Facebook has recently expanded the review section on business Pages. While this feature isn’t new, it was previously called “Recommendations” and was more prominently displayed on Facebook’s mobile app. It now appears at the top of business Pages and contains features every Page admin and business owner should be aware of.
Users can now provide five star ratings.
Perhaps due to the popularity of Yelp and Google+ reviews, users now have the ability to rate your practice with a one to five star rating. These ratings are beginning to be displayed at the top of some business Pages as Facebook slowly rolls out the feature to everyone. It remains to be seen what else Facebook will ultimately do with these ratings, but it appears they may be featured in a future expansion on their review system.
Reviews can no longer be deleted.
Before the change from “Recommendations” to “Reviews”, Page admins have had the ability to hide comments left in that section of their Page. Now it appears that this option has been removed and replaced only with a “report” function that allows users to report a post that violates Facebook standards such as hate speech. Admins still control comments that are left on the Page and under posts, but the review section doesn’t offer such an option.
Reviews may begin showing up in your newsfeed.
Part of Facebook’s expansion involves making it easier for users to see what businesses their friends are using. Facebook representatives have indicated that users’ business ratings will begin to appear periodically in the newsfeeds of their friends long after the rating was originally posted. It’s too early to tell if only positive recommendations will appear, but this gives tremendous potential to dental practices trying to increase their word of mouth advertising and an even greater need to pay attention to your Facebook Page.
The Review section can be hidden altogether.
As of this post, it is still possible to remove the review section from your Facebook Page entirely, but with one major caveat. Doing this will make visitors to your dental practice unable to use their mobile phones to check–in. This location based social feature is one of the greatest advantages of having a Facebook Page for your practice. To remove the section you simply have to un-check the option to display a map of your business on your Page. Just remember, removing reviews means that you may miss reaching the friends of your current patients.
The roll out of a more prominent review system and the inability to hide negative reviews places Facebook more in line with most review sites. We always recommend paying attention to any site that has reviews about your practice. Luckily, negative reviews are extremely rare. However, if you receive a negative review, it’s a best practice to simply respond in a calm and open manner. Let the reviewer know that you care and invite them to contact you directly so that the issue can be resolved if possible. Your response to a negative review can be more attractive to potential patients than several positive reviews.
Let Smile Savvy help you manage your social media. We provide a “second set of eyes”, helping you to monitor your social media presence, maintain weekly posts and optimize your sites for success. Read more about what we can do for you.