Facebook actually has 2 different page types; the private page and the business profile. The private profile is what you have friends on, and it is tied to a person. Rather than friends, the business profile has page likes, and can be a community page, a fan page, a company page, and so on. In business profiles, something has changed since the August 2018 update and this concerns the review section.
Companies and institutions, i.e. business profiles, could previously be rated with stars. In doing so, one could rate between 1 and 5 stars. The average score was then displayed between 1.0 and 5.0, plus the corresponding number of stars. Some reviews were with text and some without. So, as a consumer, you could only leave a review with x number of stars without explaining it.
After the recent update, something has changed in this. Indeed, the starred reviews have changed to recommendations. From now on, a user (consumer) can only recommend a company WELL or NOT. A review is mandatory in this regard.
What does the consumer see
The consumer is now
t shown the following question, “Would you recommend this company?” to which you can answer YES or NO, and must provide an explanation. So people can no longer just give you a bad or good review without comment. The comment must also be at least 25 characters long, so people don’t get away with a short text such as: “just fine!”, or “bad company!”.
Google also counts reviews
Google
has been displaying company listings for some time where you can find a lot of info about a specific company quickly and conveniently. Reviews, ratings and recommendations are also visible in this. This allows you to see at a glance whether the company is correctly rated good or bad. Not only can you vote directly through Google (with stars), but also through other channels such as Facebook. Indeed, Google counts votes through other parties in the total score, and also shows the number of votes through, for example
Facebook
separately in the global view. Thus, the recommendations will also be presented separately.
Fair or unfair
Buying reviews and positive ratings/reviews may sound unfair, but the story is not entirely black and white. People are normally pretty quick to post a negative review when they are dissatisfied and not when they have been well served because, after all, that is something you pay for. They want to get rid of the “rotten” feeling of not being satisfied, and then they think they can get rid of it by sharing it in the form of a less positive review.
We’ll take a restaurant as an example. This is where people go to eat good food. Those who are satisfied are usually not going to express that on the Internet because good food is something you expect at a restaurant. When the food is disappointing, and so is the expectation, people fairly quickly do start posting this on the Internet because, after all, they paid for good food.
For people to make a recommendation anyway, there must be something in return. People often have better things to do otherwise. So you have to encourage them, and you can do that by raffling something, for example. For example, a restaurant might offer a discount on the bill on the next visit, or give away the drinks for free that night. As an entrepreneur, be creative in this.
Internet trolls increasingly observed
Internet trolls are also increasingly observed. These are people (often young people) who like to randomly rate businesses without having been there or used the service. They often give low marks to the company and come up with nonsense stories that make no sense. Business owners are duped by this because it does cost them customers. Potential customers often look at other people’s experiences and let this influence their choice.
Not only young people but also competitors do this! As a business owner, if you’re not paying attention for a moment, and you don’t Google yourself, you may just find yourself bombarded with negative reviews that are untrue! TIP: check your own review score on the Internet. Should this one not be too good, you can do something about it now with the aforementioned tip!
Preventive arming
As more bad reviews and reviews are handed out on the Internet, a few less positive comments can quickly damage your reputation. Preemptively buying some reviews can’t hurt, because that way you won’t be hit as hard by any bad review.
TIPS that may help
TIP: Always respond to a review, whether it is justified or not. Thank you for the positive review, and try to discuss any review in the form of a solution. In fact, on some channels the review may be edited! When you, as a business owner, show that you are involved, bad reviews do not come across as harsh to potential customers.
