How to Turn Customer Feedback Into Amazing Testimonial Social Media Posts to Drive More Sales in 2026

Online review sites have become the de facto way for consumers to share feedback on products and services. And when prospective customers are considering a purchase, they look at testimonial examples, so they're one of the first places they check.

But are you making the most of this valuable data for your clients (or your company, if you manage digital marketing in-house), and turning it into a testimonial social media post?

Collecting star ratings and comments is fine, but it's just a start. You can use customer testimonials to create social media posts that engage your audience and build trust in your client's products and services.

In this guide, you'll discover:

Why promoting positive customer reviews on social media matters

The number of social media users keeps on growing.

According to the latest Digital 2025 Global Overview Report:

• There are now more than 5.66 billion people who are active on social media worldwide. 
• “This impressive figure indicates that more than 2 in 3 people on Earth now use social media each month, and means that social media users are now a “supermajority”, with users now outnumbering non-users by two to one.” 
• Social media users have increased by 4.87% over the past year, with 259 million new users starting to use social media for the first time up until October 2025 (new data will be released early in 2026 to account for full-year 2025 figures). 

Despite some social networks losing influence and importance (such as X, formerly Twitter), online reviews remain an integral part of digital marketing. Whether your business is B2B or B2C, reviews matter and impact your ability to generate new revenue.

According to Birdeye’s latest State of Online Reviews 2025 report, based on data from over 200,000 businesses, reveals that:

• More people are leaving reviews online: Review numbers went up by 13% in 2024. 
• Google is leading the way: Google now gets 81% of all online reviews (up from 79% in 2023). 
• Businesses are asking for more reviews: In just one year, review requests jumped by 25%.
• More businesses are replying to reviews: The number of replies to reviews went up by 15%.
• Reviews are more useful now: More reviews now include written comments—up from 79% to 81%. 

Now, let’s see how reviews are handled across different platforms, and how businesses can use them. 

How customer testimonials work on different platforms

There are many different online review platforms where consumers can leave feedback, some of which cater to specific industries like travel and restaurants.

Let’s take a look at how reviews work on some of the popular platforms.

Use Google Business Profile (GBP) to collect reviews 

Every Google Business Profile (GBP) is linked to Google’s search engine, and Maps. Both are absolutely essential for finding customers, and customers finding you, and “Google now gets 81% of all online reviews.” 

It’s also crucial for getting cited in AI Overviews (AIOs) and AI Mode. You can’t underestimate the importance of your Google Business Profile and collecting reviews via Google. 

When customers search for a business, Google displays a listing alongside the search results called a Knowledge Panel (on the right):

It includes details such as location, opening hours, and reviews, plus you can post regular content to your page to keep things fresh.

With Google Business, you get the added bonus of reviews showing in Google Maps - even though you have to scroll down to them, or switch tabs. Compare the listings for Sendible:

Yelp for customer reviews 

Yelp is a review site where customers rate businesses on a 5-star scale. Restaurants, bars, doctors, dentists, hair stylists, and mechanics can list their businesses for free:

Yelp profiles include information like store hours, location, and reviews:

Customers can create their free profiles to rate businesses. By the end of 2025, Yelp users have written over 308 million reviews. It has around 29 million monthly active users (MAUs), according to October 2025 data. 

Yelp gets millions of users searching for legitimate reviews each month. And a Yelp Nielsen study has revealed that 92% of users make a purchase after visiting the platform. Making Yelp reviews more high-value, as people use them to decide whether or not to buy something. 

TripAdvisor for hospitality and travel reviews 

TripAdvisor is the largest travel site in the world, with over 1 billion unbiased traveller reviews, plus other travel-related content, according to Tripadvisor's 2025 Transparency Report. You need to be there if you or your clients are in the accommodations, airlines, experiences or restaurant industry. It’s the go-to site for travellers to plan their itineraries.

Check out our social media management tips for restaurants.

To succeed on TripAdvisor as a business, you need to master its Popularity Ranking:

“The closer you are to the top, the more likely it is that users will see your business.”

The algorithm is based on the quality, quantity, and recency of your customer reviews:

Trustpilot for B2C and B2B reviews 

Trustpilot is a review platform where consumers share experiences of products and services they’ve purchased.

