Your Google business profile is set up, your Facebook page is verified and you’re raking in reviews (or at least implementing the tips found here and here). But what about other sites where your business has a profile — such as Instagram, Twitter, TikTok or LinkedIn? These sites don’t have a “leave a review” function, so is it even important to consider them when managing reviews?
The answer is a resounding “YES!”
Reviews left on these types of sites look different from those left on Yelp, Facebook, Google or on your own website. However, they are every bit as important. Reviews on these sites not only reach a wider range of customers (and potential customers) but are seen as more authentic. 62% of customers believe they’ve seen fake reviews in the last year. They name Amazon, Google and Facebook as the top culprits. This shows that non-traditional reviews on other platforms may seem more believable.
Does My Business Need Profiles on All Social Media Sites to Get Reviews?
Your mid-size business might not need profiles on all of these platforms. But staying active on all sites certainly wouldn’t hurt!
Each platform has its own audience. Professionals follow their favorite businesses on Linkedin, while your 16-year-old daughter similarly follows her favorite brands on TikTok. Each of these audiences likely interacts differently with your business. Still, all are worth engaging using social media management — and worth responding to using social media monitoring. (If you aren’t sure the difference between “management” and “monitoring,” check out our run-down here.)
57% percent of customers say they’re “not very” or “not at all” likely to use a business if they don’t reply to reviews. If one of your customers leaves a review on a site where your business has no profile, that could mean a missed opportunity.
Top Social Media Platforms For Gaining Untraditional Reviews
So how can your business encourage and respond to reviews on each of these platforms? Below, we’ll explain how customers may be communicating with your business on each platform. Then, we’ll share the top tips to consider when trying to get — or reply to — reviews on each site.
How Do Customers Use Twitter for Reviews?
Twitter allows users to write 280-character “tweets.” So when a customer talks about your business here, they typically do so by making quick, and possibly humorous, observations about you. A review might look like them tweeting about a negative experience at one of your stores. Or it may look like them sharing why they like an item.
Top 3 Things to Consider When Trying to Get Reviews on Twitter
1. Twitter is All About Quick Replies
When customers use Twitter, they often want to feel like they’re chatting directly with you. It’s one of the easiest sites to have of-the-moment conversations. Keeping this feedback loop going is important. According to a 2015 study by Twitter, airline customers who received prompt support responses on Twitter were more likely to recommend that airline to others. Plus, they were more likely to spend more on future purchases through that airline!
Take, for example, Lowe’s quick reply to this positive tweet:
2. Retweet Positive Tweets
People typically don’t filter themselves on Twitter, so when you receive that (sometimes rare) positive tweet, it’s important to retweet it. You could even reach out to the tweeter and ask if they could leave that review elsewhere, or if you could repurpose it for use on your website. Once users see that you retweet fellow customers, they may consider sharing their experience, too, or replying to that tweet with their own review.
3. Create Polls to Learn about Customer Preferences
Although these responses aren’t exactly “reviews,” they can be insightful and offer a look into your customers’ preferences. Polls can also boost engagement and provide useful insight for your future posts or feedback requests.
Heinz’s poll asking if their customers wanted “mayochup” was incredibly successful at boosting engagement — and gave Heinz anecdotal insight into what their customers like.
How Do Customers Use LinkedIn for Reviews?
LinkedIn is arguably the least-traditional review site, but professionals on the platform often share and comment on articles from brands they follow — especially if what the company is doing relates to their industry. One example: If you have a shining moment of review management on Twitter, a social media manager may share a screenshot to show their followers a good example of replying to a review!
This goes the other way, too. If you fail hard at replying to a customer, that person may screenshot your response. This could certainly go viral on any of the other platforms we’re discussing in this article — but could ultimately wind up on LinkedIn being commented on by industry professionals.
The same goes for professionals in other industries. A rival business owner may share about a success or failure they noticed in your customer service or someone else in your industry may comment on your hiring practices.
Top 3 Things to Consider when Using LinkedIn to Get Reviews
1. Stay Active on the Platform
LinkedIn is one of the least-flashy social media platforms so it can feel easier said than done sometimes to stay active. But like on any platform, the more you’re present, the more you’ll stay on top of users’ feeds — and minds. The more they see you, the more likely they are to comment on your posts. And if they know you’re active on their favorite platform, they may consider creating a post about something your company is doing, or even reviewing what they like or dislike about your products, just like they would on any other platform.
Having a LinkedIn page will make it easier for your company to not only find out what people are saying about you on that platform but respond in an effective, timely way.
2. On LinkedIn, Your Staff are Part of the Conversation
Since LinkedIn’s main goal is to facilitate networking among professionals, your staff are one of the most likely audiences to share a “review” of your company — especially their experience working with you. They’ll want to celebrate your business’ successes and lament your failures, because what’s happening in your business affects them, too. Sharing about your business — their workplace — lets their network in on what they’re doing in their career, and gives your brand a wider audience.
Knowing this, your business has plenty of opportunities to engage staff (and, as a result, potential customers) on LinkedIn, and to encourage feedback. You can encourage staff to update their profiles, share about you on their pages and comment on your posts.
Sometimes, this will happen organically. Lowe’s shared their new partnership with Petco on LinkedIn and an employee was excited to comment on this change:
3. Share Reviews to Encourage other Reviews
This is a good idea on any site, but LinkedIn is the perfect place to share video testimonials (pin your best one to the top of your profile!) and other new collateral that you’re proud of. You can, again, encourage employees to share these (possibly alongside their own testimonials) which will add to the conversation — and bring in more of your target audience. Posting reviews you already have makes people want to join in.
