Many of the world’s savviest brands are achieving growth by setting effective Facebook reputation management strategies.
It’s no secret that the social media platform is a powerful tool for companies looking to manage and improve their digital reputation. Here are some numbers that demonstrate the kind of impact Facebook has on the relationship between consumers and brands.
- Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with 3.21 billion monthly active users (including users on Facebook-owned services like WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram). They spend an average of 20 minutes each day on Facebook, approximately one-third of the total time spent on social networks.
- About 2 in 3 users visit a Facebook business Page at least once a week. Moreover, 1 in 3 people use the platform to look for Facebook reviews and Recommendations.
- 55% of consumers consider Facebook as the most common place to learn about new brands and products, and 66% are likely to share their thoughts, experiences, and opinions on their purchases on Facebook.
Best Practices: Facebook Reputation Management for Brands
Facebook reputation management is not a new thing. It’s a crowded marketplace, with up to 42% of marketers reporting that Facebook is critical or important to their business. The key is to apply best practices and make sure that your efforts deliver results and distinguish your brand from competitors.
Claim Your Pages
If you’re just getting started, you can build your online presence on the world’s largest social network by claiming unmanaged Pages for your locations or by creating them on your own. Think of this as a way of planting your brand flags on what will be one of your most important digital properties.
If you manage multiple business locations or represent an agency, you can check out detailed instructions on how to claim your Facebook business Page using Facebook Business Manager.
We also recommend going the extra mile by getting your Pages verified. With a verified Page, you can help potential and existing customers find your official account instead of duplicates or fake accounts. Verified business Pages will also show up higher in search results, which helps to increase brand visibility.
Keep Your Information Updated
When claiming or creating your Facebook business Pages, make sure you take the time to complete basic Page information by including your business name, category, address, phone number, store hours, and a short description about your business. It is also important to update business information anytime something changes!
Why is this important? Potential customers may prefer to find information about your brand through Facebook rather than through another channel, say, your website or online advertisements. By providing correct, up-to-date information on your Pages, you make it easier for potential customers to find you and discover the qualities that make your brand stand out.
Manage Your Facebook Reviews and Recommendations
Facebook Reviews, the social network’s review system, is now called Facebook Recommendations. With Recommendations, your customers can rate your business locations simply by choosing whether or not they recommend it.
Enabling Recommendations on each Page of your business locations is a crucial Facebook reputation management tactic. Doing so demonstrates your company’s willingness to receive and listen to valuable customer feedback. Having reviews and Recommendations on your Pages also helps potential customers learn more about your business from actual customers, and may even make your brand easier to find in Facebook search results.
Read the step-by-step instructions for turning on Facebook Recommendations.
Be sure to say thank you to those who leave a Recommendation or write a review, and apply best practices in how to respond to negative reviews and positive feedback.
As part of your social media reputation management strategy, review responses should offer practical solutions to customers’ problems, as well as reinforce the positive aspects of the customer experience.
To streamline the way your company manages reviews, consider investing in a software solution like ReviewTrackers, which allows teams and managers to respond to customers directly from the dashboard. The software also pulls and analyzes review data from other sources — Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp, among other business review sites — so that companies can act on customer insights and foster operational improvements based on feedback.
Post Relevant Content and Great Photos
Don’t let your Facebook business Pages become outdated. Use these as places for effective community management: share information about your brand, products, and services, as well as demonstrate your thought leadership within your industry. Build each Page and regularly post relevant content and updates like news, special offers, photos, videos, and links.
Avoid being overly self-promotional, though. The most successful pieces of content on Facebook for a lot of brands are often generated not by a team of marketers, but by their communities of loyal fans and followers.
Check out this example of how Chiwee’s Cake Pops shared a 5-star Yelp review on their Page:
Brands that actively listen to the voice of the customer are also the ones most poised to succeed. It’s equally important to show your willingness to engage with your community of fans and followers by liking, commenting on, and responding to their activity on your Page.
Another Facebook reputation management best practice is to regularly upload great photos. Facebook users love pictures. Photo uploads total 300 million a day. Because there are so many images being uploaded to the platform every day, brands must get creative and think of ways their own images can stand out: pictures (and videos) of new products, employees at work, your business locations and offices, behind-the-scenes images of your operation, and your most loyal customers.
Never uploaded a photo to Facebook before? Look at our step-by-step guide (with pictures) on how to upload photos to Facebook business page.
Target your efforts strategically and don’t barrage your business Page with low-quality images. Strive for quality; there is so much content competing for users’ attention on Facebook, so it’s crucial to make your photo and video uploads relevant, interesting, and unique.
The Importance of Facebook for Managing Your Brand Reputation
With business Pages, Facebook makes it easier to manage your brand reputation in multiple markets. With a sound Facebook reputation management strategy, you can tailor your brand presence on the world’s biggest social media platform in order to acquire new customers, drive engagement with your community of fans and followers, and set yourself apart from the competition.
