Customer reviews are a valuable asset for any business.  They can help you build trust with potential customers, attract new business, and boost your online reputation.  But how do you turn customer reviews into social media gold? In this article, we'll show you how to promote your customer reviews on social media and use them to build a strong online presence.

1.  Choose the right reviews. Not all customer reviews are created equal.  When choosing reviews to share on social media, look for ones that are:

• Positive and enthusiastic. People are more likely to be drawn to positive and enthusiastic reviews, so focus on sharing those.
• Specific and detailed. The more specific and detailed a review is, the more helpful it will be to potential customers.
• Relevant to your target audience. When choosing reviews to share, make sure they are relevant to your target audience.  For example, if you sell women's clothing, you wouldn't want a review from someone who doesn't wear women's clothing.

2.  Highlight the benefits of your product or service. When sharing customer reviews on social media, be sure to highlight the benefits of your product or service.  This will help potential customers understand why they should choose you over the competition.

3.  Use visuals. People are more likely to engage with social media posts that include visuals.  So, whenever possible, include images or videos in your posts.

4.  Add a call to action. At the end of your post, be sure to add a call to action.  This could be something as simple as asking people to visit your website or leave a review of their own.

5.  Be consistent. The more you share customer reviews on social media, the more likely people are to see them.  So, make sure to post reviews regularly.

Online customer review websites

Online review sites are the biggest way for consumers to share feedback on products and services.  And when prospective customers are considering a purchase, they're one of the first things they check.  That's why it's essential to use ratings and reviews to their full potential.  One great way to do this is to use testimonials to create social media posts that engage your audience and build trust in your products or services.  For example, you could post a screenshot of a positive review with a call to action encouraging people to visit your website or leave a review of their own.  By using testimonials in this way, you can show potential customers that you have a great product or service and that they can trust you.

How to generate reviews for your business

• Ask for reviews. This may seem obvious, but it's important to ask your customers to leave reviews.  You can do this by sending them an email, asking them in person, or adding a review request to your receipts.
• Make it easy to leave a review. The easier it is for customers to leave a review, the more likely they are to do it.  Make sure your website has a prominent "Reviews" section and that your review forms are easy to fill out.
• Offer incentives. You can offer customers incentives to leave reviews such as discounts, vouchers, or free products or services.
• Respond to reviews. When customers leave reviews, be sure to respond promptly and professionally.  Thank them for their feedback and address any concerns they may have.
• Use social media. Social media is a great way to generate reviews for your business.  Encourage your customers to share their experiences with you on social media and tag your business.
• Partner with influencers. Partnering with influencers is a great way to reach a new audience and generate reviews.  Reach out to influencers in your industry and offer them free products or services in exchange for reviews.

By following these tips, you can generate more reviews for your business and improve your online reputation.

Examples of review platforms

Google My Business (GMB) is a free platform that allows businesses to create a listing on Google Search and Maps.  When customers search for a business, Google displays the listing alongside the search results.  GMB includes a number of features that make it a great platform for customer reviews, including:

• Visibility: GMB listings are prominently displayed in Google Search and Maps, making them more likely to be seen by potential customers.
• Trustworthiness: GMB reviews are verified by Google, which helps to ensure that they are from real customers.
• Credibility: GMB reviews are displayed alongside other information about the business, such as its address, phone number, and website, which helps to build credibility.
• Engagement: GMB reviews are easy to leave and read, which encourages customers to engage with the business.
• Track-ability: GMB reviews can be tracked over time, which helps businesses to see how their performance is improving.

Overall, GMB is a great platform for businesses to collect and display customer reviews.  By using GMB, businesses can increase their visibility, trustworthiness, credibility, engagement, and track-ability.  You can then copy those reviews to your social media acccounts.

Here are some additional benefits of Google My Business reviews:

• They can help you attract new customers. When potential customers are searching for businesses like yours online, they're likely to check out the reviews.  Positive reviews can help you stand out from the competition and attract new customers.
• They can help you build trust with customers. When customers see positive reviews from other people, they're more likely to trust your business and do business with you.
• They can help you improve your customer services. By reading reviews, you can get feedback on how you can improve your customer services.  This feedback can help you make changes that will make your customers happier.
• They can help you increase sales. Studies have shown that businesses with positive reviews tend to have higher sales than businesses with negative reviews.

If you're not already using Google My Business, I encourage you to set up a listing today.  It's free and easy way to collect and display customer reviews, which can help you attract new customers, build trust, improve your customer services, and increase sales.

When asking your customers to write a review, send them a shortened link (see bitly.com/) to the review section of your Google My Business page.  This will make it easy for them to leave a review and help you improve your online reputation.

If your business is listed on Trip Advisor or Trust Pilot, you may want to direct customers to those platforms instead or asking them to leave a review via email.  Reviews left on these platforms are more visible to potential customers, which can help you attract more business.  Again you can copy these reviews to your social media accounts and to your website.

Facebook also has its own rating and reviews system, which is worth considering if you use your Facebook page regularly.

A content manager is a software application that helps you store and manage all of the content on your website.  In addition to storing your website's content, a good content manager should also allow you to store and display customer reviews.  DRA's content manager has a built-in customer review feature that makes it easy to collect and display customer feedback on your website.

Here's a reminder on how to promote reviews on social media:

1. Ask for reviews. The first step is to ask your customers to leave reviews.  You can do this by sending them an email, adding a call to action to your website, or simple asking them in person.
2. Make it easy to leave a review. The easier it is for your customers to leave a review, the more likely they are to do it.  You can make it easy by providing a link to your review page on your website, or by using a social media tool that makes it easy for people to leave reviews.
3. Respond to reviews. When you receive a review, be sure to respond to it.  Thank the customer for their feedback, and if they have any negative feedback, take steps to address it.
4. Promote your reviews. Once you have some reviews, be sure to promote them on social media.  You can do this by taking a screen shot and sharing them on your own pages, or by encouraging your customers to share them on theirs.
5. Use visuals. People are more likely to pay attention to posts that include visuals, so be sure to use images and videos when promoting your reviews.
6. Be consistent. The more you promote your reviews, the more likely people are to see them.  So be sure to post about them regularly.

By following these tips, you can encourage your customers to leave reviews, and then promote those reviews on your social media feed.  This will help you build trust with potential customers, and attract more business.

Here are some additional tips:

• Use social media analytics to track the performance of your reviews.  This will help you see which posts are getting the most engagement, and which platforms are driving the most traffic to your review page.
• Experiment with different types of content and calls to action to see what works best for your business.  There is no one-size-fits-all approach to promoting reviews, so it's important to experiment and see what works best for you.
• Be patient.  It takes time to build up a good reputation, so don't get discouraged if you don't see results immediately.  Just keep promoting your reviews and providing excellent customer service, and you'll eventually see the results you're looking for.

Further Reading:

• The power of customer reviews and how to get good ones
• 4 way to use quite time to push your business forward
• 6 things to try when sales are low
• Boosting your seo ranking and why small businesses should do it
• Starting a business

Comments have been switched off for this post!