When you own your own business, you understand the importance of online reviews and how they may affect your bottom line. Everywhere from Angie’s List to Trustpilot, Yelp to Healthgrades, individuals are expressing their opinions and experiences, and what they have to say affects the rest of the world.
At this point in time, a Google review may have a significantly more substantial influence on your business than a Google ad. 90% of respondents to a Zendesk survey said that positive online reviews impacted their purchase decision. In contrast, 86% said that negative internet reviews influenced their decision.
“Welcome to a new era of marketing and service in which your brand is defined by people who experience it,” says social media expert Brian Solis. This brave new world deserves a toast.
Many people use the terms “influence marketing” and “influencers” nowadays. What’s the deal? Most consumers now look for experiences, sharing, and self-assured opinion leaders that they can trust when making a purchase. The influencer may meet these criteria and, if chosen, would bring enormous visibility, reputation, and commercial benefits for the brand. With the help of the Influencer Marketing Agency in Dubai, you can open a new door to influencer marketing for your brand.
What precisely are the phrases “influencer” and “influence marketing” referring to, and how are they used?
The verb “influence” is the root of the noun “influencer,” which means “someone who exerts influence on another person or group of people.
In today’s world, an “influencer” is someone who regularly publishes content on a particular subject via multiple mediums and whose views and actions have a significant impact on the thoughts and behaviors of a large number of people (such as Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, blogs, and so on). This person is usually referred to as an “influencer” in today’s culture. Lambda individuals who have gained a reputation for their expertise in a particular field are sometimes referred to as “experts” rather than celebrities, even though this phrase may have initially been meant to describe persons who advertise products or services.
Using an influencer to promote a product or service, increase sales, or improve a company’s reputation are all examples of “influence marketing” in action. Therefore, influence marketing is a subset of inbound marketing since the customer is the one who contacts the firm first and makes the first move.
It’s common for firms to worry about how to respond to a few negative reviews, but the most successful technique is to focus on the excellent feedback that consumers have given you. As a result, you’ll need to encourage your pleased customers to write about their experiences with your business.
Here are six things to keep in mind as you get started:
1. Obtain Multiple User IDs and Passwords for Rating Websites
If you’re running a business, you may want to look at Angie’s List, Yelp, Yahoo Local, Google Local, TripAdvisor, LinkedIn, and CitySearch as possible options. TrustLink and Trustpilot, even if you don’t think you’re in review-driven industries like restaurants or hotels, are advantageous for your company (Trustpilot has the added benefit of showing up on Google).
2. Consult with Your Existing Clientele
Do you want to learn how to increase the number of reviews your customers post about your business? Just let us know what you need. Reviews are essential to your business, and your customers won’t mind if you ask for input in the form of a review as long as you provide a high-quality product or service. Customers are more inclined to submit comments if you don’t make them wait around.
When a client compliments you in person, over the phone, or through email, mention that you’d appreciate it if they offered the same feedback online on Trustpilot, Yelp, or any other review site of their choice. The platform is entirely up to you.
3. Help People Submit Their Thoughts and Ideas Easily
Unless they’ve had a poor experience and want to share it with others, consumers aren’t seeking methods to post a review. It’s critical to make publishing a review as simple as possible for them. Therefore, encourage them to do so. In a follow-up email, your newsletter, and your website, sends links to your review profiles as a follow-up. Just download and print to use Yelp’s “Find us on Yelp” banners on your business or personal website.
4. Incentivize reviews, but don’t buy them
It’s possible that even the most satisfied consumers may need a little extra shove from you now and then to find the time to write a review of your product or service. You may want to show your appreciation for their service by giving them a gift in the form of money or anything else non-monetary. Make sure that the offer you make is for writing a review, not for writing a favorable review. You don’t look to be paying for a review if you offer monthly competitions in which you choose a random reviewer.
5. Please express your gratitude to the people who reviewed your work
If the review site allows you to do so, thank everyone who has taken the time to leave a review for your company’s product or service. If a reviewer has given you good ratings, you may pleasantly surprise them by sending them a promo code for a discount or a gift. Customers who are satisfied with a brand’s simple offering are more likely to recommend it to others.
6. Make evaluations a part of your daily workflow
Make it a point to educate your sales and customer service team about the importance of asking for feedback from the individuals they serve. When we started an incentive program at our company in which employees were rewarded for providing assessments of any sort, we witnessed an increase in the number of reviews submitted.
You should choose an incentive or program most suited to your company’s objectives. It’s just another perk for employees to remember to ask for feedback on their work. Given the importance of customer evaluations in the decision-making process of clients and consumers, this is one of the most effective ways to spend your marketing budget.
The state of influencer marketing at present
- Over the past few years, usage of Instagram has skyrocketed. It is astounding to think that its users like 4.2 billion posts, 95 million photographs, and videos each day. Currently, carousel posts make up 18.8% of all Instagram main feed posts, while video posts make up the remaining 64.4%. (16.8 percent)
- Instagram has certainly not suffered from being bought by Facebook. With over 1.074 billion active users right now, Instagram usage has dramatically increased since the advent of Facebook. With 500 million users daily of Instagram Stories, stories are also very well-liked.
- Nowadays brands are investing more on influencer marketing. Second only to YouTube in 2021, Instagram was planned for influencer marketing by 55% of marketers. Comparatively, 43 percent used online advertisements, 35 percent TikTok, 29 percent television advertisements, 20 percent outdoor advertising, and 20 percent Twitch. Marketers anticipate that this trend will last through 2022.
