According to a recent survey, Facebook is the #2 place that people like to leave reviews for local businesses, right behind Google+ Local, and just ahead of Yelp, believe it or not.
But do people look at local business reviews on Facebook before making buying decisions? As it turns out, 60% of consumers say they visit Facebook pages before buying in stores.
And now, Google is counting Facebook as a legitimate source of reviews for local businesses.
What does this all mean?
What this means is that you should have Facebook as a critical part of your local review strategy if you are a local business. In addition to asking your best customers for reviews on your Google+ business page you should ask for reviews on your Facebook Business Page as well.
One great reason for this: if you ask someone to leave you a review on Google+, and they do not already have a Google account, they need to create one in order to leave you a review. Many people will not have the time to create an account just to leave you a review.
But most people already have a Facebook account, so it is super easy for them to leave you a review there. Also, Facebook is the top mobile app for writing reviews.
How to get reviews on Facebook
GetFiveStars makes it easy for people to leave you reviews on Facebook, and we even have a Facebook App that will notify you whenever someone leaves you a new review on Google, Facebook or other review sites.
The way it works, is this: ask your customers for feedback privately after they visit or buy from you. GetFiveStars helps you discover if there were any issues, and address them before they turn into a negative review.
And it helps you identify your happy customers, and makes it easy for them to leave you online reviews on sites like Google, Facebook and many others.
GetFiveStars uses a private feedback process that helps you identify your happy customers
p.s. If you have a Facebook page for your business, but it does not have the option for leaving reviews, you need to convert it from a brand page to a local business page. This screen shot (courtesy of Eileen Lonergan) shows you how:
How to convert your Facebook business page from a brand page to a local business page.
