Facebook has a huge audience reach and is an important source of local business reviews. Even having 5-10 Facebook reviews will make a difference to the perception of your business.
Not convinced? Take a look at http://www.facebook.com/services and search for estate agencies in your area. See how your agency ranks. You’ll notice that Facebook reviews are shown alongside data from each business Facebook page.
How does Facebook decide which estate agency comes top in their listings?
Much like Google’s PageRank, Facebook has an algorithm called EdgeRank that determines where your posts will end up in the news feed and rankings, if they end up there at all.
Like Google, Facebook makes regular changes to the algorithm, changing how it weighs factors, to try to increase engagement and user satisfaction.
EdgeRank is calculated with “affinity,” “weight” and “time decay.” Affinity measures the interaction between a Facebook user and a brand, while weight is the importance of that action. Star ratings factor into both affinity and weight. In other words, the reach and visibility of your brand are directly impacted by EdgeRank, which is influenced in part by star ratings.
How are reviews shared on Facebook?
When a customer leaves you a positive review on your Facebook business page, their Facebook friends will be notified about that review and see it in their own news feeds. This can be a valuable tool in generating awareness for your agency.
When leaving a Facebook review, the customer can select an audience to share it with. If they select ‘Friends’ it will show up in the news feed of their friends – on average around 150 people. Only if they share their review publicly, will it be included in your overall rating.
I can’t see an option for collecting reviews on my Facebook page?
You can only collect reviews if your agency is set up as a business with a valid address. Check that your branches are added correctly.
I’ve received an unfair Facebook review – can I get it removed?
The first step is always to respond to negative reviews, politely and without blame. This can go a long way to limiting the damage caused.
You can report negative reviews if they don’t follow the Facebook Community Standards or don’t focus on the service offered by your agency.
It isn’t possible to report low rated reviews without a comment.
Facebook will consider your report and may remove a review if it doesn’t follow their guidelines.
Keep in mind that you can only report star ratings that include review text.
How to Get Review Notifications
If your agency has reviews on Facebook, you need to know when a review has been posted.
To do this, turn on notifications within your page.
- Go to Settings in your dashboard
- Once in Settings, click on Notifications on the left hand side.
- Click on the radio button for Get a notification each time there is activity on your Page or an important Page update.
- Now Turn On the notification for New Reviews.
We’re here to help you with your Facebook reviews, and can also assist with setting up Facebook pay-per-click advertising to guarantee you a steady stream of social media enquiries. Contact us for more information.
You might also like to take a look at our guide to managing Google Reviews, or our 4 step guide to protecting your estate agency’s online reputation.