Facebook has made a push for users to make Recommendations rather than Reviews as the way to give feedback about local businesses. Instead of giving a star rating on a one-to-five scale, users are now asked whether or not they would recommend a business. The hope is that people will share more about their experiences, which will lead to more authentic, informative reviews.

Also as part of the recommendations process, users can leave ‘Rich Endorsements,’ which include photos and text. This function is currently exclusive to restaurants and coffee shops but expected to roll out to other business pages, as well.

What Are the Benefits of Facebook Recommendations?
This new function effectively employs word-of-mouth recommendations from the community, much like those other review-based platforms have capitalized on for years. It’s a forum for more robust content that will add both the credibility of your brand as well as the searchable content of your pages.

How Do Facebook Recommendations Work?
Those recommending a restaurant or a local business will be encouraged to write a more in-depth recommendation, with a required minimum character count, a choice of attribution tags and the option to add photos.

What Does the Change to Facebook Recommendations Mean for Local Businesses?
The biggest change, other than the opportunity for more coveted user-generated positive content, will be in the way businesses monitor and manage reviews. Reputation management has become an important component of online social marketing programs and businesses will have to step up their engagement game to keep up with this change.

Global Marketing Solutions has been handling social media marketing, monitoring and reputation management for clients for years. Whether it’s meaningful trends or trendy fads, we’re partnering with clients to prepare for and manage their reputation on the social landscape.