Social media reviews can bring to your local business what other marketing efforts cannot. They are extremely important when marketing your brand in today’s competitive market. According to Brightlocal.com, 88% of people read reviews to determine the quality of a local business and gage trustworthiness. Reliability, expertise, and professionalism are three very important traits for a local business and reviews can help strengthen them. Here are five ways your local business can encourage and leverage social media reviews:

1. Make it easy

Make the process of reviewing your product or service as easy and as painless as possible for the customer. Doing so will increase your chances of receiving a positive review and the more reviews you have, the more credible and trustworthy your overall brand will appear to potential new customers.

2. Share

Make sure you are sharing your positive reviews and ratings. When someone takes the time to write a review for your company, thank them by posting it across all platforms. This will encourage others to follow suit and make your customers feel more connected to the brand. Customer retention is much higher when appreciation is felt.

3. Include reviews on your website

As a local service business, reviews can help improve your visibility and trust with customers. By integrating social media reviews within your website, you can gain trust and create positive associations with your brand.

4. Respond to customers

Show your customers that you care by responding to their reviews as quickly as possible. This goes for both positive and negative situations. With positive reviews, you can thank customers for their business and encourage them to continue doing business with your brand in the future. With negative reviews, you can respond and attempt to resolve the problem. To help with monitoring your social media reviews, try using tools such as HootSuite. HootSuite helps monitor all social media platforms on one page to help with response timeliness and to make sure no social media review goes unnoticed.

5. Transform customers into ambassadors

If you find that a particular customer is constantly excited about your products and leaves positive reviews regularly, they may be the perfect ambassador for your brand. Using sites like Facebook, you can send them a direct message asking for more feedback. If they continue to engage, offer them a role as an ambassador and encourage them to continue positively representing your brand through social media.

Reviews help create an authentic credibility that not all marketing tactics can create. You not only want to make sure you are encouraging reviews but that you are leveraging them to the best of your ability. At Burkhart, brand management is our specialty and we would love to answer any and all of your questions about enhancing your online reputation. Send us a message today!