Reviews are a critical piece of the puzzle for small businesses marketing online and reputation management. People want to know that they’re working with the right local business or buying the right product, and they rely on reviews to help guide those decisions.

Not only do reviews help to build trust and convince customers to give you a chance, but they also help to make your business more visible in local searches and make your products more visible.

You don’t have to leave your reviews on review sites. In fact, you can maximize their impact by using real customer reviews in your other marketing efforts.

How to get more out of your reviews

Highlight reviews on your website

What you say about your business is important, but it’s nowhere near as important as what your customers say about your business. And one of the best ways to harness this powerful content is by displaying real customer reviews on your website.

Reviews are a highly effective form of social proof that can help to drive conversions on your website. In fact, one study found that displaying reviews can boost conversions by a whopping 350% (Birdeye)!

There are lots of ways to go about highlighting customer reviews. One way, is by including individual reviews in the design of your website, like this:

Having a “What our customers are saying about us” section is a great way to build trust on your website and show off your reviews in an attractive, highly visible way.

Display recent reviews with a reviews widget

Static reviews and testimonials are a fantastic form of social proof, but an even more powerful way to maximize your reviews is by embedding a reviews widget on your website.

Here’s an example of what the Top Rated Local® widget looks like on the Marketing 360® homepage:

When a visitor clicks on the widget, they can see how many ratings we have overall, as well as our overall scores based on the 5 pillars of the customer experience — quality, value, timeliness, experience and satisfaction.

Visitors can also click on the “Recent Reviews” tab to check out all of our latest reviews. Plus, they can visit our review profile on Top Rated Local or write their own review of our business with the click of a button.

With a reviews widget, you can show off your strong reputation right on your website — building more trust and turning more visitors into leads and customers.

Feature your reviews on social media

Your website isn’t the only place you can start using reviews to increase your ROI. Social media is another great channel for sharing review content.

These days, people often turn to social media to learn about new brands and local businesses, and social platforms, like Facebook, have become popular places to rate businesses and share experiences with other consumers.

Not only should you focus on getting reviews and testimonials on social media platforms, but there are a lot of things you can do to make your reviews more visible on social media.

Here are a few ideas:

Thank a user for their review

Include a review (or part of a review) in a post on your social profile, with a heartfelt thank you for taking the time to write it and share. Your customer will feel like you valued their feedback, and you’ll encourage others to write more reviews.

Create social images that feature reviews

People are very visual creatures, and we respond a lot more to images than we do to text in most cases. Luckily, reviews make compelling social images that can be used across a variety of platforms.

Respond to your reviews

When someone rates your business on Facebook or leaves you a comment with feedback on Instagram or Twitter, take the time to respond! You’ll create a better experience for the customer directly, but everyone else will see your response as well, which shows that you’re listening to their feedback and that you care.

Have video testimonials

If someone has had a fantastic experience with your business that they want to shout about from the rooftops, ask them if they’d be willing to do a short video testimonial for your business. Video testimonials are powerful social proof that you can share on virtually any social platform, as well as on your website.

What you say about your business isn’t nearly as important as what your customers are saying, but reviews are just one aspect of reputation management for a modern small business.

Learn how Marketing 360®’s reputation management software can help you get more reviews and build a powerful reputation for your business. See our plans and pricing.