Social media selling is the new game of a business’s success online. Having social media reviews is the best way to convince followers that your products or services are worth a shot.
Social media reviews hold a significant place in presenting a positive image of your brand. This is evident from the research that showed a whopping 99.9% of online shoppers consult a review before making a purchase.
So, if your target audience is social media scrolling millennials, there is no need to do the maths. You can simply get your reviews on social media to sell for you.
We’ve gone online, scoured the internet, pulled up case studies, and found these great ways social media reviews will boost your eCommerce conversion rates. Keep on reading!
Which Sites are Best for Social Media Reviews?
For great social media reviews, you need an awesome social media presence. And you can leverage any social media platform as long as it resonates with your target audience. So when researching your ideal customer profile (ICP), you can include your favorite social media platforms.
Facebook is by far the most popular platform, with an older audience. This mature demographic also has a higher spending budget. However, if your product is aimed at folx under 25, utilize the likes of TikTok and Snapchat. Overall, using social media platforms for boosting your sales is a method that almost always works in the current digitalized world. As you can see;
Top Five Platforms for Online/Social Media Reviews
To increase your online sales and boost conversion rates, check out this list and start building your online presence with awesome social media reviews. An important thing to note here is that social media management is a full-time job.
So the best approach is to add it to your budget and hire a full-timer to achieve the desired results in the set time frame. And to get you started, here are the top five social platforms to choose from;
1. YouTube
The winner of the lot, for sure. Video marketing increases sales with its visually appealing medium. People can disconnect while watching videos; they don’t need to concentrate so hard to digest the information coming to them. There’s content for people of all ages, posted by people of all ages. And all this makes YouTube one of the top social platforms and a great one for getting reviews.
2. Facebook
The pioneer of social media. We would still be swapping phone numbers if it weren’t for Zuckerburg and his groundbreaking initiative. Its largest demographic is 25 to 35-year-olds. Not quite the richest age group in the US, but on their way to building loyalty to brands. The importance of social media reviews is quite evident from these stats;
3. Instagram
Instagram is the current favorite online selling hub. If you’re selling something, you need to create a unique presence on this platform. Many home-starter companies use Instagram as their first online store. They can easily present their product, market it, and sell it. In addition, influencers and customers use this platform to review their purchases.
4. Pinterest
This platform is basically a mood board galore. People like choices and options. Followers on Pinterest can view products at a glance. Companies have their products pinned, but customers also have their favorites pinned. If your product is among a popular collection, then you’re winning Pinterest.
5. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the service seller platform. It is often regarded as a professional online networking platform as it has grown in popularity for individuals and businesses to see their wares. They utilize posting to their advantage to provide a mixture of case studies and personal anecdotes.
Overall, no matter which platform you are using, you will only gain good social media reviews by creating unique and impactful content. To learn how you can easily do that, read our blog; The Best Step-by-Step Guide to Social Media Content Creation in 2022
6 Ways Social Media Reviews Can Increase Online Sales
Here are the top 6 ways that you can boost your online sales and create a unique online presence utilizing the advantages of social media reviews;
1. Testimonials
Have your customer leave a more in-depth review on your page. Research who has been talking about your product and reach out to them to ask for a testimonial. You can then place this on your website as social proof of your product.
If you want to take things a step further and really stand out from the competition, you can also consider creating video testimonials. VocalVideo offers a guide to creating powerful video testimonials that can help you capture customers’ attention and further establish your credibility.
2. Images
Social media users seek content at every opportunity. If your product is the focal point of a selfie or even in the background, it’s great awareness for your brand. To boost images, run competitions. Like-minded followers, who’ll also be interested in your product, will stop their scroll and check your profile.
3. Links
Reviews on the likes of Facebook and LinkedIn often contain links to your website. Not only does this drive traffic to your website, but it also boosts your SEO (search engine optimization), increasing your ranking on the search engine results page (SERP). Google will be more willing to show your website first.
4. Word of mouth
Behind the scenes of social media, walls are DMs or direct messaging. People are messaging each other constantly–a third of Americans prefer texting over calls. Build a solid brand, create a dependable product, and back it up with fantastic customer service, and your product will be spoken about behind closed doors.
