Several things have been changing across the years, and social media platforms have been part of those changes. Nowadays, platforms have more features for users, allowing them to record and post voice notes or bookmark posts they find interesting.
Digital marketing has seen changes, too. After its proven success for businesses, social media marketing has become crucial for a company’s triumph. Facebook is one of the most common platforms for marketing nowadays, with Facebook Business pages being an excellent tool for online brand building. One of the strategies Facebook offers for business owners for their online marketing is recommendations.
However, neither were recommendations always known under that name, nor did they look the way they do now. Here is everything you need to know about reviews and recommendations on Facebook Business and its changes.
A Glimpse Into Facebook Reviews History
As one of the most important social platforms since its launch in 2004, Facebook stays on customers’ radars worldwide. Facebook reviews were introduced in late 2013, with a 5-star review system, the most common review system at the time.
The growth of Facebook reviews was as imminent as the platform’s popularity. Business owners did everything they could to have a 5-star rating on their Business pages. It is no secret that reviews have been an excellent tool for businesses for years, and the introduction of reviews on Facebook represented a before and after for many companies.
Facebook, like all platforms, has had changes throughout the years. One of the most significant transformations has been the introduction of Meta and the business tool Meta Business Suite. Additionally, Business page owners went through another prominent change: reviews became recommendations in 2018.
The Reason Behind the Change
According to Facebook, the reason for the switch between reviews and recommendations is to ensure customers share better, richer feedback with business owners. Consequently, this would help owners get more authentic comments, which places an opportunity to increase a business’s popularity locally and online. This visibility increase symbolizes a higher possibility of attracting potential customers, boosting business profits.
Main Differences Between Recommendations and Reviews
The main difference you may notice is the star rating system’s swapping for a binary system (yes or no question). Instead of rating a business from one to five stars, customers can only decide if they would recommend the company.
Customers have the option of adding recommendations on specific business features and add photos. Reviews only had the option of rating the business and commenting.
The form customers interact with the feedback is different, too. Clients could like and comment on other reviews, but only customers’ Facebook friends can interact with their recommendations.
The Impact on Your Business
The idea of a switch between review systems might seem like a scary situation. However, there are many benefits to the changes.
To begin with, it can be an advantage for you to get recommended instead of rated. A 5-star rating system is more subjective, whereas recommendations only provide a yes or no option. The change from reviews to recommendations gives customers an easier, more effective way of providing feedback. This new format utilizes hashtags to deliver more alternatives to supply information to business owners.
Now, if your business had a lower rating before the switch from reviews to recommendations, this does not mean you will be stuck with that rating forever. The overall rating of your Business page will continue to be based on customer experience, focusing on the recommendations customers leave.
Note that the only way to get a Facebook page rating is by allowing customers to leave recommendations.
Essential Information About Facebook Recommendations
Now that you know have a better understanding of the change, here is some crucial information you need to know about Facebook recommendations. Learning how to manage them, what you can do if your business receives malicious submissions, and more is fundamental to getting the most out of this new Facebook feature.
Showing Recommendations on Your Business Page
As you saw above, you cannot get a Business page rating if you do not have the recommendations option available for your customers. Customers may want to let others know what they think about your business and provide feedback on a product or service, so here is a step-by-step guide on how to set up Facebook reviews on your Business page.
- After logging into your Facebook account, head over to Pages.
- Click on Templates and Tabs.
- On the Reviews tab, you can turn your recommendations on and off.
For new Facebook Business page owners, here is what you must do:
- After logging into your Facebook account, click on your profile photo shown on the right.
- Click on See All Profiles. Select the page you wish to get recommendations on.
- Click on your page profile.
- Go to Settings and Privacy. Head over to Settings.
- Once you are there, click on the Privacy section. Next, click on Page and Tagging.
- Choose to allow others to leave reviews on your page.
As you can see, recommendations continue to be called reviews on Facebook’s settings, but the system and general reviews section is now under a different name on your page.
Recommendations Management
We all know reviews and recommendations are social proof of a business’ management quality. Potential customers go to search engines and base their decision on what they read on platforms such as Google reviews or Yelp.
All businesses get positive and negative reviews or recommendations. And while this might be a frustrating fact to accept, it is crucial to know how to handle negative feedback. Let’s walk through how to manage both reviews.
Answering Positive Recommendations
The easiest scenario is replying to good feedback. One of the main steps is responding in a friendly manner while keeping it professional.
Consider starting by addressing the customer by their name in both situations. Next, thank them for leaving feedback on your page, and let them know how glad you are to know they had a good experience with your business.
Next, let your customers know you would be glad to answer any questions they might have and tell them you hope to see them again.
You might want to add something to stand out from other businesses. Identify what you could use in your answers to differentiate your customer feedback.
Answering Negative Recommendations
Getting negative reviews is difficult for any business owner, and the unfortunate truth is that they are inevitable. Your business could be one of the most successful ones in your area and still get negative feedback.
When you get a negative recommendation, after opening the answer by addressing them, the first thing you must do is thank them for the feedback and let them know you are sorry to hear about their negative experience.
One of the necessary things you must consider when elaborating your answer is that you are not creating excuses about the situation. Instead, own the mishap and let the client know you will take measures to ensure it does not happen again.
However, sometimes recommendations can be malicious, so what should you do in that case?
Reporting Recommendations
Sometimes you might get a recommendation that you recognize does not align with your business work ethic, creating a false reputation, or maybe you find the submission has malicious intent. You can rely on one powerful tool in those circumstances: reporting recommendations.
To do so, follow these steps:
- Identify the recommendation you wish to report.
- Click on the three dots that show up in the comment. You will find them in the top right of the feedback.
- Click on Report Post. Next, follow the instructions Facebook will provide.
Be mindful that a recommendation has to go against Facebook’s community guidelines for the report to take effect. Not liking the feedback a customer provides is not enough to report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Reviews on Facebook Matter?
Yes, they do. Recommendations help you build an online brand and help you increase your organic reach. Customers who leave recommendations on your page can choose to share their comments with their network; this results in the possibility of getting potential customers, as people who might not know about your business will hear from it.
Can I Ask For Facebook Recommendations?
You can ask your customers to leave Facebook recommendations, but you cannot ask them for good reviews particularly. You can tell your customers to let you know what they think about your company on Facebook, have direct links to your recommendations page on your emails or newsletters, and have signs across your establishment to let clients know they can find your business on the platform.
Is It Possible to Turn Facebook Recommendations Off?
Yes, you can turn off recommendations on Facebook. However, this is not as helpful as you might think since Facebook uses recommendations to calculate Business page ratings. Additionally, feedback from customers provides improvement opportunities.
Can You Remove a Bad Recommendation on Facebook?
No, you cannot remove bad recommendations on your Business Facebook page. As stated above, you can report malicious feedback based solely on the community’s guidelines. For example, if a submission has hateful language, threats, or graphic language, you can report it.
Who Can See My Facebook Recommendations?
Facebook recommendations are public. You cannot hide or delete them after customers post them on your page. The only way to hide specific recommendations is by turning off the feature; as you read previously, this is not beneficial for your Business page.
Conclusion
Social media has become part of our daily lives. Its presence is notorious in almost every space we are in. Marketing has been part of the spaces impacted by these platforms, and online reviews are a crucial factor for brand building on social media.
Staying up to date with social media marketing changes is a way to continue increasing your brand’s popularity. Facebook review ratings are now recommendations, and you must be aware of such changes to get the most out of the new feature.
