Welcome back to the newest show on our platform! Imogen Callister of realestate.com.au joins us to discuss the impact of reviews or testimonials on your brand and eventually, on your sales.

Reviews are an essential part of building your brand online. According to the latest data finds, 55% of all Aussies will not make a decision without reading a review online. A lot of people get scared of reviews, but in reality, it’s not a new phenomenon brought about by social media. We have always been reviewed.

How?

Through word of mouth. It still is a powerful way to grow your brand - it’s still one of the most powerful in today’s day and age, but online reviews are rapidly becoming more important. Remember that your consumers are making one of the biggest and most emotional purchases in their lives. Do you think they’re not going to Google you or look you up online?

It’s vital for agents to understand that transition and build world-class reviews online.

Fortunately, online reviews are easier to control than word of mouth. You can’t really control what people say about you through the grapevine, but you can moderate the reviews you get online. Furthermore, it can be a red flag to some consumers if they don’t see a single review on your page or website. Online reviews create transparency.

Search engines will also push your site ranking higher if you have great reviews.

Yelp is a platform that agents can’t miss out on. Apple couldn't buy Google, they couldn't buy Facebook.  So they went off and bought the largest review quarter, which is Yelp. So, if you want Siri to tell the rest of the world, that you're the best agent in Australia, you need to get on Yelp. Imogen details the best ways to set up a Yelp profile in the interview.

“If you do not have the Google business app, my Google business, I want you to get it today, and start to use it as a distribution portal for content post there, you know, add your reviews there, it is an incredibly powerful tool,” Imogen says.

She also mentions why it isn’t a good idea to set up multiple pages at once because unless you have a world-class process to manage reviews, all it takes is one pissed-off person to slam you. And since consumers are leery about bad reviews, you need great reviews you counteract that.

Facebook has done a lot with its review portal recently and there's some automation processes that you can ask and request reviews and actually set up templates and responses.  If you don't, if you do have a Facebook page, make sure you have a review on that one.

Watch the interview for more.