Have you been wanting to leave a review or send a link to clients to do so on Facebook and wondering where the Facebook star ratings are? Facebook has updated their rating/review system to remove the stars, and replace them with recommendations instead.

What are Facebook Recommendations and how do they work?

With little fanfare, and even less explanation, Facebook has decided to shutter their star rating system in exchange for a recommendation based system. As we all know, one of the most effective forms of marketing is word of mouth, and Facebook is trying to bring that to their recommendations. Instead of leaving a review as a 1 to 5 star rating, you now have a binary yes/no choice, with additional options discussed below.

Facebook Recommendations are designed to encourage people to share more when they write reviews, and their followers will be able to see what their friends are liking. Two-thirds of Facebook users visit a local business page at least once a week, so for us digital marketers, this change can have a big impact.

These recommendations will appear when people are searching or talking about a business anywhere on Facebook.

Reshift Media

How do i leave a Facebook Recommendation?

The method of leaving recommendations is straightforward, and encourages users to provide more detailed information, including tags, images and more. If you’d like to leave a Facebook Recommendation, the steps are:

• Navigate to the Reviews/Recommendations tab
• Click ‘Yes’ to recommend the Page.
• Write your recommendation (25 characters)
• Choose tags like great service, amazing staff or similar 
• Add rich endorsements like images of your experience
• Click Post to confirm

Easy, right? If you find this post helpful, why not test the recommendation system by leaving us one!  

What are the practical effects of the switch?

Alongside the announcement of Facebook Recommendations, we’ve also learned that it will also be easier to flag fake, paid, or otherwise compromised reviews. And for the moment, both star ratings and recommendations will be shown, so don’t worry. 

“Recommendations appear on your page and are discoverable across Facebook when people are searching for, or talking about your business. Because we know that people trust the opinions of those they know most, these recommendations will be surfaced most prominently.”

Facebook

People trust reviews from people they know far more than anonymous ones online, and Facebook is hopeful that this system will help bring back the organic traffic that small businesses lost as a result of Facebook’s 2018 business algorithm change.

What are your next steps as a digital marketer or online business?

As digital marketing professionals, we’re all used to constant changes on the platforms and services we use. Google’s RankBrain AI and BERT algorithm continue to make waves, and this is the first post we’re writing using the new Gutenberg Editor that came with WordPress 5.0.  This is just another change for us to adapt to. With this switch to recommendations, we’re hopeful that paid and fake reviews go down the drain, and honest opinions will rule. Be sure to encourage your clients to leave reviews!

Also, it’s important to remember that like every aspect of digital marketing, social media is constantly changing. Platforms shut down while others open up and evolve. We have the insight and expertise to make sure you are making the most of your investment, so get in touch with us today.