Using Customer Reviews in Your Content with Kristen McCabe

Kristen McCabe has seen this firsthand. She is Senior Marketing Specialist at G2, a peer review site for business software. Kristen knows the great benefits that come from incorporating feedback into your content marketing strategy. During a recent #CMWorld chat, Kristen discussed with our community how to creatively use reviews and what best practices brands should follow.

Below is a handful of tweets from our conversation. Want to learn more from our community of marketers? Join us on Twitter on Tuesdays at noon Eastern.

How can you use customer feedback to complement your content? When featuring reviews, what are the dos and don’ts?

A4: Use feedback to help drive your strategy. Your customers are telling you what they care about, how they use your products, and what kind of language they use. That’s all super helpful to creating relevant content #CMWorld

— Kristen Hicks (@atxcopywriter) September 17, 2019

A4 pt 1: Use reviews as a source of data to get customer insights.

You’ll find out:
🔹Who is using your product
🔹If it’s being used the way you expected
🔹The pain points you’re solving
🔹What your customers love

Then, create strategic content based on your findings. #CMWorld https://t.co/kNYiKNapVq

— Kristen McCabe (@AusmericanGirl) September 17, 2019

A4: Use the feedback to guide the content you need to create? It’s a treasure trove of things people don’t know or don’t understand. Use the good comments to understand what aspects of your brand people like to expand the message. #CMWorld https://t.co/5k7E3q2f0f

— Jeremy Bednarski (@JeremyBednarski) September 17, 2019

A4. If customers or clients are okay with it, include their reviews or feedback in your content and marketing materials. You can say all the great things your business does, but unless you have someone on the other side validate that for you (customers), it’s just fluff. #CMWorld

— Patrick Delehanty (@MDigitalPatrick) September 17, 2019

A4: Great way to showcase a product or feature with actual customer reviews – @amazon does a great job of this. Include all the info from the reviewer so that you have that trust that it is a real person that gave the review. #CMWorld

— Bernie Fussenegger #Digital360Chat (@B2the7) September 17, 2019

The community then shared their advice for responsibly using reviews.

A4: Make sure you have the express permission to use the review or feedback in your marketing materials. That means you can’t just go and use someone’s nice Tweet about your brand in your ad campaign or on your landing page. #CMworld https://t.co/xCP32S4ZTs

— Erika Heald | Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) September 17, 2019

A4 pt 2:
Do:
🔹Follow the T&C’s of the review site
🔹Link to the review on a third party site: It shows pure transparency; you’ve got nothing to hide

Don’t:
🔹Ask for a positive review
🔹Ever solicit or use fake reviews (Don’t even let the thought cross your mind!)
#CMWorld pic.twitter.com/6b7g5CKiD2

— Kristen McCabe (@AusmericanGirl) September 17, 2019

What if your brand receives negative feedback? What should you do? Can it help your content marketing efforts?

A5: Not only can a positive, actionable response to the negative review improve your brand’s online presence, the information you gain from the customer’s experience or misunderstanding can inform your future content. (see also my A4 https://t.co/O9s3KKPsq9) #CMWorld

— Emilie Moreland (@writtenbyemilie) September 17, 2019

Panic/Don’t Panic sounds like a good CX strategy. Feel the sense of urgency but engage with authenticity. RT @johncloonan: A5: PANIC! No, seriously, don’t panic. #cmworld

— Scott Lum (@ScottLum) September 17, 2019

A5.

Such a good Q!

What to do:
Reply quickly
Don’t delete negative comments
We can offer sincere apology
Avoid arguing
Express ur gratitude for a bad review (chance to make it right)#CMWorld

— Jignesh Thakkar (@JigneshThakkarV) September 17, 2019

Our community agrees. Turn a mistake into a win. Fix what happened and learn from it.

How are we at CMI doing? Want to see a community activity introduced? Interested in being a guest on the #CMWorld Twitter chat? Think something needs to be addressed? Tell us about it and leave your feedback in the comments below.