One of the greatest things Facebook has done for businesses looking to market their products is introduce new ways to brand themselves and connect with customers. From organic posting techniques to new advertising methods, Facebook is in a constant testing phase to make sure all of their business customers are engaged with the platform, while accruing sales. A piece that I feel is often overlooked is utilizing and maintaining reviews on Facebook.

The ability to give business pages a star review came about in 2012 on mobile, but in 2013, Facebook decided to move those star ratings to the top of a Page’s timeline on desktop. TechCrunch was one of the first to report on the new feature stating, “Star ratings encourage more people to rate a business, making it eligible to appear in News Feed and help others discover a business they didn’t know about previously.” A Facebook representative also mentioned that they said that, “For businesses themselves, this also leads to greater brand awareness.” So, here we are, four years after star reviews launched and I have to ask you this question: are you utilizing reviews on Facebook like they had originally intended you to do?

Giving customers the freedom to be able to review your business across the Facebook platform offers many advantages to your business, and brand, that you’ve probably forgotten about. In fact, this is where we saw the “social switch” of how we viewed our ‘Likes’ on our business pages. Our thoughts shifted from quantity of ‘Likes’ to quality of ‘Likes,’ meaning that the amount of ‘Likes’  no longer determined your Page’s social standing.

Go ahead and search for your business on Facebook. The image below is what we see when we search to find the PCG Companies Facebook Page. Our star rating shows up right next to our name. This right here is our “social standing” on the platform, and that’s the first thing people will see when they search for your business. Due to this, consumers automatically get a better understanding of how your business is viewed by others.

The next step a consumer will take is whether they choose to follow your page or not. That all depends on if the content you are providing is relevant information to them. But, if the consumer is in-market and ready to convert, they’re going to go straight to your Reviews section, where they have the option to sort your reviews by most helpful, most recent, and star rating. What are they looking for in reviews? It’s not just the review itself, but they also want to see how (and if) you answer the reviews, and how you’re branding yourself. Consumers want to see that you are answering any and all reviews, no matter if they’re positive or negative.

This leads me into my next point of how reviews have evolved the social platform: by putting a spotlight on customer service. Prior to this, consumers were mainly utilizing Twitter as their social media connection for customer service. We call customer service across social media “Social Care.” When you provide key Social Care, the consumer gets a great experience working with your business, which leads to a returning loyal customer.

I sent out a social survey in September of 2016 to measure how social media branding determines a consumer’s vehicle purchase. One of the main findings was that new car buyers didn’t have a stellar customer experience on social media. Why not, you ask? They shared a photo of them and their new ride, tagged the dealership, and never got a ‘comment’ or a ‘Like’ from the business. Some posted great reviews on the dealership’s Facebook page and were never acknowledged. The consumers that weren’t pleased with their social customer experience also said they would not be returning to the dealership’s service department for routine service and maintenance.

It often seems like the social platforms we’re involved with are rolling out new tools and new ways to make them the top dog in your digital marketing efforts on a daily basis. I’m right there with you, and I agree that it can be overwhelming, but please don’t’ forget about your organic efforts on Facebook. Let’s all take a step back in time to 2013, and get reacquainted with reviews, and why they’re so important.

Want to learn more about social media marketing and how it can boost your biz? Give PCG a call today!

About the Author

Denise Casagrande, Vice President of Marketing at PCG, is passionate about humanizing brands across social channels. She feels the connection businesses can make with their clients can be ever-lasting based off of the messages they're displaying through content. Creator of the Automotive Social Media Sales Funnel.