5. Promotions
To boost your brand awareness on social media, open up promotions for your customers. Although it’s not acceptable to exchange reviews for heavily reduced products, you can still ask your followers to share your posts on social media with a couple of lines about why they love your product.
6. Videos
With the rise of TikTok, people are getting more creative. A filtered pose doesn’t cut it anymore. Video marketing is engaging, attractive, and easier to digest than text. It’s a strategy becoming more and more popular and integral in company marketing plans.
Behind each of the points above is a dedicated customer who loves your product enough to share it with their followers. Remember, if this customer is your ICP, then their followers fall into the same category. So you need to get your product in front of their eyes also.
4 Things You Can Do To Further Enhance Your Online Presence
To gain positive reviews and that too, as many as possible, here are a few impactful things you can try;
1. Widen Your Audience With Voice-to-Text Transcription
As mentioned above, video marketing is on the rise. However, you need to cater to a wider audience. Not everyone speaks English fluently, and not everyone who does can understand the nuances of the different accents.
Incorporating subtitles into your videos will give you a big advantage over your competitors. Voice-to-text transcription with Amberscript is simple. The tool offers 90% accuracy if you don’t have the time or resources to manually transcribe the script. They also have a team of certified translators to reach non-English speaking viewers.
2. Leverage E-commerce Conversion Rates
The best way to gauge how social media reviews are working for your brand is to track your conversion rates. The likes of Google Analytics allows you to follow the journey of links and the activities behind the scene.
When you include a link on your social media post, you’re not necessarily letting it go into the wild west of the internet. Actively track who’s clicking on the link and, most importantly, what actions they are taking after.
You don’t need to depend on a “where did you hear about us” questionnaire. See your customer’s journey on your screen. With cookies, it’s much more intelligent than just “click; I’m on your site .”They might click, and leave your website, but come back later or in a few days and make a purchase.
The conversion rate is calculated by the number of website visits divided by the number of purchases.
Leverage these rates to discover what type of posts are working for your brand–which type of content is driving the most traffic to your site. If purchases are low, then consider giving your website a makeover.
3. Optimize your eCommerce Conversion Rate
If you discover that you have a high conversion rate once your customer lands on your website, what you need to concentrate on is how to drive more traffic there. eCommerce conversion rate optimization (CRO) is a skill in itself. It’s a delicately woven process of trying and trying again.
Many brands make the mistake of heavily discounting their products. They believe that the lower price will attract more customers. It’s true promotions entice customers, but they draw the wrong kind of customer.
For your business to prosper, you need loyal, repeat customers. Because they often are the ones who buy your product at full price. No need to spell out the math here. With discounted products, you raise your conversion rate temporarily, not consistently.
4. Use Social Media Tracking Tools
You will spend each waking working hour tracking your social media activity and conversion rates. It’s time-consuming as it’s live. You’ll have people and influencers talking about your product around the globe.
It is a 24/7 task, and regardless if you’re a large enterprise, an SME, or a solopreneur, you cannot afford your time or the salary of round-the-clock employees.
Early on in your business, preferably when you launch your social media presence, invest in a CRM (client relationship management). These social media automation tools continuously track your social media activity, linked with your eCommerce stores, spitting out weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual reports.
This way, you will have enough solid data to set realistic KPIs for your business to scale. To learn more about how to set the perfect KPIs, read our blog; Top 10 Social Media KPIs You Should Track in 2022
Final Verdict
Gaining good social media reviews is a strategy followed by many businesses to succeed in today’s digitalized world, 87% of businesses, to be precise. This is the strategy that is followed by these businesses;
- Leverage your social media reviews to boost online sales
- Leverage your conversion rate data to improve brand awareness
- Leverage your brand awareness to garner more online reviews
So, regardless of your business size, get involved in your social media platforms as soon as yesterday. Build your online presence. Engage with your customers and interact with them. Build a relationship to boost loyalty and customer retention.
Social media is another side of the business with a whole team to run it. But the results are clear. You will have an increase in online sales. Hire your team and invest in social media management software to give your business an advantage over competitors and get the desired results without the hassle.
You can choose smart and easy-to-use social media scheduling and management tools like SocialBu. With SocialBu, you get to save a ton of your time and also boost your social media consistency. Hence, you’ll be able to gain positive social media reviews as well. So start your free trial today and watch your social media reach the next level boost!
