Customer reviews are one of your most valuable sales tools. Nearly 95% of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase, and 93% of local consumers use testimonials to determine if a local business is good or bad.
Reviews can make or break your business, 72% of customers won’t even take action until they’ve read a review! The problem is that too many businesses don’t pay attention to their reviews and how best to use them strategically to reach their audience and improve their reputation.
You need to make it easy for your customers to find and read your reviews where they engage with your business the most, and in that case, you want your reviews on social media. The key is thinking creatively when it comes to showcasing your reviews, and we have seven ideas to get you started.
The good news is that 84% of customers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. So, all you have to do to make the most of your reviews is to get them out there. It’s that simple.
The more you can get your reviews out to your current and potential customers the better, and social media is a valuable platform for generating awareness. The easiest way to share your reviews across your social channels is to use a link post on Facebook or Twitter. It doesn’t need to be fancy, just show your audience what your customers think about you.
Comfi, a restaurant in New Jersey, is a great example of this. They recently made it onto Yelp’s list of Top 100 Brunch Spots in the US and shared their exciting news in a link. In this way, they bring authenticity to their announcement and allow customers to see the results for themselves.
However, if you want to maximize the visual appearance of your social post, a link isn’t enough. Instead, consider creating a custom graphic that highlights the review and reviewer. By pairing the review with an image, it’s more likely your audience will pay attention to it and remember the content even three days later. Consider creating a graphic featuring an excerpt of the review along with positive imagery.
For example, check out this simple, branded review graphic created by Hranipex for their Twitter feed. All they did was take a short and sweet five-star review and place it onto a simple background that represents their company. It’s clean, interesting, and a great way to highlight a positive review.
Animated GIFs are incredibly popular. They are eye-catching, fun, and best yet, easy to make. In fact, with a tool like Gif Maker from GIPHY, you can upload your own photo or video, choose a canvas to start, and then add your text in whatever style and look you want. The uniqueness of sharing your reviews via a GIF will help you stand out from the crowd and make your reviews even more compelling.
Don’t be afraid to make your reviews work for you beyond improving your reputation. Often, people will be compelled to do something because they see that someone else has done it. Just as reviews influence the buying decisions of 88% of people, they can also influence consumers to write their own review.
The key is to ask for it. If your customers enjoy your product or service, they’re already willing to help you. One survey found that 68% of customers asked to provide feedback are willing to do it.
If you tell your customers what they can do to give back, they will. While sharing a positive review, take the opportunity to request that your social media followers share their own thoughts. It’s as simple as writing, “We’d love to hear what you think! Write a review for us here [link].”
Positive testimonials are great, but positive testimonials that harken back to the purpose—WHY—of your company are invaluable. Don’t just share a review that says, “I love their product,” and leave it at that. Instead, take the opportunity to explain how that review is not just a one-off, but a representation of your business as a whole.
For example, you might link a positive product review back to customer feedback and testing. Or you could use a positive service review to describe your focus on creating an incredible customer experience. It’s your chance to brag in a subtle but powerful way, so take advantage of it.
Here’s a great example from MCM Advice Ltd, a financial services company. They use the review to bring up how they are audited, making them a trusted resource for customers.
As we mentioned above, happy customers want to help you. So, don’t just use your reviews to ask for more reviews, take it a step further with a different call to action. You can use a review of your product to introduce a new upgrade or design and drive people to a landing page all about the new product. The key is to highlight the specific part of the review that helps you meet your new goal.
For example, you might have a paragraph length review all about your services talking about everything from your punctuality to your depth of experience. Take the sentence/idea that you find most compelling, put it in an image, and then use the review to highlight that element of your service with a call to action.
Earth Smart Solutions shares a great example on Twitter. They shared a positive review of one of their products and then made sure to provide a link to where customers can go to learn more about that product.
Every day, Instagram Stories are used by 500 million users, and one-third of those stories are from businesses. The great part about Stories is that they show up in your followers feed and easily grab their attention. This makes them a highly interactive piece of content, and valuable for showing off your positive customer reviews.
And because it’s a story, you can highlight a many or as few reviews as you want. For example, the Orchard Dental Group decided to showcase two customer testimonials on eye-catching backgrounds with a short auto-play timer between each review. This way, as your followers are scrolling their Instagram feed, they can just run into your reviews.
Final Thoughts
Social media not only provides you with another outlet for sharing your positive reviews with your customers, but it also gives you complete control over how you share those reviews. Normally, you can’t control how your reviews are displayed or posted. Yes, you can reply to those reviews (and you should!), but you can’t shape how they show up or highlight the best reviews. With social media, you can.
With these seven tips for sharing your review on social media, you can reach more customers, increase your conversions, and better engage your audience.
Get in touch with us to plan your Social Media Strategy.
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