You receive reviews and testimonials from customers, but how can you leverage these to improve your online reputation and give your dealership a boost?
Your online reputation is one of the most important aspects of your business. This single item can be the reason why many customers trust your team to sell them vehicles, handle car maintenance, or work with them for the right financing options. It can also be detrimental to your business if your reputation goes sour.
Once you begin to receive reviews and testimonials through online sources, you’ve got to understand how to leverage them to build your reputation. Here are a few ideas.
Build a Social Media Template
More shoppers than ever begin their search online, and sometimes that means starting with social media. Many customers want to see positive reviews from their friends and neighbors. This is certainly the case for car dealerships, which are local-based businesses. If you create social media templates for your consumer feedback that easily feeds into Instagram stories, Facebook, or LinkedIn, you’ll have a great way to turn your positive reviews into branded content that can promote your products and build your reputation.
Use Emotions To Your Benefit
Generally, when someone says they are emotional its not a good thing, but your social media posts can be. Once you have some reviews and testimonials to work with, you can add some comments and captions explaining what products and services made the customer happy. This helps other customers understand what to expect when they work with your company. It also builds credibility with future customers and becomes an emotion-led approach that engages your readers.
Use a Content Contest
Encourage your customers to turn their reviews into content that’s connected to your website and social media platforms. Submissions to the contest can come in the form of videos of them driving their new car, visiting your dealership for a service appointment, or simply talking about the service and staff at your location. The contest can get everyone involved by being a voting contest with your audience selecting their favorite video. This is a great way to get your local community involved in your posts and reviews.
Use a Rewards Program
Offering customers a reward for providing reviews and testimonials is a tried-and-true method for getting these reviews that can be posted on your social media accounts. It probably doesn’t cost you anything to offer a discounted service the next time they visit if they post or share a review. The more authentic user-generated content you get from your customers, the more others will be attracted to your dealership. A rewards program allows customers to enjoy discounts while you enjoy the reputation boost of more reviews.
Weekly Customer Features
Another great way to get customers involved and showcase your testimonials is to have a weekly post on each of your social media accounts that highlights your customers and their reviews. This is a great way to recap each week and can be posted on Fridays, which helps create a good start to the weekend for your dealership team. The positive credit your dealership receives can only boost your reputation, and these posts give your customers a chance to see themselves in your posts.
Share Your Values
When your customer reviews and testimonials speak directly to the heart of your company values, you’ve got something to share. It’s a good idea to caption the differences in your client base, what makes each customer special, and how your team is capable of helping various customers when they arrive at your dealership. Sharing your pride in the feedback, your team, and your company without taking any personal credit is a great way to show gratitude and humility, which are two values and qualities that many customers will admire.
Identify Reviews Worth Resharing
Some reviews might be nothing more than a comment on your most recent post. This can make it difficult to pull the review out and share it unless you’re paying attention and using social listening to find these comments. You can identify comments that are worth resharing and give them an added boost by reposting them on future sections of your online content. Your customers are talking; are you listening? If you’re sharing their comments, they will know you’re listening to them.
When you want to leverage your reviews and testimonials to boost your online reputation, you’ve got to come up with some great ways to use them. Which of these ideas will you implement into your regular routine?
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