Content Marketing and Customer reviews historically thought to be very different. Content marketing is primarily pre-purchase and focuses on education and persuasion (sometimes, entertainment). By definition, customer reviews are post-purchase and focus on the customer experience.
But as Mark Schaefer pointed out in Marketing uprising Companies can't reach masses of potential customers in any meaningful way — with content or by any other means — but they can certainly reach each other.
We trust each other more than we trust businesses. This is a known fact. That's why the balance of power in marketing is shifting away from companies looking down on themselves and towards customers doing too much through user-generated content (UGC), reviews. online and influencer marketing.
We trust each other more than we trust businesses. Click to Tweet
And that's why an announcement this week from Promo.com and Trustpilot highlights one of the biggest trends we will see in marketing over the next three years: Customer reviews are the new way of content marketing.
Promo.com is a tool to create quality marketing videos with less effort. Trustpilot is a platform for companies to solicit and display consumer feedback. Trustpilot also maintains a website that collects and displays all of those reviews.
In this new integration, Promo.com customers will be able to identify and incorporate specific consumer reviews into their marketing videos with just a click or two.
Want to make an Instagram interesting story What about your new product and feature comments from actual customers who have purchased and used it? This new API makes it a very simple process and combines social proof (customer reviews) with video (the most engaging method of content marketing).
This is a very smart move, as one shortcoming of most consumer rating/review content is that it is not video. You must read Yelp. You must read TripAdvisor. You must read G2 Crowd. And before that, you have to read Trustpilot.
But now, smart companies can pick out their favorite customer reviews and quickly turn them into paid or organic social video – or a longer form of content marketing. on their websites or Youtube. Wham, bam, thanks Sam (assuming the reviewer's name is Sam, this is entirely possible).
According to Pew Research , more than half of adults now consult customer reviews before making a purchase. But with this Promo.com integration, Trustpilot wisely provided the option to turn persuasive reviews into content marketing, and do so in a format that can be targeted and “driven.” instead of relying on consumers visiting a website.
More than half of adults now consult customer reviews before making a purchase. Click to Tweet
This can fundamentally change the funnel stage where customer reviews are digested; from the mid to low channel, coming much earlier in the review process, where content marketing usually works.
Where customer reviews show up in the funnel before/after they become content marketing assets
Already, companies like CrowdRiff and others will find user-generated content (mainly on Instagram) and ask consumers/photographers for permission to reuse, turning UGC into content marketing.
But this Promo.com and Trustpilot integration takes the idea a step further, as clear customer reviews are more reliable and convincing than any photo.
This is just the first step in what will become increasingly popular. Maybe a company like Linkedin buys G2 Crowd or TrustRadius (where there are a lot of B2B reviews) to help power Linkedin video ads?
Customer reviews and content marketing are just getting started, but watch for quick momentum. Companies are desperate to add relevance (and frankly, effectiveness) to their content marketing. If they can do so with actual customer feedback embedded, they absolutely will. And being able to make it work in video is a huge bonus.
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