The Zen of Third Party Validation

Social media sites have great features to make them user friendly. A lot of people are getting into social media because it’s easy to set up and navigate around. The features make it fun.  You can post shoutouts, photos, videos, and links to anything that you feel like sharing. These sites are really made to push us to be social. It feels good when when your posts get a lot of “likes” and comments, or when your posts get retweets. The feeling is just amazing because you know that your followers are paying attention.

This is the same for businesses. This is actually what a business wants when they go on social media sites. These sites are a great place to share your passions and interests. It’s a place where you can share ideas about a topic knowing you get something to think about before you get off the site. It’s a place where you can start a community around your brand.

When you have already established your online presence and people are joining your community and spreading your brand, one way that you can get back to your customers is to gather all the nice messages and praises you received, compile them, and post them on your website or social media site. It’s a simple way of saying thank you to all your loyal customers. It is one way of showing them that you recognize their loyalty.

Gather testimonials on Twitter

On Twitter, there’s a feature there that will help you gather testimonials from your customers. It’s the “Favorite” feature. Notice that when you get a “mention” and you read the tweet, you will find a little star at the bottom right of the tweet. If you click on that, it’s going to appear on your profile, under Favorites. It’s a great feature that you can use to your brand’s advantage. You can compile your customers’ messages to you every now and then and post them on your blog. Another advantage of that feature is that it will serve as a testimonial page for your brand. You remember that when people view your profile they will see all your tweets there, but when they click on your Favorites, they will see all the messages about your brand from other customers.

You can also track if your brand is being talked about via the Search tab. Just type in your handle or your hashtag and see if people are talking about your brand. Whatever you find, you can include it in your compilation.

Gather testimonials on Facebook

It’s easier to gather testimonials on Facebook if you can remember the content that got the most praise, then you can just go back to that thread. Or just look at your wall posts. If you are doing a great job at engaging and building your community around your brand, I’m sure your wall is full of good things that you can include in your compilation.

Ways to make use of your compilation

Your compilation of testimonials may be used as new content for your sites. Compile it on your webpage so you get a unique URL, something like “see-what-audiences-said-about-Suzie-in-2011.” Once you have the content, you can add links to other content on your site. You can be creative. Use the compilation as a gateway to more information about you. It's a way you can gain new customers while you’re thanking them at the same time. You never know how your readers share the things they read, so it's better to be prepared.

If you are sending out emails, you can also include the link to your compilation page as part of your signature line. It’s an easy way to get your content around, especially when your customers forward emails.

These are some of the things that you can do to maximize your social media sites. Compile testimonials in a place where all of your customers, ex-customers, and potential customers can view what other people are saying about your brand. You’re subtly promoting with this compilation.  In fact, it’s more like a thank you note to those who continue to stay loyal to your brand – it highlights and promotes them, their thought patterns, and your association.