There are 301 million active users, and the latest (2024) data shows that 61 million reviews were written that year, a 15% Year-on-Year (YoY) increase, and 90% of fake reviews were removed automatically, and almost instantly.

Businesses can use the free basic version to capture and display reviews or use the premium features to create customized review forms, share results on social media, and track analytics.

Facebook for customer testimonials 

Facebook has its own ratings and reviews system. Any registered Facebook user can leave their feedback on a Facebook Business Page. They can make the recommendation public, visible to friends or private.

Only publicly shared recommendations are included in your Page's overall rating. And ratings only appear if your Page has received enough recommendations.

Reviews appear on the left-hand side of your Facebook Page:

G2 for B2B reviews (especially SaaS) 

G2 is a review platform for business software and services. So, if you or your clients are SaaS or service-based company owners, you might want to try it.

In addition to collecting honest (and detailed) reviews, G2 allows brands to add product/service information, pricing, and a feature breakdown. Another great thing is that this review platform creates lists throughout the year and awards brands based on their performance with embeddable badges:

Testimonial Examples on Your Website

Not everyone uses the online review sites above. For those consumers who don’t, you could create a testimonial and review section on your client's website where they could leave feedback directly.

Platforms like GatherUp help businesses collect this direct feedback, also called a 1st-party review, as well as reviews on the other sites listed above.

The benefit of these 1st-party reviews is that they are owned by the business and therefore aren't affected by changes to Google, Facebook and other online review sites.

Another important benefit comes from displaying 1st-party reviews on your businesses website. GatherUp uses a review schema, which can provide stars in search results and may indirectly help increase your search ranking.

Finally, GatherUp offers a Social Sharing feature, which helps you turn your reviews into stunning social media content you can post to your social media channels.

How to promote customer testimonials examples on social media

Having collected reviews and customer testimonials on various platforms, you need to share the good news with your audience. Here are five tips for promoting your client's customer feedback on social media:

1. Showcase the testimonial highlights 

Don't fall into the trap of quoting an entire customer review on social media.

It's much better to pick an essential part and use it as an attention-grabbing headline. Then, if applicable, you can link to the full review in the body of your social media post.

Author Brent Jones shares clips on X (Twitter) that link back to a dedicated page on his website.

2. Use visuals in testimonial social media posts (images, photos, and videos)

Words alone are unlikely to capture the attention of social media users. That's why you need to get creative and use visuals to promote customer reviews. 

Short-form, vertical video testimonials are possibly the best format, as you can repurpose them for Facebook and Instagram Reels, TikTok videos, Instagram Stories, TikTok Stories, YouTube Shorts.

Another great way to share received reviews is to take a screenshot of them and share it to your social media channel. WPX Hosting does exactly that: 

You can also design branded social media posts that include a highlight quote from a longer review. We use this format for our Instagram posts, and we make sure to include a reminder and incentive for our existing customers to rate us and write an honest review on G2:

3. Always thank customers for their reviews

Want to encourage more customers to share feedback on your client's product or service?

The best way to thank customers for taking the time to share their feedback is to acknowledge it. A simple ‘thank you’ demonstrates that you read and appreciate all the feedback you receive.

Here, WPX Hosting thanks its customers for their podcast review:

4. Repost customer reviews on different social profiles 

Monitor your social media accounts to discover positive comments that customers post directly on social media.

You can reshare their posts on the same platform to reach more people and show the positive comments. While Threads is much more relaxed (you can simply use the Repost button), reposting content as your own, say on Instagram or Facebook Feed, is a different story. In this case, you need to obtain the user's written permission to use their photo or video!

Here’s an example of a Retweet from Author Brent Jones:

On Instagram, you can take advantage of the Stories features to reshare customer feedback. You can share user posts to your Story. This way, you won't have to ask for their permission as the post will be automatically linked to the original one.

Instagram also lets you share @Mentions in Stories. When a user mentions you in their Story, you'll receive a direct message notification. Then you can add it to your Story with a link back to the original user.

5. Use a content calendar to optimize customer testimonial cross-promotion

Getting the right balance in your client’s social media calendar is important. Too many customer reviews will make your content look over-indulgent and could drive potential customers away.

When you’re planning and scheduling content for the coming months, remember to include customer reviews alongside other content. It’s an excellent opportunity to reinforce key campaign messages with user feedback.

