjack, the neutrality of the venue that consumers find agent reviews makes a difference in credibility and trustworthiness.

The authenticity of Realtor reviews on home finder websites can seem dubious for consumers. Anecdotes abound about agents using these sites to repeatedly provide themselves with positive ratings--or, worse yet, exchange positive reviews with their fellow agents quid pro quo to bolster their numbers. Even more, these websites tend to provide little or no oversight over the quality or validity of the reviews. Potential leads are internet savvy enough to know that online reviews on home finder sites are an open field for abuse and gaming of the system.

While free review sites also share the bias created by allowing anyone to anonymously say anything without any proof, they can be even more difficult for consumers to understand. Since free review websites were not intended to be inclusive of service industries like real estate, they do not effectively address the complexity of the agent and client relationship. In these venues, it is difficult for agents or brokers to respond to negative reviews as Realtors are bound by a code of ethics and confidentiality agreements that can inhibit online candor, especially with regard to complicated transactions. As a result, consumers cannot distinguish between business misunderstandings, real complaints about an agent, or concocted stories written by a competitor.