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Sharing customer testimonials on social is a great way to build credibility and trust with your followers, while increasing the likelihood that potential clients or customers will choose you over other similar businesses.
In this article, we'll outline why customer reviews and testimonials are important for your small business, how to get more customer testimonials, and how to share your customer feedback on social media.
Why customer testimonials are important for your business
Sharing customer reviews on social media provides a form of "proof" that you own a credible, successful business. Sharing customer reviews on social can help you establish trust and earn more leads and customers.
Sharing customer feedback on social media builds trust
Put yourself in your customer's shoes: you're looking for a professional, trustworthy real estate agent to sell the house you've owned for 10 years. Are you going to trust a real estate business that has zero posted reviews, or are you going to trust a different real estate company that has 25 positive reviews? It's a no-brainer!
Research shows 72% of customers say positive reviews and testimonials make them trust a business more, and 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Sharing positive customer feedback on social media will help you build that trust with your social audience.
Sharing customer testimonials on social media earns you more business
If you're using social media for your business, you need to present a compelling reason for potential customers to choose you over your competitors. Showing why your small business is valuable and that others believe it to be valuable is going to help you attract more customers overall.
How to get more customer testimonials
Here are a few ways you can get more customer reviews for your business without being too pushy.
Use review sites and send your customers to them to review your business
Sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, Angies List, Trustpilot, Google My Business, and Facebook are excellent options for gathering reviews from your clients.
There are also business specific review sites. For example, realtors should use sites like Realtor.com and Zillow. For more options, read through Liftoff Agent's roundup of the best real estate specific review sites.
Use these channels to send customers to your chosen review sites:
In comments or direct message on social
In review forms on your business website
In email
With print materials in shipments or mail
Ask your customers to review your product or service at crucial times in the customer journey
Here are a few recommended times to ask your clients for customer testimonials:
When they purchase your product or use your service for the first time.
When they share a positive post on social media and mention your brand.
When they leave a positive comment on your social media posts.
When your product is delivered or when your service is complete.
Always practice excellent customer service
Respond to all reviews if you can, and be sure to address any negative reviews you might receive. If you do end up with a negative comment or review, respond in a calm, respectful manner with the goal of resolving the issue at hand.
Studies show that replying to customer reviews results in higher ratings overall, so be sure to set some time aside to review and respond to customer testimonials.
Also—don't forget to thank your customers for their reviews! A quick thank you note can show them that you value their feedback and will show others that you pay close attention to each and every review you receive.
Ways to share customer testimonials on social media
So, you've gathered a bunch of rave reviews, but you're not sure how to share them to social media. Below, we've outlined a few effective ways you can share your latest positive customer testimonials to your social channels.
Share customer testimonials in your social feeds
Easy peasy, right? You can include an entire review in your post, and a lot of businesses do just that, but we recommend including just the most important section you'd love to highlight, then including the rest in a comment or additional slide. Here's an example from realtor Brooke McCreary on Instagram where she's shared a highlight from a client testimonial, then the full testimonial on the second slide (give it a click to see what we mean):
Ripl has a bunch of customer testimonial post templates to get you started!
Share customer testimonials in your stories
In stories, you can take a similar approach that you did with posts. Include a short snippet of a review, or include a full review. Just don't fill the entire story with text, as stories are generally more quickly digested that posts in your feed.
Here's an example from skincare brand, Summer Fridays, where they've included a positive customer review for a new product in their stories:
You can also re-share a story that your customer or client has tagged you in. If a customer shares a story raving about your product or service, we highly recommend sharing it to your stories as well. This is a super easy, quick way to get more user-generated content onto your page.
Encourage customers to leave reviews on your Facebook business page
Facebook business profiles have an entire section dedicated to reviews! You can turn this feature on and off in settings. Embed Social wrote an excellent guide to Facebook reviews here.
Re-share positive customer posts on your social channels
Re-shares are an easy and quick way to share positive feedback from your customers on your social channels. Share your customer's positive posts and stories with your audience. Hubspot has a great guide on ways to repost social media content here and Plann has a useful guide on reposting Instagram stories here.
Get strategic with your shared reviews
It's up to you which types of testimonials you'd like to share with your audience. Sharing positive customer testimonials is what we've discussed here today, but you also have the opportunity of being more strategic with what you share. Sharing customer reviews that are related to any pain points or complaints you've received can help reassure potential clients that they're making the right decision by choosing your business.
In the end, share customer testimonials in a way that is going to help your business build credibility and trust, and you'll be on your way to building a more successful business.
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