In 2024, 81% of social media users determine brands' liability based on their social media image.
Now we know that it is not just important to have a social media business account but also to be active and responsible as millions of people worldwide could be reached by your content. Social media platforms enable you to showcase your brand identity, values, and offerings and influence shaping your overall brand image. Your business account provides a direct line of communication with leads and consumers of your products or services which can be one of the crucial points of differentiation in the market to gain a competitive edge but it can also easily drag you down, depending on your social media review management.
What are social media reviews?
Social media reviews can appear in the form of feedback, star ratings, images, comments, and even a tag or thumbs up or down, depending on the platform, and represent customer's opinions on the product or service used or any other impression related to your brand. Just like any other review type, it can be positive or negative to provide insights into a customer's real experience. Reviews are valuable for potential customers to make informed decisions. But why are they valuable for your business?
Why are social media reviews important for businesses?
Social media engagement, including likes, comments, shares, and reviews can improve the visibility of your business, not only on social media platforms, but also can impact increasing website traffic which can potentially better your SEO ranking.
Positive reviews on social media establish and boost trust in your brand. As just mentioned, prospective customers heavily rely on reviews while making purchasing decisions therefore, a large number of predominantly positive reviews usually prevail when a customer is in doubt. When you show appreciation to every customer and respond appropriately to a review, especially if it's negative, you incredibly affect your credibility.
Reviews could be a treasure. When considered as valuable feedback, reviews stimulate addressing the issues and business development. That is what can set you apart. As mentioned, business profiles of social networks serve as a kind of direct link with users and admirers of your brand, so to speak, your community, where you can chat in a somewhat more informal and friendly way than possible on Google or official reviewing platforms. Outstanding customer service, which includes review management, is half the job.
If communicate your values and vision fairly and transparently across platforms and while interacting with customers, attach importance to their concerns or remarks, and express appreciation for praise and recognition, you are in a favorable position to leverage your social proof towards profit.
Accessing reviews across social media platforms
Accessing reviews on social media business profiles varies depending on the platform. Among the most popular platforms, only the world’s largest social network Facebook offers an official reviewing system. The review tab on each business profile allows customers to review or recommend and allows your business to engage and respond. However, you must ensure you enable reviews on your business account.
Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn don’t have formal reviewing systems developed, instead, users share their impressions via brand name mentions and comments. Instagram direct messages often serve as a reviewing channel for customers who tend to reach out directly to complain, question, or thank you. In no case do not fail to reply. Remember, that is how you gain a competitive edge.
Official reviewing platforms such as Google My Business, G2, and TripAdvisor provide a straightforward review managing guide. Simply log in to your account and navigate to the review tab.
Can you keep up with social media reviews?
For the purpose of learning steps to follow for best practices, we can identify the social media review management concept with online reputation management (ORM) even though social media is just a part of a channel scope ORM covers, the process is the same.
It is recommended for businesses to be present and active on as many relevant social media as possible due to visibility and potential traffic volume. It is relatively easy to keep up with reviewing platforms, but do you have time to go through all social media platforms and search up your brand name for posts mentioned, story mentions, and tags, as well as to address all? Luckily for each step in the process, you can engage software solutions and automate part of your tasks. In this case, the review aggregator would be of great help. Another good practice would be to set up Google Alerts for your brand name and relevant keywords to monitor brand mentions and reviews online.
Ultimate checklist to be sure you've done well
- Monitor social media
- Acknowledge each review and comment left
- Reply to social media reviews promptly
- Reply in a personalized and authentic manner
- Avoid engaging in arguments or heated debates
- Encourage reviews via your social media accounts
- Learn from customers' feedback
Leverage social media reviews to your advantage
Social media reviews provide an ideal opportunity to familiarize yourself with customer sentiments. By analyzing trends and patterns in reviews you can gain insights into potential areas for improvement and opportunities to highlight your upsides further.
Grasp social media reviews as an opportunity to listen, learn, and engage with customers, not as a burden, as it can benefit your business more than harm it if review management is done properly.
If just follow the above checklist you soon be recognized for fostering customer satisfaction and loyalty, and your brand will stand out among competitors.