As the industry and marketers lean into more word-of-mouth marketing, it’s important to understand the risks as well as the opportunities on leveraging social media testimonials for marketing. Yes – customers are already sharing their own experiences and opinions publicly, but when a brand elevates one of these experiences and puts a marketing budget behind it, it can open the brand and the customer up to further criticism.

Can it be done well? Yes, but it’s a delicate dance. Telus recently launched their Expect More campaign – which I think was well-packaged as it highlighted a few positive experiences while also admitting that they want to continue to improve. For our work on Polysporin, we’ve been highlighting customer reviews in posts and continue to drive our fans to leave their own reviews.

If you’re looking to promote a tweet from a customer or influencer, consider the following elements first:

Permission for use with context: Always ask for permission before posting and make sure the customer understands how you will be leveraging their post and the resulting impact. For example, Head and Shoulders promoted a tweet from a customer who had a great experience with their product – however she later denied they had permission; mostly because she didn’t understand that is was be shared to hundreds of people and that these people could directly engage with her about her experience.

Awareness of source: Customers are more likely to take action or trust a recommendation from someone they know, or think they know.Consider leveraging a tweet (with permission) from celebrities, television hosts or bloggers as they’re frequently sharing their opinions. For Polysporin’s #SavetheShoes campaign, we did this by whitelisting a tweet from Bell’s TV show “The Social”, to drive awareness of their new Blister Treatment product.

Experience claims: Ensure that the tweet or message that you’re promoting provides an attainable product experience for most customers. Many customers are skeptical of brands and ads, promoting unrealistic expectations.

All in all, different industries and verticals have a variety of audiences that will respond differently. Keeping your industry in mind along with these tips, and using your social media judgement, you’ll be able to share some great experiences with your fans.

Posted by
Katie Boland
on 02/07/2015