Facebook is still the number one social media platform, and it doesn’t seem like that’s going to change anytime soon. While this is excellent news for marketers, it also means that more businesses are fighting for space to get noticed by their target audience.
One way to get your business more visibility is through Facebook reviews or recommendations. This feature can help your business succeed on the platform by increasing your search rank, building your brand’s credibility, and expanding your audience reach.
Here are some numbers to show how effective Facebook Recommendations can be:
- 92.4% of consumers rely on reviews to guide their purchasing decisions.
- Facebook ranks 4th on the list of sites people check for reviews before visiting a business.
- Around 70% of consumers go to local businesses when they see positive reviews, while 40% of them would avoid companies that have negative reviews.
- Around 74% of consumers have placed reviews for local businesses in the last 12 months.
- 2 out of 3 Facebook users check out local business pages weekly.
- 55% of consumers rely on social media to learn more about new brands and products.
- 66% of Facebook users share their opinions and experiences about their purchases.
What are Facebook Recommendations (Formerly Facebook Reviews)?
You probably noticed that Facebook business pages now feature “Facebook Recommendations” instead of traditional online reviews and star ratings. Facebook made this change back in 2018 when the platform combined customer reviews into the Recommendations section of business pages.
Your customers can now rate your business by answering the question, “Do you recommend (business name)?” in the “Recommendations and Reviews” section.
Facebook recommendations now take into account the comments your friends make about businesses, in addition to direct customer feedback. Although this differs from the old feature, Facebook will still display older reviews.
To find reviews for your Facebook Business page, go to the Recommendations or Reviews tab under your business profile picture. You can also follow the same process if you’re using Facebook Business Manager.
How Are Facebook Recommendations Different?
Facebook reviews and recommendations may seem similar, but some key differences exist! Here are some examples of how “Facebook Recommendations” differs from Facebook Reviews:
- Unlike Reviews, Recommendations don’t have a star rating system. You can only comment your feedback.
- Recommendations can be found in the upper-right corner of your page, while the reviews can be hidden or found on the left side of the page.
- Unlike other sites where anyone can leave a comment, Reviews takes a more personalized approach to give you the best recommendations.
- You can make your Recommendations more personal by restricting their visibility.
- Recommendations allow users to highlight specific features of a business, share photos, and select a tag to back up their recommendations.
Top Benefits of Facebook’s New Recommendations System
Recommendations helps you hit your target social media metrics by giving users more options to leave their feedback. Here are some of the advantages of the new system:
Recommendations can expand your audience reach
Facebook Recommendations make your page more discoverable to users looking for businesses like yours. Like Facebook Marketplace, where people rely on digital word of mouth through reviews, Facebook recommendations appear to a customer’s closest friends once they’ve talked about your business. This helps to earn the trust of potential customers and influence them to buy from you.
Users can upload photos of the business
Suppose a user mentions your business in the comments section of a friend’s post requesting a recommendation. In that case, you can now upload a GIF or photo of the business in the Recommendations section of your Facebook page as a customer review. Ideally, users can leave a recommendation and upload a photo with text through their mobile devices.
It’s good to note that Recommendations are limited to 25 characters on the desktop, while 50 characters are required on mobile devices.
Users can select a tag to support their recommendation to your business
If you’re looking for a way to get your customers more engaged with your page, why not try tags? When customers leave feedback, they can choose a tag to include with their recommendations. These tags work like hashtags, and the Facebook algorithm will generate keywords and optimize search results based on previous reviews.
Quick Tips for Getting More Facebook Recommendations
Besides managing ads, getting more organic reviews is key if you’re looking to build trust and boost your social media presence with your target audience. If you’re new to Facebook recommendations, here are a few simple steps to increase your customer reviews:
- Include a link to your Facebook reviews in your next email to customers. This will help ensure that they see your positive feedback and help you to build trust with potential new customers.
- Help your customers find your business’s reviews by adding a QR code to menus and flyers. This code can be scanned with a smartphone and will take customers directly to your reviews page.
- Add a Facebook review button to your website. It’s a great way to engage your visitors and get more reviews for your business.
- Include a Facebook reviews badge on your website to show potential customers what others think of your business. This is a quick and easy way to add social proof to your site and increase your chances of converting visitors into customers.
- Use Facebook ads to promote your reviews and schedule postings when your target audience is most likely to be online.
- Embed reviews on your website to let potential customers see what others have had to say about your products or services before making a purchase themselves.
Key Takeaways
If you’re not keeping an eye on your business’s Facebook page, you could miss out on some valuable feedback, both good and bad. Reviews and recommendations are great for boosting your business and attracting new customers. A positive review can be super influential, acting as social proof that your business is definitely worth checking out!
Here are a few ways you can use them to your advantage:
- Increase audience reach
- Encourage customer trust
- Build your brand’s credibility
- Stay ahead of your competitors
- Boost your social media presence and search results
- Improve your strategy with the constructive criticism you receive
- Provide space for customers to give honest feedback
Ervin Kalemi
