Embrace Online Reviews: 3 ways reviews can help grow your business

Reviews are everywhere. From online reviews on Google, Yelp, and Facebook to specific websites like Doctor.com, we rarely make purchases without some information about the brand that we’re buying from. It’s easier than ever to get information about a company and that’s why reputation management matters.

Here are three reasons why having a strategy in place to help you manage your reputation and embrace online reviews can help increase your audience and grow your business.  

Audience Engagement

Your customers are looking for ways to connect with you outside of making a purchase. One of the ways they can do that is through reviews, whether it be on social media or other sites like Yelp or Google. Much like engaging with them on social media, this is a way to connect with customers. Taking time to respond to these reviews, even with a pre-crafted message, shows you care about your customers, their opinions and value the time they took to create the review. I must admit that I love when a business replies to a review that I’ve written, even with a simple “Thank You.” It also helps you address any negative feedback with a positive response. In this instance, you don’t have to go into full detail of the issue but at least responding to the message illustrates your willingness to make things right. Audiences notice when you acknowledge that mistakes happen and work to correct them. This can go a long way to helping build trust as well.

Valuable SEO

While some people may leave brief comments, others will write detailed reviews that share valuable search terms that others are looking for. Like any webpage, these reviews get indexed by search engines like Google and can help your organization rank better for those terms. These reviews also highlight the terms that people use in relation to your brand. This can help you craft language for your own website content. It is important to use terms that your audience is using to help you rank better online. This is a great way to get it straight from the source.

Repurposing

Did someone mention they had a good experience with your organization or leave a great review? Share that review on your social media platforms. This also is the perfect opportunity to ask if they would be willing to provide a testimonial for your website, social media pages, and other content. Customers like seeing people that are like them when it comes to making purchasing decisions. Sharing reviews and testimonials helps validate your good work from outside parties.

Online reviews are a valuable resource straight from your customer’s viewpoint. Now is the time to embrace them, good and bad. They can help you interact with your audience, rank better on search engines, and provide content for your own use. Managing reviews doesn’t have to be scary and is important part of maintaining a good reputation for your organization. If you’re not sure where to start, Chartwell Agency can help.