Facebook has retired the star rating system. Rather than giving users a 1-5 scale to leave a review, Facebook is now simply asking whether or not users would recommend a business.

Facebook hopes this change will push people to write more extensively about their experiences and leave authentic feedback; they believe these richer reviews are designed to help businesses be more visible in their local communities and attract more customers.

With over 1.6 billion people connected to small businesses on the platform, it’s no surprise that Facebook is testing out new ideas and working to make strides in the world of local business marketing.

So, what exactly has changed? Here’s the skinny:

         

  • Facebook users can easily indicate if they recommend your business with a simple “yes” or “no” (in place of the 1-5 star rating)
  • Users can explain why they would or would not recommend your business with tags, text, and photos. The minimum character count for the text is 25 characters.
  • Previous review data will still appear on local business pages. The reviews section, however, now features a numeric rating that is a combination of old star ratings and new yes/no recommendations.
  • It’s easier for your business to report fraudulent reviews, spam, or paid content in recommendations.
  • Unlike Facebook reviews, recommendations are not limited to a business’s page. Recommendations appear on user profiles and are discoverable across Facebook when people search or talk about your business, making it easier for people to find you.
  • Facebook realizes that people trust recommendations from their network of friends; recommendations from the people closest to a user will display more prominently.

As Facebook continues to help people connect with local businesses, it’s important to build internal processes that adapt and capitalize on these changes. If you are currently leveraging the Net Promoter System to determine how likely your customers are to recommend your business, you’re in great shape. By proactively asking your customers how likely they are to recommend your business, you will end up with more and better recommendations on Facebook and other platforms. NPS gives you a chance to identify detractors (those who score 0-6) and follow up with them before they go to Facebook to drive your recommendation rating down with a simple “no”. It also affords you the opportunity to turn passives (those who score 7-8) into promoters, and give your 9s and 10s the ability to share their wonderful experiences with their social network.

Two-thirds of all users visit the page of a local business at least once a week and Facebook expects to increase as they continue to identify new ways to connect users to local businesses within their communities.

Local business marketing is ever evolving, but customer referrals and recommendations remain at the heart of winning business strategies. Check out how brands like Orangetheory fitness, Orkin, and Fastsigns leverage NPS to win and retain customers, here.