A modern digital marketing strategy is highly likely to include opportunities for feedback from customers and potential customers, in the form of social media interaction, professional review pages, or review systems on the organisation’s own website.
As far back as 1999, research found that a key characteristic of internet-age consumers is the likelihood of seeking and trusting peer-to-peer recommendations, rather than brand advertising or organisation-elicited information campaigns (Piller, 1999).
Since the explosion of specialist review websites across the service industry such as Trip Advisor or Yelp, it has never been easier for consumers to become self-appointed “reviewers” of a business, or to join the reviewing community that grows around such review websites (Whitehead, 2011).
via Why do online reviewers choose to leave reviews? | ren’s blog.