Online business review sites (Google, Yelp, Tripadvisor, etc.) aren’t the only place where businesses can showcase customer testimonials and feedback by marketing reviews.
In this post, we’ll talk about marketing reviews of your business on two specific channels where reviews are poised to make a big impact:
How to Make Reviews Work on Social Media
Social media can be a powerful tool for connecting with your audience, building your brand, and driving website traffic and sales. It’s also useful for leveraging online reviews to grow brand presence and attract more customers.
According to research:
- 40 percent of digital consumers use social media to research new brands or products (Global Web Index)
- 49 percent of the content published by small businesses on social media are online reviews (Statista)
Ask for Reviews on Facebook
In an addition to asking customers for Google reviews, you can also build up your reviews on Facebook. It’s one of the easiest places to request reviews for.
Reviews on Facebook come in the form of Recommendations. Growing the number and quality of Recommendations on your Facebook Page helps your business become more discoverable on the social media platform.
You can create new marketing opportunities by engaging with your community of customers and fans on Facebook and asking them to leave Recommendations on your business Page.
- According to Facebook, 2 in 3 users visit the Page of a local business at least once a week.
- 1 in 3 people on Facebook use the platform to look for Recommendations and reviews.
Share Your Reviews on Social
Your social media marketing efforts shouldn’t be focused exclusively on promotional brand content or paid advertising. On social media, where user-generated content rules, reviews posted by your happiest customers can enhance brand authenticity and trustworthiness.
If your business has a steady stream of 5-star reviews, share them on your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram profiles.
It’s a great alternative to pushing loud sales messages that are not always effective. It’s also a way to keep your audience engaged and put the spotlight on your biggest fans.
Important note: Healthcare businesses must review the rules and guidelines set by the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) before marketing reviews or sharing patient feedback on social media.
For more tips, check out this blog post on how to make social media and reviews work together in perfect harmony for your brand.
How to Showcase Reviews on Your Website
Every great website has a powerful reviews or testimonials page.
By marketing reviews and adding review content to your website, you can provide much-needed social proof, boost shopper confidence, and encourage user interaction. Reviews also often serve as the final push people need to convert.
Simply put: reviews on your website leverages the power of testimonial-based marketing. Letting happy customers make statements about the benefits of your products or services makes it easier for potential customers to trust you.
A website with a reviews page also enables unique SEO (search engine optimization) benefits. A few hundred words of review text can make up a good percentage of fresh content for a website page, which search engines will reward with higher search rankings.
Other SEO benefits of having reviews and customer testimonials on your website pages include: improved on-site content density, increased triggers for search engine crawlers, and a higher ranking for long-tail searches.
Here are a few ways you can add and display existing reviews to your website:
- Utilize a review widget like ReviewTrackers’ Amplify
- Install a third-party review plugin (for WordPress users)
- Copy the embed code from third party review sites to display individual reviews (see this example of how to embed a Facebook review on a website)
Choosing the Right Reviews and Testimonials
For your reviews page to be effective, you have to know which types of customer feedback can deliver a compelling message without sounding too “salesy.” Here are a few tips:
- Choose reviews or testimonials that highlight the benefits of your product or service instead of the ones that offer heaps of praise but no useful information.
- Did you receive an incredible email from a happy customer? Ask them if you can use their comments on your website as a form of recommendation.
- Add a link or option for visitors to leave their own reviews — either on a specific third-party review platform or through an online form or survey tool.
- Add a link or option for visitors to check out your review website profiles on Google, Yelp, Facebook, Tripadvisor, etc.
How exactly you add reviews to your website may depend on a number of factors: the audience, your level of technical expertise, the level of support available to your business, and your ability to collect customer feedback.
In any event, the first step is to own the process. At a time when consumers make purchase decisions based on others’ thoughts, opinions, and experiences, marketing reviews of your business on social media and your website is a great way to turn visitors into customers and loyal fans.
