Honesty, dialogue, transparency, feedback are among the many buzz words marketers use to describe their approach to social media. PR professionals tasked with 'engaging' users through social media find that there are many pay-per-play opportunities to reach these audiences. To make matters more complicated, some of these users may not want to hear from companies in areas meant for peer-to-peer conversations. Here is a solution: solicit and populate customer feedback. Allow those who want to be heard and who have something to say come forward.

Set up a section either on the company site and open the forum to collect stories on customers’ interactions with the brand, with sales points and with your products and services. A recent global consumer survey from Nielsen listed consumer opinions posted online among the top three forms of most trusted communication. Similarly, the GolinHarris research shows hands-on, direct experience is the most trusted form of media across audience groups and product categories. There may be some negative postings on online areas set for customer feedback, but for brands that have invested in their products, customer service and employees, the net outcome should be positive.

Besides underscoring a transparent and forthright corporate identity, customer feedback can help businesses gain sales. According to the word of mouth marketing company Bazaarvoice, customer reviews improve search engine rankings. Bazaarvoice advises clients on how to organize and showcase customer reviews on their company Web sites. They also help syndicate customer review pages on large portals. Through this process, Bazaarvoice has found that searches for reviews have higher shopping-to-sale conversion rates. In other words, customer reviews improve search results and sales.

If pay-per-play on a social network is not an option, gathering customer reviews in a visible manner online may be the prescription. Companies can either list these reviews directly on their Web sites or link to blog posts about their customers’ experiences. Recommendations and customer reviews have significant value in the new information and marketing cycle. In the near future, it is not unlikely for us to use search engines dedicated to customer reviews.