Therefore, you should make your own decisions on how you’d like to prioritize and run each review site that your business is on. In today’s post, we will take a deeper look at Google, Facebook, and Yelp Reviews.
Google My Business Reviews
Let’s start off with Google My Business (GMB) reviews. Google is the largest search engine in the world and the most popular, meaning you should spend a great amount of time managing reviews there. If you get particularly positive ratings, you can learn how to link to google reviews to help amplify them. Additionally, Google Reviews show up directly on your business listing on both search and maps.
How Do You Get Google Reviews?
You can start building your Google My Business review site by first creating a completely free GMB account. Once everything is optimized, you are ready to let the reviews start working for you!
Google also makes it easier for your customers to write reviews, by providing you with a URL you can share. The URL directs customers to leave reviews for your business in a quick and easy way. You can share this link on your website or in emails.
It is a good idea to share the link after a customer has just had a recent experience with your business, that way too much time hasn’t passed. Overall, Google wants your small business to succeed and start building reviews -- that’s why they make it easy for you!
Google My Business reviews are also important because it can also help boost your SEO and rank you higher in Google search results. Google’s algorithm will pull keywords from your reviews (and replies) to give searchers what they are looking for.
Yelp Reviews
Everyone has heard of Yelp reviews; they seem to run supreme as one of the biggest review platforms in the US. Let’s look at some of the features in Yelp that stand out and make it different from Google My Business reviews.
How Can You Get Started On Yelp?
Yelp also offers a free business listing -- you just enter your zip code and business name to get started. Like Google, you can add a description and more information about your business. Yelp is free at the most basic level, but there are paid options to unlock more features.
In comparison to Google, per Yelp’s official policy, they don’t want you to ask for reviews. They claim that if you ask for a review, you are only going to target happy customers, which leads to biased ratings. Now, we are not suggesting you should abandon Yelp, though, as it still gets a high amount of traffic and is one of the top three review platforms.
Yelp does have another advantage over Google: more detailed reviews. While Google only allows about 150 characters max, Yelp allows up to 450 characters. This means that consumers can leave a more detailed or meaningful review of your business.
Facebook Reviews
Facebook has transformed from being one of the first social media sites of the 21st century to become a tech giant. Today, Facebook offers a variety of features to help small business owners like advertising and reviews.
How Do You Build Facebook Reviews?
In order to begin receiving Facebook reviews, you must activate them within your Facebook page under settings. It is easy and free to create a Facebook page for your business.
Facebook is unique because it is beginning to move from reviews to recommendations. Facebook no longer wants to go by the star system of business ratings and instead simplified the process. It will only ask a user if they recommend your business. If the person answers yes, they can elaborate on why they recommend your business.
Another great thing about Facebook is that it is also a social media platform. So you can connect and build relationships with customers who enjoy your business.
How You Can Incentivize Reviews
If you have an in-person business, you can print out flyers or coupons that incentivize customers to give you reviews and ratings! For example, you may want to offer a free item or discount code for creating a review of your business. To do so, make sure you have a working printer that prints in color.
Something that is bright and stands out to make a customer notice the flyer! If you need a printer repair, for instance, then it will be well worth the fix to get the word out about reviews. Reviews are so key to helping your business grow trust and credibility. Don’t forget how valuable they are to business growth!
