Posted: 20th March 2017
How many times have you checked out hotel reviews on TripAdvisor before booking your holiday? Or checked out what people have been saying about a local restaurant on Facebook before booking a table for a special occasion.
It has become common place to check what people are saying before visiting all different types of venues and businesses. People seem to be freer with their opinions, but it is also easier to leave reviews to show how good or bad your experience was. On the other side it is easier to find out what people think about a service, reviews are so much easier to find as a purchaser.
From a business perspective reviews are social proof, that you do what you say. They are an independent view given by a customer or client. Many people will not buy products or services without looking at the reviews first. The likes of Amazon and Ebay probably brought reviews to most peoples attention.
So how can you use reviews within your Beauty or Holistic business? or any other business for that matter.
Many people will leave a review without being prompted so make time to check your reviews. The feedback can be invaluable to learn what people like and dislike about your business. For reviews left on Facebook or Google make sure you reply to each one, saying thank you for the feedback. Facebook reviews will pop up in friends timelines and help to give more exposure to your business. Google reviews can make all the difference to the way your website comes up in Google searches. (For more about Google searches)
It is a really good idea to have some set procedures in place regarding reviews, how to get them and what to do with them. I have worked with a client in the past who as a driving instructor relied heavily on reviews. However as most clients are teenagers it can often be difficult to get them to do a review. We had to find easy ways for them to do this without it taking too long and them getting bored. Facebook reviews are not so hard to get as they are mostly on Facebook. Google reviews can be harder, but we have found a really useful tool that helps. It works by generating a link directly to your review page and if they have a Google account or Gmail it logs them in straight away. (See bottom of blog for link).All they have to do is type a few words. Another good way to get reviews to post on your website is the send a list of questions via the good old Royal Mail. Asking the right questions ensures that you get the feed back you require. Enclose a Stamped, addressed envelope so they have no excuse for returning it.
Video reviews are really great, if you can get some of your clients to do them. Hopefully they are not all camera shy. Some people will be able to just do them off the cuff, but you could always ask them questions to help them to cover the important points a bit like an interview.
Re-use your Reviews.
You can share your reviews from one platform to another to get full benefit from the content. Sharing a video review to all your social media platforms and your website. If you are promoting a particular product or service include a review in your promotional post. You could even use reviews in your blogs occasionally with carefully placed keywords to get more traffic to your website.
If you would like to know more about how reviews can help your business. Comment below or send me a message. I can help you set up procedures to get reviews from your clients, and then use those reviews to maximum benefit for your business.
info@salonmediagenie.co.uk
#reviews #socialproof #testimonials
