Word of mouth is not a new phenomenon, but social media has given customers countless opportunities to create content and share feedback.
In a new report* review and ratings firm Reevoo (which curated 1.7 million customer reviews in 2014) explores the power of user-generated content and encourages companies to embrace user conversations and create a sense of community by incorporating the content onto their websites
Why user-content is so powerful
- 70% of consumers trust recommendations from friends over professionally written content
- 50% trust reviews over any other content source
- 1 in 5 customers are happy to publish a review
- Those who read reviews are over three times as likely to convert to a sale
Key ideas and recommendations
- Incorporate user content on to websites and into campaigns
- Introduce a peer-to-peer model – encouraging users to speak to each other
- Authentication of customer reviews is essential – the content has to be seen to be trustworthy
The other side of the coin - 'company-generated content'
Writing on econsultancy about their award-winning blog, Graham Charlton outlines some key business benefits of blogging. These include:
- improved search engine optimisation
- a key element of a broader social media policy
- building the brand
- demonstrating authority
- sharing ideas
- increasing web traffic
*The Pursuit of Happiness: The Road to Customer Advocacy
Sources: Reevoo; Retail Times; econsultancy.