Digital media has allowed a great opportunity for people to have a voice. Good or bad, consumers have an outlet to voice their complaints and praises. Any business wants to have people raving about them online, but sometimes you need to cultivate that. A huge piece to online PR for a brand is testimonials, especially on social media.
Top Ways To Give a Testimonial Online:
- Google – A Google review is a fabulous way to promote a brand’s presence on the largest search engine in the world. Talk about exposure!
- Facebook – Facebook business pages have a spot for reviews. You can give a company 1-5 stars and write a comment with your review.
- Yelp (or other industry website): Yelp and other industry related websites are great places to leave reviews. Many folks use these apps and websites to find restaurants and other local places when they are visiting out of town.
- LinkedIn – A “recommendation” is gold on LinkedIn, especially compared to an endorsement. It’s very easy for people to click on the suggested skill to say that someone has that particular skill. However, it has much more weight if someone writes a custom testimonial on your profile about your abilities and expertise.
- Ole Fashioned Written Testimonial – There are people in our world today that find social media, Yelp, and other sites’ setups confusing. There’s still value in inviting folks to write a testimonial in an email. You can create a “testimonial page” on your website or even use them in print materials to feature these testimonies.
- Word of Mouth – There still isn’t anything that beats the power of someone’s authentic words straight from their mouth. The conversations that promote people sharing good words about companies they have done business with are priceless. Promoting a culture of positive customer service naturally invites others to want to rave about you. Want good reviews? Do good work!
Here’s the challenge, folks: You actually have to be proactive about requesting testimonials. People don’t always think about sharing the good news about a company; sometimes they need a little reminder. I’ve been preaching the power of testimonials and recommendations to my clients for years, and just recently decided to take my own advice. Don’t worry. It’s not that scary and when you do good work, your clients are more than happy to help you out.
Your Challenge…If you choose to accept it:
- Go give a few testimonials or recommendations to people you have done business with. (Chances are they will pay it back, or pay it forward!)
- Ask a few clients that you know who have had good experiences with your company and ask them if they wouldn’t mind recommending your company online.