Understanding Facebook Recommendations
Facebook replaced traditional star ratings with a recommendations system where users indicate whether or not they recommend a business, optionally with text and photos. While this binary structure is simpler than star ratings, Facebook recommendations carry significant weight because they appear within social networks—people see that their actual friends or connections have recommended a business, which is more personally persuasive than an anonymous review on another platform.
Setting Up Your Facebook Business Page for Reputation
Ensure your Facebook Business Page is fully complete: category, contact information, hours, website, description, and high-quality cover and profile photos. Enable recommendations in your page settings. A well-maintained page with active posting history signals to visitors that the business is active and engaged.
Responding to Recommendations
Facebook allows businesses to respond to both positive and negative recommendations. The best practices mirror those on other platforms: thank positive recommenders warmly, acknowledge negative feedback professionally without defensiveness, and keep responses concise. Your responses are visible in a social context, meaning the tone and quality of your responses can be shared and spread beyond the original thread.
Generating Positive Recommendations
Facebook recommendations are generated by asking satisfied customers to share their experience on your page. Post-service follow-up messages, links in email signatures, and in-location signage pointing to your Facebook page all generate organic recommendations.
Handling Negative or False Recommendations
Negative recommendations that violate Facebook’s Community Standards can be reported using the flag function. For legitimate negative recommendations, respond professionally and try to resolve the issue offline. Facebook does not allow businesses to remove recommendations simply because they are negative. The only sustainable answer to negative recommendations is delivering experiences that earn positive ones.
