Ratings & reviews are the new advertising
Image courtesy of shutterstock
In a world of perfect information, why should anyone trust adverts?
If you can uncover the experiences of real buyers before you make a purchase, then it would be crazy to ignore them.
That’s why ratings and reviews have become the no-brainer of social media for retailers. And it’s also why they are a key element in the social media strategy of other brands and companies.
I’ve just been reading the most recent report by TrendWatching (the same people who create the excellent Springwise newsletter) and it’s focussed on the rise of reviews and their displacement of the power of advertising. There’s little especially new in the report, but it has a few good reminders of the importance and power of this trend and a couple of points towards the future:
- 70% of online consumers trust opinions posted online [Neilsen]
- For the generation growing up with the web “reviewing will be a way of life forever“
- Real time reviews will grow in importance (Twitter and Google’s new search point to that)
- Reviewers like me – it will become easier to find people whose opinions are likely to match your own
And there was also a healthy wake-up call for those who are anxious of allowing review for fear of negativity: “bad reviews are not the problem, but a symptom”. If people are saying negative things, you probably need to listen, or your business will suffer.
Another reason not to worry about bad reviews is that most people are generous reviewers. See this previous post for more on Why Reviews Lie.
If you need help implementing ratings and reviews on your site, then do get in touch with FreshNetworks. Ratings and reviews are just one of the many social media tools in our software platform.
For social media agency support get in touch or follow us on Twitter.
Tom:
I dunno, I’ve seen so many examples of astroturfing or reviews being gamed that I’m starting to trust them less and less. Personal preference, of course, but I think “recommendation is the new advertising” is closer (which we knew anyway
).
(And of course telling you something’s good is only one of the many things advertising does. Another thing it does is to create the messages you hope buyers will echo in their reviews!)
7 September 2009, 12:23 pmAdvertising – advertise | SEO Mixer Blog:
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7 September 2009, 12:29 pmRatings & reviews are the new advertising | FreshNetworks Blog:
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7 September 2009, 5:31 pmCharlie Osmond:
Hi Tom,
Thanks for the comment. I suspect if the tools for Ratings and reviews don’t improve there may be a backlash in a few years (OK 12mnths for early adopters).
Thankfully I do think the tools can develop ahead of this. We certainly plan to.
Charlie
PS I really like your blog. – check out http://www.blackbeardblog.com if you’ve not seen it before and you’re into Market Research
7 September 2009, 10:21 pmRobert Bain:
I may be alone here, but I’m finding it hard to think of an occasion when I’ve found user-generated reviews helpful. You go on the web all excited about some new thing that you want to buy, then you read twenty reviews of it, of which ten say “It’s the best thing ever to have been made, buy it now now now” and ten say “It’s godawful don’t touch it with a barge pole”. Which saps your enthusiasm and leaves you none the wiser.
The potential to find reviews from like-minded folk could change all this, but to me, all online reviews show is that there is still great value in content written by experts, or at least by people capable of communicating an opinion in a clear, cool-headed and helpful way.
8 September 2009, 10:46 amErika Kerekes:
Tom and Robert: That’s why I think the key for ratings & reviews is going to be combining that functionality with social media. Users will care less and less about what the web as a whole thinks about a product or service, and more and more about what their “trusted circles” think. A recommendation or pan from a friend carries a lot more weight, both because you trust the person and you know enough about his/her background to be able to judge biases.
Which is why there’s so much value in having sites like Yelp and Citysearch allow users to post their reviews straight to, say, their Facebook profiles.
Agree/disagree?
8 September 2009, 4:56 pm