Your customers are leaving you online reviews, and there’s no way to get away from it, so you might as well learn to leverage them to work for your business!

Your first step is to know where the reviews are located. Some of the common review platforms include Facebook, Google, Yelp!, and TripAdvisor among others. You should visit these sites regularly to see what people are saying about your business, products, or services.

Your next step is to claim your listings. This way when people give a rating, you can reply on most platforms. Take for example Yelp!. Your business should have a Yelp! listing where you upload photos and information about your business. As people leave reviews, you should interact with them. If it’s a negative review, ask questions to better your service. If it’s a positive review, be sure to thank them.

Increase Exposure

Reviews are a great way to increase your brand exposure. A good number of positive reviews can only help increase your visibility and in turn, help clients or customers find you. Online reviews stand out in search and generate fresh content for your brand. Both Yelp! and Google My Business reviews show up in the top of search results—often above your business’ own website result. The better the reviews, the more traffic you’ll see to your website.

Capitalize on Keywords

Take a close look at the reviews. Look for keyword phrases that stand out or are repeated by different reviewers. This will help you understand what clients are looking for in your brand. Use the phrases to make changes to your content and make changes in product placement on your website to better target your audience.

Show Off Shining Reviews

Seven out of ten consumers take positive action to contact businesses after reading an online review they like, according to BrightLocal. But did you know that people who see good reviews are also ready to invest more money in your goods or services? They see the quality and are willing to pay for it. Take these good reviews and put them on your website. Show your potential clients the reviews in person. Use the reviews in your marketing strategy—it’s as easy as packaging or a new commercial.

Turn a Negative into a Positive

It’s not uncommon for your clients to find issues with your products. When they give you a bad review and mention something specific, you should take action. Take the time to address what’s going on and perhaps solve the problem. Reply to the product review and thank them for bringing it to your attention. Provide updates on the issue and how you plan to help each customer. The reviewer will love the feedback, and you might convince them to give you a better review in the future. Better yet—your back and forth is for all the other eyes on the page. It’s not so much about you and the reviewer, but everyone else that is paying attention to the conversation that may someday be a new customer. Make the conversation polite and thorough.

It’s very easy to leverage reviews to work for your business when you know where to look. Each review is an open opportunity to get to know your audience and make their message build you up. If you’re missing these opportunities, you should ask us how we can handle them for you.

Vervocity Interactive specializes in Online Reputation Management for brands large and small. We monitor brands, repair the negative items we find, and continue to manage your brand’s online presence. The Internet never forgets anything, so we catch harmful content and deal with it upfront to minimize the damage and turn a negative into a positive! Use our contact us form at the bottom of this page, or give us a call at (217) 222-1451, and we’ll be glad to help!

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