How Do Customers Use Instagram for Reviews?
From beautiful feed posts to behind-the-scenes stories (short clips that disappear after a day) to reels (short videos) that use the latest trending sounds, content opportunities are limitless on Instagram — and all can be used by customers to give feedback on your company. In response, you can use each of these functions of the app to communicate with customers, reply to reviews and create the genuine connections the app emphasizes. 4 in 5 Instagram users follow at least one business on the app, and most are quick to give feedback when asked by their favorite stores and brands.
Top 3 Things to Consider when Trying to Get Reviews on Instagram
1. Share Reviews to Get More Reviews
Again, this is not an Instagram-specific (or LinkedIn-specific) tactic. But it’s particularly effective on Instagram, where — assuming you’re posting regularly — customers feel they have a personal connection with your brand and want to join in on the conversation.
Blueland, a company that sells sustainable cleaning products, shared some of their 5-star reviews in a humorous way. Beneath the post, many of their followers chimed in to say how much they love the company — offering plenty of social proof to other would-be customers.
2. Utilize Stories to Gather Customer Feedback
Stories last only 24 hours. They flicker at the top of the app and are oh-so-clickable. What’s great is that the more an Instagram user opens your stories, the more often the algorithm will put your new stories first on their feed.
Stories are a great place to share all of your content — including posts and reels — and to ensure more of your followers see them. They’re also a great place to answer customer questions, create polls about products or services, or even request reviews, which you can then share back onto your story or utilize elsewhere!
Imagine your flower shop is trying to gain insight into what styles your customers are looking for this spring. You could create example bouquets featuring different trending styles (70s revival, minimalist, etc.) and poll your audience in your Instagram stories to gain feedback that way.
3. Reels Are Becoming Instagram’s Main Focus
Most social media platforms are heading in the direction of TikTok by focusing ever more on video content. You can post videos on your feed and in your stories, but the hottest way to do so is in reels. You’ll want to keep an eye out on reels for what customers may be saying about your brand.
Perhaps you own a hardware store and an Instagram user takes their followers on a journey through your store as they search for the perfect lightbulb. This may not seem feasible, but influencers have certainly vlogged weirder things! This offers the perfect opportunity for your team to reply to the reel with your own video — educating them and other would-be customers on the various lightbulbs you carry, or perhaps, creating a reel called “5 Fun Facts You Didn’t Know About Lightbulbs.”
How Do Customers Use TikTok for Reviews?
Similar to Instagram Reels, TikTok users create short videos, often incorporating trending “sounds” — the audio behind a TikTok clip (like music or a movie quote). If your company is mentioned in (or uses) a trending sound, it’s much more likely to get seen by other users. If a customer mentions your company, you want to be there to contribute to the conversation. Especially if that mention includes a review of your product or service.
Depending on the industry you’re in, you may feel hesitant to start using TikTok. But you may want to consider getting on board. It’s one of the fastest-growing social media platforms out there! It’s predicted to become the third-largest social media app in 2022.
78% of Gen Z customers say they learn about brands or companies on social media. What’s the most popular social media platform among Gen Z? TikTok.
Top 3 Things to Consider When Trying to Get Reviews on TikTok
1. TikTok’s Young User Base Means You Need to Use New Strategies
You might not be able to encourage reviews on TikTok by sending out requests over email! The first step to getting users to create videos about your business is by creating lots yourself using plenty of trending sounds. This shows users that you’re active on the app and willing to listen to them.
Panera created a TikTok using a trending sound to advertise their new grilled mac ‘n cheese sandwich. Customers loved the TikTok and were happy to reply with their reviews of the sandwich — which Panera quickly engaged with.
2. TikTok Users Will Leave Video Reviews of Your Business
These come off incredibly authentic to viewers and offer many benefits. If you sell a product, the user will often show how it works and what they like about it. This will inspire viewers much more than if your brand was posting something like this directly. If the video review is negative, someone from your team can quickly “stitch” it with a video response, or comment explaining how you will do better in the future. As we’ve discussed, replying to reviews is a tried and true way to win back customers.
Often on these video reviews, other customers might reply with their own thoughts. Blueland took the following opportunity to reply to a negative comment made on a user-generated video and received nine likes:
3. Keep an Eye out for Trends
Some trends on TikTok that brands are utilizing are #tiktokmademebuyit and #lifehacks. If you sell a product or service, these are valuable trends to engage with. Or, you could encourage happy customers to utilize them using incentives.
If you run a hardware store, perhaps someone could show off your store in a #lifehacks video. Home organization is huge right now and you may already be taking advantage of this trend. Utilizing it by creating a “How to organize your home at Smith’s Hardware” TikTok could be a great way to inspire copycats. And ultimately, to inspire feedback and reviews.
New trends come and go all the time on TikTok, so keep an eye out. Or ask a niece or nephew what they’re noticing!
Should You Outsource Your Social Media Management?
You might feel overwhelmed with all the social media platforms out there, and more are logging on every day! The best way to start is to strengthen your presence on your current platforms. Whether you choose to manage your social media yourself, outsource to another company or grow your team, your business could use the additional support of a review monitoring and response management team.
Let Us Respond’s review monitoring team can help your company find and monitor reviews across the traditional review platforms, and some of the top social media platforms, you use most. Our response management service takes it a step further. As a client, you’ll work with a team of experts who know how to reply to reviews across many of these top platforms! And through it all, we can work with you to manage your reputation.
You want to be right there with a reply whenever — and wherever — someone reviews your company. Our team of professionals can help you do that. Learn more about what we offer and book a free consultation today!