Combine the planned content with the spontaneous ‘Thanks’ and ‘Reshares’ to create the right mix and tone for you and your clients.

Now, let’s look at some great examples of these. 

3 social media testimonial examples that convert

Using testimonial examples in social media posts is such an important part of any business's sales funnel. According to one study, “95% of consumers rely on online reviews from prior customers before buying a product.”

Here are three great examples of testimonials used to drive conversions: 

A web design agency:

Moris Design Co.’s testimonials focus on the client experience, and why it’s easy for businesses working with them to design and build websites.  

These testimonials are great because they include both clients’ photos, full names, and job titles. All of this improves each testimonial’s authenticity, making it easier for potential clients to contact Moris Design to ask for the same services. 

A design agency:

What’s great about these testimonials and how they’re used is that they demonstrate the repeat nature of these business relationships. Source: Everything Design

Bangalore-based design business Everything Design uses testimonials on its homepage to drive new business from potential clients. 

An interior design company:

On Model Living’s homepage, there is a mix of reviews and testimonials. Importantly, it makes full use of the designs and visuals, and that strengthens their ability to win new customers. 

Future-proofing testimonial examples the 2026 way: Using AI to repurpose reviews

The landscape of customer testimonials is evolving rapidly. Rather than letting valuable reviews sit idle on third-party platforms, forward-thinking brands can leverage AI to transform these authentic voices into dynamic, multi-format content that resonates across every social channel.

AI-powered tools can analyze hundreds of customer reviews to identify the most compelling themes, sentiment patterns, and specific phrases that speak directly to your audience.

This means you're no longer guessing which testimonial to feature; you can use data-driven insights to surface the reviews that will genuinely move the needle. 

AI tools can also help you repurpose a single glowing review into multiple formats: 

• A carousel post highlighting key benefits
• A short video testimonial with text overlays
• An Instagram Story with engaging graphics
• Or even a LinkedIn post that speaks to B2B decision-makers.

The real power lies in personalization at scale. AI can match specific customer reviews to different audience segments, ensuring that potential customers see testimonials from people who share their use case, industry, or pain points. 

A SaaS company, for example, might showcase enterprise customer reviews to larger prospects while highlighting small business testimonials to startups.

How to encourage customers to leave reviews, ratings, and testimonials 

Now that you’ve seen how to promote reviews on social media, let’s look at how you can encourage customers to leave feedback:

1. Use a range of review sites to collect testimonials 

Not all consumers use the same review sites to leave feedback and reviews, so make sure you provide a few alternative places.

Choose the platforms best suited to your client's business. For restaurants and hotels, this might be Google Business Profile, TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Facebook. But if you're a service or SaaS business, you might want to focus on G2 and your website.

When you use multiple review platforms, there’s a significant chance that your Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Facebook reviews will all appear in Google search results, as shown here for Starbucks (this is even more normal in AI Overviews, AI Mode, and various AI tools and apps):

2. Make it easy for customers to leave reviews 

Once you’ve decided where to gather feedback, ensure you guide customers there. For example, you can invite customers via email or add review forms on your client's website to collect feedback:

Trustpilot has both optimised and customised options:

Bonus tip: You can also include some swag to encourage them to leave a review. Just make sure to remind them of it in your emails and social media posts.

3. Ask customers for reviews at the right time (and be persistent) 

Timing is crucial when asking for customer feedback. Here are a few moments you could choose:

• When they first buy your product (but a few days later; not immediately) 
• When you deliver your service
• When they re-order an item (again, wait a few days; not immediately) 
• When they tag you on social media
• When they open your app again

4. Respond to negative and positive feedback

When you respond to negative and positive feedback, you send a clear signal to users that you take the time to read and reply to everyone.

A BrightLocal 2025 Local Consumer Review Survey found that if a business responds to a review influences 55% of potential customers. Whether the review is positive or negative, a response has a direct impact on how a potential customer feels about a business or brand. 

Conclusion: Turn customer feedback into amazing testimonial social media posts  

Sharing customer feedback via social media is an excellent way to build trust with your audience and promote your client's brand.

As more users join the various networks, you’ll have a growing audience looking for positive feedback on brands they’re researching. Make collecting positive customer reviews mandatory when you’re planning your client’s social media campaigns.