In 2013 Facebook introduced reviews for pages. This meant that customers and clients could leave starred reviews for all of Facebook to see, and now those looking at you on Google can see them too.

When you Google search a company the results page displays the business on the right hand side of the screen (which is the information taken from your Google my Business profile). This box includes address, contact information, opening hours, and links to social media profiles.

It now also shows reviews from the web, including Facebook. This means that anyone who searches for your company on Google will see a rating out of 5; they can then click on that rating and it’ll take them to your Facebook page where they can see the reviews in more detail.

So what does this mean for you?

Well, it means that a negative Facebook review could affect your business beyond the social media site. 90% of customers are influenced by online reviews, which means that this score is now a vital part of your business’ success.

Not only will great Facebook reviews encourage customers to buy with you, it could also boost your SEO as your customers will see you as more reputable and trustworthy, potentially leading to higher click through rates.

How to get reviews

Firstly, you’ll need to ensure that reviews are in the tabs on your Facebook page. On the left hand side, you’ll see a list of tabs. Click on Manage Tabs to add or remove tabs.

Once you’ve got this option set up, you can start getting people to write reviews. We’re not talking buying reviews (that’s as bad as buying random, untargeted Twitter followers, don’t even think about it!) we’re talking about encouraging customers to spare a couple of minutes to review you. Here are three ways you can do that.

Ask

1) If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Publish a post pointing out the review tab and ask people to spare a minute or two in giving you a review. You can also send out an email to previous customers and clients letting them know how appreciative you’d be if they’d leave you a review on Facebook. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to see how many people will do it!

2) Interact
By interacting with review comments you’ll show that this is an active area of your page. Leaving it stagnant will discourage people from reviewing you.

3) Promote across platforms
People who have Twitter have Facebook, people who have Instagram have Facebook. Use other platforms to let users know that they can review you and make the most of your free promotion space.

Dealing with negative comments

No matter how hard you work or how great your service is, there will inevitably be a negative comment at some point over the years, even if it’s been left for the wrong company! (we have known that to happen to some clients). Whilst you can’t control what the reviewers say, you can do some damage control and take charge of the situation. It is possible to have a bad review and come off of looking good!

The key thing to do is to respond as soon as possible. No sarcastic comments or retaliation (don’t ever write it in the heat of the moment or without someone else seeing it), instead politely apologise and tell them you will send them a private message to resolve the situation. Responding with a positive and polite tone will show you to be professional, the perfect antidote to negativity!