Everyone is familiar with food reviews and the difference they can make to your restaurant selection. We’ve also spoken before of the importance of online reviews (see here), but in this post we will examine why it is essential that you set up Facebook reviews and Google reviews for your business as part of your regular marketing activity.
Search engines love online reviews
Online reviews make up 10% of how search engines rank your website (source:moz.com). So, this means, the more regular and more recent your reviews, the more they will impact your results in search engines, and push you up towards the top.
Facebook reviews are the easiest reviews for your customers to make
While reviews on TripAdvisor, Google and others are also important, Facebook is the easiest review for your customer to make. They are likely to be one of the 15 million Australians that have a Facebook account and it is simply and easy to complete a review on the spot. Whereas not everyone has a google account, and setting one up sometimes frustrates technophobes to the point where they don’t go through with making a review. Facebook is likely to be the first place a customer will review you, or by writing a post directly on your page with feedback. Other customers can see straight away what others are saying about your business when they click on your page, and will be influenced by it. E.g. “The dumplings I had from here the other night were terrible” might lead me to go to a different place for dumplings and beer.
Google reviews could be the deciding factor for your business
Google is where most people start their search and find your business. Imagine if immediately your business came up next to your competitors, and you had top user ratings and your competitors didn’t. It is enough to give your business the edge and will often be the deciding factor as to why a customer will choose you over a competitor.
Make sure Facebook reviews are set up
Your Facebook page needs to be set up under the category of Local Business to have reviews enabled. Click here to find out how to do this.
Make sure Google reviews are set up
You need to have set up Google my business. Click here to find out how to do this.
Set up a system to have regular reviews
Businesses that do this well encourage reviews from their customers during interactions and particularly after a sale. They then get the reviews on the spot, before the customer has time to go home and forget about it. This ensures that each week the business is receiving a number of fresh reviews, which is essential for relevancy to your future customers (imagine a review from 6 months ago versus one week ago). Build the review into your product experience, train your staff on how to ask for reviews, and expect reviews to be part of your KPI’s of your business and your staff.
