Fake online reviews can become a food truck owner’s worst nightmare. Websites such as Yelp, Food Truck Reviewz or Facebook, can damage a truck’s good reputation at the click of a button. The advancement of social media has resulted in a host of creative ways to damage a mobile food business name and the internet has become the arsenal for competitors, disgruntled and former employees.
Fake Online Reviews Are A Problem
It is thought that by the end of the year, up to 15 percent of online social media reviews could be fake. Even more surprising is that this is a two-way street. Some seeking positive reviews will pay to have five-star ratings while those looking to damage the reputation of another will pay for bad reviews.
Those receiving bad reviews have attempted to turn things around with paid five-star reviews, resulting in a discombobulated and completely inaccurate overview of a business. Add to that the negative reviews left by disgruntled or former employees creating more havoc and leaving a mobile food vendor to feel helpless.
How trustworthy are social media reviews to consumers? Some reports claim that consumer trust in social media reviews is currently low. The good news is the Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on fake reviews. Companies face litigation from the FTC for forging fake reviews.
How to prevent fake online reviews: Pay attention!
Without the aid of social media log-in, computer algorithm and the expense of a lawsuit, food truck owners can protect themselves from fake online reviews by close monitoring of review sites and paying attention to specific patterns in writing, such as common verbiage in multiple reviews. Be on the alert for common misspelled words and pay attention to capitalization.
Those who don’t know the proper spelling of a word will carry the misspelled word throughout each post. Learn how to spot those positing under various identities by their repeated punctuation errors. There are, of course, those who are obvious repeat offenders, failing to hide their transparency with verbiage changes.
If there are suspicious reviews, you can flag them. Take the initiative to contact the website and request the reviews be authenticated or removed. At the least, protect your mobile food business by marking the suspicious review as spam.
Remember though, that these methods are only useful for legitimate fake reviews. And they’ll only be taken seriously if the review is damaging your food truck business and appears to be fake, or written by a competing business.
RELATED: Learning How To Deal With Online Ratings And Reviews
The Bottom Line
Just to be clear, you can’t use any of these strategies for real reviews. Are your taking a digital beating for bad service or food? Then the obvious answer is to start impress everyone who comes to your service window. This will help the good reviews make the bad reviews look silly.
Please Note: Don’t waste your time or money trying to sue review sites over fake online reviews. Websites such as Yelp are protected by the Communications Decency Act. Under Section 230, and aren’t liable for any defamatory content made by its users, as they are considered third- party re-publishers of the content.
Do you have any tips on how to avoid or find fake online reviews? If so, please feel free to share them in the comment section, our food truck forum or social media. Twitter | Facebook
