We’re continuing our journey on how to increase your online review presence across the 4 major players: TripAdvisor, Google, Facebook, and Yelp. Last week we tackled the Google platform. This week, we’re going to focus on getting reviews on the largest social media network: Facebook.
As we saw the first week, the best way to get reviews is simply to ask for them. Then why, you may wonder, is this week’s blog title about not asking? What’s that about?
While asking is the best way to get reviews, it can pay off to take a multifaceted approach. As the article for this week explains, Facebook has a unique way to help us in our situation. Checking in.
For those that don’t know, when a Facebook user makes a post, they can also check in at the same time. After the user has clicked the check in button, they can tag any local business that has a Facebook page. Not only that, they can post about their experience, insert pictures, and more. First off, this is organic advertising at its finest. There’s almost no better way to reach friends of your customers. Secondly, and this is the part that we’re interested in, this creates an anchor for Facebook to come back to later.
The hidden gem of checking in
As Donna explains about checking in to get reviews, Facebook has some super secret functionality behind the scenes. After a user has checked in at a location, sometime in the next day or so Facebook sends a notification asking them to leave a review for that location. So not only do we get organic advertising up front, but Facebook asks them to leave a review for us when they’re probably more willing to write one later on. How’s that for teamwork?
So, what are some good ways to ask our customers to check in? Well, you can include it alongside any methods you are using to ask for reviews. Buy some decals for your windows, put it on the menu, or ask on your WiFi page. All of these can be doubled up since you’re essentially asking for two different things. Some users may not want to write a review right away, but they might not mind checking in.
Join us next time as we finish out our review-boosting mini-series with Yelp!
