Since we established our business in 2012, more than 10,000 brands have turned to Shout About Us to monitor and manage their online reviews. Usually, the first platforms that brands want to discuss with us are Yelp, Facebook, and Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) — and with good reason. These “big three” are the largest, most commonly used, and most influential review platforms, making them essential for businesses to monitor.
However, new data shows that consumer attitudes about these platforms are shifting, with some gaining even more influence while others appear to be losing ground with consumers. This may impact the way businesses and their stakeholders decide to allocate their review management resources in 2024 and looking toward the future.
Of course, the big three aren’t the only three. On the contrary, there are numerous review platforms that businesses should be actively monitoring, especially those within certain industries. In this week’s article, we’ll share three dozen of the most important review platforms that businesses should be monitoring in 2024, plus, explore some of the latest trends around Yelp, Google, and Facebook business reviews.
In last week’s article, we wrote about the newest edition of BrightLocal’s annual consumer review survey, which was conducted in January and released last month. We highlighted nine of the survey’s stand-out insights, like the statistic that 54% of people “would feel positive about using a business when the owner responds to reviews,” or that 34% of people are “highly likely” to use a business that responds to all of its positive and negative reviews.
This week, we wanted to take a closer look at the survey’s findings about specific review platforms, namely Yelp, Facebook, and Google. These findings stood out to us vividly, because they seem to point to a trend that’s been developing over the past few years: trust in Google is growing, while at the same time, consumers are gradually shifting away from Facebook and Yelp. Here are four stats that business owners should know about consumer attitudes toward review platforms.
As BrightLocal summarized, “It’s a clear picture. Google is perceived as the most trustworthy review platform for businesses across all industries.”
There was, however, one notable exception.
“When it comes to hospitality businesses, such as those specializing in accommodation,” BrightLocal noted, “there is a review platform that rivals Google: Tripadvisor.”
That brings us to an important point: outside the big three (and Tripadvisor), what are some other review platforms that brands should keep an eye on in 2023?
When it comes to review websites, low traffic doesn’t mean low value. On the contrary, niche or industry-specific websites are some of the best places to engage with and learn from your customers, since these types of platforms tend to attract shoppers who care about doing their research, being well-informed, and getting the best value.
Depending on your industry, here are 36 examples of websites and apps to monitor in 2024:
Worried about staying on top of it all without sacrificing efficiency? There’s no need to waste valuable time checking each website and directory individually. Shout About Us’ centralized platform makes it fast, easy, and simple to manage your reviews across more than 125 websites, all from one secure and powerful hub.
There are two core components to effective review management: monitoring reviews, and replying to reviews. Monitoring your reviews enables you to gain actionable insights about ways that your company, or your industry as a whole, could better fill market gaps and meet consumer needs. Responding to reviews increases trust in your brand and, as statistics show, makes it more likely for potential customers to shop at your business (or eat at your restaurant). Other key pillars of successful review management include:
Shout About Us provides the full suite of review management services, including review monitoring, 24-hour review response services, review removal, automated review generation, and listings management. Choose the services you need a-la-carte to build out a custom solution, or opt for our full service package to overhaul your strategy from top to bottom. Book a demo online.
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