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Testimonial
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==Customer== Testimonials from customers who are not famous have been effectively used in marketing for as long as marketing has existed.{{Citation needed|date=July 2012}} A past or current customer will present a formal "word of mouth" testimonial that a business can use in marketing and to build trust with future customers. Testimonials are incredibly effective when believed to be true, but a challenge is having the audience believe that testimonials presented by a business are given by real people, not fabricated by the business itself. Even so, testimonials, reviews, and [[Case study|case studies]] are still considered by most marketing experts to be the most effective means of marketing and gaining brand trust by small- and medium-sized businesses. Testimonials have reached an all-time high in importance as the internet is now a plethora of reviews (synonymous with testimonials). Websites such as [[Yelp!]], [[Google Maps]], [[TripAdvisor]], and many more have become 'go to' places for individuals who are seeking other customers reviews/testimonials about a particular business. To put the growth of this industry into perspective, for example, Yelp.com's growth alone can be noted: Yelp.com has more than 71 million monthly unique visitors as of January 2012. [[Instagram]] especially has increasingly been useful in distributing testimonials on products and places. It is done by making use of the tagging feature that directly links to the original brand or the particular location that the picture was taken. Moreover, the description of the pictures are also used to write either the review or sentences that complements the product or place. Users with a large number of followers are commonly targeted for endorsement deal requests that aims to create these testimonial posts, where in return, the user receives commission for 'advertising' the place or product. However, it can only be called an endorsement deal when the company or label contacts the user directly to create such testimonial post, and the user receives commission. This is becoming a trend in [[Indonesia]], especially amongst users with at least one thousand followers, where some are now known for posting pictures with advertising purposes. The downside to such explosive importance in this arena is the massive amount of fraud in the form of fake reviews or [[shill|opinion spam]], testimonials that are not authentic. Often, a business owner will open multiple email addresses and then corresponding Yelp! accounts and write a multitude of testimonials seemingly by many customers of said business. Similarly, the same owner may also write negative reviews of competitors. From a ''[[New York Times]]'' article about the same topic, "On another forum, [[Digital Point]], a poster wrote, 'I will pay for positive feedback on TripAdvisor.' A [[Craigslist]] post proposed this: 'If you have an active Yelp account and would like to make very easy money please respond.' There are tens-of-thousands of ads out there all over the internet of people requesting you to write bogus reviews for their business and people offering to do the same.". However, there are legitimate and legal ways for business owners to build their portfolio of reviews such as mentioning to customers that they value honest feedback and then providing them with the appropriate instructions for where they can review the business.<ref>{{Cite web|title=ProPhone {{!}} Top 5 ways to manage customer reviews for local service businesses|url=https://www.prophone.com/blog/top-5-ways-to-manage-customer-reviews-for-local-service-businesses|access-date=2021-06-12|website=www.prophone.com}}</ref> There have also been allegations that review sites themselves are prepared to manipulate reviews in return for companies buying advertising subscriptions,<ref>{{cite news|last=Edwards|first=Jim|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/inside-yelps-blackmail-lawsuit-ceo-stoppelman-seems-to-hate-his-advertisers/|title= Inside Yelp's "Blackmail" Lawsuit: CEO Stoppelman Seems to Hate His Advertisers| work=CBS News|date=February 25, 2010|access-date=November 27, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Richards |first=Kathleen |url=http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/yelp-and-the-business-of-extortion-20/Content?oid=1176635 |title=Yelp and the Business of Extortion 2.0|work=East Bay Express|date=February 18, 2009|access-date=November 27, 2015}}</ref> with a class action being filed against Yelp to this effect in February 2010.<ref>{{cite web|last=Cook|first=John|url=http://gawker.com/5479568/yelp-class+action-complaint|website=Gawker.com|title=Yelp Class-Action Complaint<!-- Bot generated title -->|date=February 24, 2010|access-date=November 27, 2015}}</ref>
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