How To Get Feedback from Customers Using Social Media?

Our world is driven by consumerism. Customer feedback is critical to businesses and their success, and companies are learning just how important reviews can be. There are many websites dedicated specifically to customer reviews, but those sites aren’t the only places customers are looking for the experiences of others.

Customer feedback is all over social media, and if you aren’t gathering it and putting it to use, you’re missing a tremendous opportunity to monitor consumer preferences. If you haven’t focused yet on the reviews on social media, it’s time to jump in. It’s a great option for how to get feedback from customers.

• Why use social media to collect customer feedback?
• What social media to focus on?
• How to leverage social media reviews?
• Make reviews work for you

Why Should You Use Social Media to Collect Customer Feedback?

A full 98% of customers read online customer feedback for local businesses. And where better to ask friends and family about local businesses than social media?

Social media is designed for engagement between individuals. Current and potential customers talk and share information and feedback, and some of that conversation centers around users’ feedback about local businesses. Why not put it to good use by making it a point to simply ask for customer reviews on your various social media platforms?

What Social Media Sites Should You Focus On?

When you’re preparing to work with social media reviews, you want to be sure you’re on the right platforms. After all, some reviews on social media garner more attention than others. Knowing how to get feedback from customers on each platform is an essential element of your social marketing strategy as well.

Facebook: A Powerful Tool for Business

Facebook gives business owners a platform to directly market their businesses. Facebook also displays a business rating on your official Facebook business page and that rating shows up in Google search results. With Facebook, customers can leave questions, comments, or reviews, and you have numerous wants to interact with the users' feedback.

Facebook allows you to request customer reviews in several ways.

• Turn on the customer reviews on your Facebook page.
• Respond directly to positive reviews by thanking customers and inviting them back.
• Respectfully reply to negative online reviews and publicly demonstrate your customer service.
• Ask for users’ feedback directly on your page or as replies to a post.
• Setting up an autoresponder to send a direct message to everyone who leaves online reviews on your Facebook page.

Instagram: Image-Based Marketing

Instagram may not spring to mind immediately as a review website, but it is a tremendously powerful platform if used fully. Instagram has an immense social media following, with 1.44 billion users, and you have two different possible means of generating online reviews through the platform. You can post images and videos and then interact with customers through the comments on those images. You also can use the Instagram Stories feature to engage with customers in real time and gain valuable social media reviews.

With Instagram, you can interact with customers through images in multiple ways.

• Post a picture or video and interact with comments on the post.
• Post an image-based question or poll for customer reviews.
• Use Instagram Stories to set up a real-time poll or survey
• Ask customers for stories and online reviews in your Instagram Stories
• Solicit feedback with a “Ask Me Anything” type question using Instagram Stories

Twitter: Building Relationships with Consumers

Twitter is a great space to let the personality of your company shine through. While not a typical review website, Twitter does provide opportunities for you to ask for reviews, leave clever messages, share or highlight what others are saying about you or something in your industry, and build a significant following through your tweets and retweets.

Twitter is a great place for social media reviews and interaction in several ways.

• Ask customers to tweet their questions and experiences.
• Retweet positive reviews with your appreciation.
• Answer questions and concerns publicly to showcase attention to customer service.
• Start a thread with questions and answers.
• Start a poll of customer experiences for prizes or games or just for fun.
• Create a hashtag and sponsor a contest or event soliciting feedback.

How to Leverage Social Media Reviews

Social media sites act as review websites in several ways. You gather the information you’re looking for from your customers, you interact with customers to better appreciate what they are sharing and to share your own information and branding, and you can showcase the best parts of your business through your posts.

There are many ways to really leverage the feedback you’re receiving through social media beyond simply taking notes for improvement back in the office.

Ask for Reviews

Customers don’t mind leaving reviews. Customers are leaving and using reviews to make purchasing decisions, so they don’t mind being asked to leave some feedback. You can ask for online reviews through social media in several different ways.

• Start a thread on your various social media platforms specifically asking for feedback on the platform.
• Use an autoresponder to private message customers a request for more feedback after they interact with your page.
• Send customers an email thanking them for their business and asking them to leave feedback on social media. Be sure to include the direct links to your page!
• Give customers direct links to your social media platforms and ask for feedback at the conclusion of your sale.

Reply to Customer Reviews

Customers expect companies to interact with the reviews they leave online. If a customer leaves you feedback on your social media platform, engage with that customer! The more online engagement you have with your customers, in the public eye, the better developed your brand and customer experience become. In fact, 64% of companies improved their rating on the review website PissedConsumer by talking to their customers.

• Thank customers for their positive reviews and invite them back to your business.
• Respond quickly to negative reviews – within three days – to address concerns.
• Answer questions about your product or service that help the asker and all the silent readers with the same question.
• Build relationships with customers who interact with your page frequently as brand ambassadors.

Have Fun Online and Promote Interaction

Fun hashtags and online competitions and contests are great ways to drum up new reviews and customer interaction.

• Create a hashtag through Twitter or Facebook and challenge your followers to leave feedback or share an experience.
• Create a prize or incentive for customers to participate in your challenge or competition.
• Offer discounts for customer feedback but be sure to honor all feedback – not just positive reviews.

Share Social Media Feedback

As you gain more social media feedback, share it enthusiastically. Little blurbs on your company website can go a long way in drawing in new customers. Retweeting, sharing, and thanking customers can garner more views and recognition as well.

• Include blurbs like “So glad to be highly rated on Facebook” on your site with links to your social media.
• Retweet posts and thank and interact with the original poster.
• Create images of feedback you’ve received and share them as “favorite customers” on Instagram with a thank you.

Make Social Media Reviews Work for You

Positive online reviews are critical for business success in our modern world. Businesses need online reviews and interaction with customers to stay current with consumer expectations and to build and grow an online customer base.

As you work toward a bolder presence online, why not take advantage of one of the easiest options out there for online reviews – social media networks? Your customers are already online through their own social media accounts. Meet them where they are and engage them.

Make clever social media posts. Create contests and hashtags. Answer questions and send thank you messages to those who leave feedback online. Most importantly, simply ask your customers for feedback.

A simple request for online reviews can make it easy to collect their likes, dislikes, concerns, and questions, and bolster your own online reputation at the same time.