Google accounts for majority of social reviews in May 2018, study says

Google significantly outpaced Facebook and TripAdvisor in terms of reviews submitted.

Citing statistics from its monthly social review tracker, customer feedback and online reputation specialists Feed it Back found that 54% of all reviews in May were submitted on Google.

The statistics, which were taken from thousands of social reviews across the restaurant, quick service restaurant and pub industries, revealed that 39% of reviews came from TripAdvisor and only 7% of reviews came from Facebook over the period.

Looking at the sentiment analysis, the figures showed consumers were most likely to leave an outstanding review (5 out of 5), when using Facebook (64%); compared to 54% on TripAdvisor and 44% on Google.

Consumers were also more likely to leave a negative review on Facebook, with 18% leaving feedback ranging from 1-2 out of 5; TripAdvisor followed closely behind with 17%; whereas negative reviews on Google only equated to 11%. Meanwhile, Google had the highest rate of middle-range reviews (3-4 out of 5) with 43%; whereas TripAdvisor had 32%; and Facebook just 20%.

This clearly demonstrates a great opportunity for operators to gain an advantage over their competitors by tracking, acknowledging and examining reviews placed on Google to understand trends in the feedback that can be used to turn indifferent reviews into positive ones, on what is currently the go-to consumer platform.

Commenting on the figures, Carlo Platia, CEO of Feed it Back said: “With an ever increasing prevalence of consumers using the internet to research restaurants and sense check them before visiting, it is an absolute must that operators are tracking their online reputation and in touch with the latest channels and trends. Our latest social tracker shows that, while TripAdvisor dominates the headlines, Google reviews, driven by location prompts from mobile devices, are absolutely driving mass feedback and there is a clear opportunity for operators to steal a march on the crowd by using a platform, such as ours, to isolate track and respond to Google reviews.

“Digging into May’s sentiment analysis, people were more likely to leave polarised reviews on Facebook, either sharing a very good or very bad experience with their family and friends. To counteract this, operators need to deal with the negative feedback in a swift fashion to turn it into a positive. It will be interesting to see how the good weather in June and England’s surprise World Cup run has impacted sentiment across the UK.”