Have You Seen What They Wrote About Your School Online?

This is one of our more popular posts over the past several years.  Seems like schools ignore their online reputation until someone finds out about it and then panic sets in!!  The key is to including the securing of online reviews into your overall systematic marketing efforts.  Read on . . .

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[ARCHIVE 4/2012] You get an angry parent who not only lashes out to your Headmaster in person, but he takes it online. Ouch. It’s one thing for an exchange to happen behind closed doors on campus, but it’s a bigger deal when prospective families get to read about it online!

That’s why your school needs reviews today – right now – don’t delay!

I would encourage you to ASK your satisfied families to review you on 2 different places online:

1. Your School’s Google Place Local Page – because Google is Google, if a prospective family is searching online using the most popular search engine, they will likely see a map listing alongside Place Local Pages for various area school’s matching the search person’s search terms. The sheer prominence of Google reviews makes it a strong reason to have reviews there.
2. GreatSchools.org is the other review site where you must have reviews. Formerly integrated into the entirety of reviews on your Google Place Local Page (but now separated under an obscure link to “more reviews around the web”), families who know about GreatSchools may come here first to check out various things about the schools in the area. Even the Today Show recommends this website for families to review schools. As well, GreatSchools got some national recognition in a recent article on Education Week.

Keeping a consistent flow of positive reviews is the very best solution for deflating the sting of an occasional negative review. But they are not as easy to get as you might think – asking 10 families might generated 1-2 reviews. Families are busy and they forget to do it – keep following up and asking.

-Randy