Dani PelevaFounder & CEO, Franchise Fame · I help franchisors attract quality franchisees & grow their networks globally | Founder & CEO @ Franchise Fame | Bestselling Author | Most Innovative Woman in Franchising | Best Marketing Agency Globa

5 Myths About Online Reputation for Franchises

19 Jun 2026 · 3 min

Watch on YouTube

2:46

In this short solo video, the speaker debunks five common misconceptions that franchise owners hold about online reviews. Myth 1 claims happy customers will automatically post positive reviews; the speaker explains that without asking, reviews are unlikely and negative reviews are actually more common. Myth 2 suggests only Google My Business matters; the speaker highlights the need to monitor multiple platforms such as Facebook, Checkatrade, and others. Myth 3 asserts that customers view reviews as fake; the speaker counters that prospective clients read reviews to inform decisions, so authenticity matters. Myth 4 states reviews affect only reputation; the speaker points out that reviews directly influence local SEO rankings and visibility. Myth 5 claims reviews don’t affect AI visibility; the speaker explains AI models mimic human bias and rely on review content, making reviews crucial for AI-driven search. The video concludes with a call to save, share, and follow for more franchise marketing advice.

Chapters

We're busting some myths today, and we're gonna bust 5 myths about online reputation for franchises. Number 1, people think that if a client is happy, they're gonna automatically leave you a positive review. That's not true. If you don't ask, you don't get. Negative reviews are 20% more likely to occur than happy positive reviews, because clients who are happy generally do not go and leave a positive review. So you need to ask for positive reviews and actively collect them. Number 2, people think that you can only leave reviews on Google My Business, so it's enough to just look at your Google My Business profiles or your Google listing. And you need to understand that there's so many more channels you can have reviews on— Facebook and other platforms like FIFA, Checkatrade. There's plenty of places where people can actually leave reviews for your business, so make sure you check those regularly. Number 3, most franchise owners think that reviews— clients think reviews are fake. No, clients before actually picking to use your business and your services would check out your reviews. They do not think they're fake. They read reviews, so they matter. Number 4 is franchise owners thinking that reviews don't have impact on anything else but your reputation. Wrong! Reviews have a direct impact on your SEO performance too. So if you don't have reviews, positive reviews, collecting actively positive reviews, your rankings of your local listing and your local visibility will be impacted. And number 5, people forget how important reviews are for AI and think they don't actually matter for AI visibility. Wrong! They do matter because AI functions as a human and mimics human behavior, so it has to create a bias. And how is the bias created? By reading information online, researching about the business, and finding as much information as possible through reviews and people's experiences. So if you want to be visible in AI, you need to have lots of positive reviews. I hope this video is useful. Save it, send it to someone you think it's relevant for, and follow me for more franchise marketing tips.