Facebook Reviews Are Now Recommendations
Back in August of 2018 Facebook announced several changes rolling out to business pages, with the reviews to recommendations change being one of the most discussed.
Dentists with Facebook Business Pages have always been able to feature ratings and reviews from your patients, and patients could always leave you a review.
So what’s changed?
Those reviews are now recommendations.
Reviews don’t exist in a 1-5 number rating anymore, now it’s more of a richer, personal experience.
Although the numerical star rating system is still displayed on your Facebook Page, that’s only for reviews & ratings you accrued before the change to Recommendations.
Now when your patients want to write a review, they can choose to recommend you – or not.
Here is how Facebook puts it:
Recommendations: Your customers are your best ambassadors. When people look for places to eat, shop or book a service they often ask their friends and families where to go. That’s why we’re making it easier for people to recommend your business by bringing Recommendations to your Page. People will now be able to post a Recommendation for your business including text, photos and tags directly on your Page. And Recommendations will also help you reach people while they’re searching for or talking about your business.
When your loyal patients now visit your dental practice Facebook page, instead of rating you with 1-5 stars, they’ll now be presented with the option to recommend your dental practice.
Here is what it looks like – on mobile:
And those aren’t the only changes to business pages Facebook has rolled out to continue what can only be a deeper dive into the local search realm – and a grab at small business ad dollars.
In addition to the Recommendations update, Facebook Business Pages also added or enhanced Page Stories, Page Templates & Action Buttons, Events, Jobs, & Customized Business Info.
3 Reasons Why Facebook Recommendations Are Better Than Reviews
Facebook reports that 1 in 3 people on Facebook use the platform to look for Recommendations and reviews.
Think of reviews as one-dimensional number-rating feedback, whereas recommendations are a powerful sentiment that communicates more trust, authenticity & value.
Not only do Facebook Recommendations provide a more genuine form of social proof, they’ll also be valuable as a new patient acquisition tool.
When someone recommends your practice on Facebook, it will appear in their feed for their social network to see, amplifying that word-of-mouth with each new recommendation.
Here are three reasons why Facebook Recommendations are better than reviews.
1. Recommendations are rich, powerful endorsements
When patients publicly recommend you in a Group or to their friends on Facebook, it will appear on your Page for all to see.
People can easily indicate if they recommend your practice to others by simply answering “Yes” or “No”, and can explain why with tags, text and photos.
By selecting a tag, they can help themes emerge in the feedback from Recommendations, making it easier for potential new patients to see what sets your practice apart from the competition.
2. Easily report unfair inauthentic recommendations
Authentic Recommendations are important to acquire and retain patients, that’s why Facebook has now made it easier to report content in Recommendations that is fraudulent, spam or paid for.
In other words, fake reviews.
Not #fakenews…#fakereviews.
You can select “Give feedback” in the post menu to report content that you believe is unfair or spam.
3. Reach people as they are making decisions
Recommendations appear on your page and are discoverable across Facebook when people are searching for, or talking about your dental practice.
Facebook knows that people trust the opinions of those they know most, as a result these Recommendations will be surfaced most prominently.
The Recommendations change has also made it simple for page visitors to share details through tags and photos.
Facebook recommendations are front and center for local businesses – and dentists.
Have you noticed the change on your Facebook Page? Are you getting Recommendations?
Only time will tell how to best leverage these tools and what role Facebook Ads will continue to play in the social media marketing plans of dentists across the world.
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