How To Remove Reviews From Facebook: Business Page Tips – Info Branding

The question of how to remove reviews from Facebook is one that pops up quite a bit. Think about it, you’re a small business owner, and the reputation of your company is your livelihood.

But it should come as no surprise that as an entrepreneur you can’t please everybody. The truth is, your product may not be right for everybody, and that’s okay.

However, people on the internet hold no punches.

When they’re upset about something, they let everyone know. And in the age of social media, this means consumers can post complaints and poor reviews about a business’s pricing and services easily and often.

They may even drudge up personal grudges they have against the business owner—all of these things happen on a daily basis, and the result for the business is incredibly damaging.

One of the most popular review platforms out there is actually Facebook. With their immense reach and ease that customers can leave reviews (since most of them already have an account), it’s a platform you need to take very seriously.

As a result, many business owners want to understand how to remove reviews from a Facebook page.

The issue is removing reviews from Facebook isn’t as easy as weeding out the bad from the good. You have to understand the platform, its limitations, and when you need to get creative.

Sound tricky? Don’t worry, we’re going to show you all the ins and outs.

All of your options

Is there an easy way to remove reviews from a Facebook page?

The short answer is NO.

Facebook has an option to remove reviews altogether, but as you may have guessed, that’s going to remove the positive ones as well.

So, if you really want to know how to remove reviews on Facebook all together, we’ll show you how. But fair warning – the process isn’t ultimately the best option for your business.

How to remove reviews from Facebook:

Step 1: Log into Facebook under your business tab. If you’re logged in under a personal account, make sure to click the down arrow in the top-right corner and then click your business’s page name under “Use Facebook as.”

Step 2: Once you’re on your Facebook business page, choose the “Settings” tab in the upper right-hand corner, directly above your cover photo:

Step 3: Once in the Settings menu, click “Edit Page” and scroll down until you find the “Reviews” tab. From there, you’ll find an option under “Show Reviews” to toggle visibility between “On” and “Off.” Choose the appropriate setting, click “Save Settings,” and all reviews will be removed from your Facebook business page.

Certainly, this is an option for getting rid of that pesky pessimism, but it’s probably not going to help your online reputation—in fact, it may end up hurting it.

That’s why we view this as the nuclear option.

Most negative reviews aren’t going anywhere

While Facebook does have an option to petition for a negative review to be taken down if it doesn’t follow their Community Standards, the guidelines are pretty lax, so the review is more than likely to stay.

More than likely, Facebook isn’t going to take down any legitimate negative reviews from customers. Why? Our best guess is it’s something about ‘free speech’ and the right to have an opinion.

Whatever the reasons, the truth of the matter is that those criticisms aren’t going anywhere, so long as the standards the customer adhere to fall in line with Facebook’s’ truthful speech guidelines.

But even when there is a fake review, the chances of Facebook validating it as such and removing it are slim to none.

If you really want to petition a review for removal, your job is to contact Facebook to report the inappropriate review.  From there, it’s time to play the waiting game to see if the social media giant will take action.

Keep in mind that Facebook only allows the petitioning of removal for false written reviews. If you receive a low star review, there’s not much that can be done to help that.

But as said before, the question of how to remove reviews from a Facebook page shouldn’t ultimately land at merely deleting all that come your way. Let’s take a look at why you should keep Facebook reviews visible on your page, and why reviews are crucial for long-term business success.

But before that, you’re probably asking yourself, “Are reviews really that important?”

The answer? Yes.

Here’s why:

Online reviews help build a positive brand presence

Online reviews are the leading influence behind online shoppers making a decision before purchasing, so simply eliminating them altogether is a bad idea. 68% of people said reviews influence their shopping decisions. 84% of people say they trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations.

The numbers are in—Facebook reviews matter, and they matter a lot.

But perhaps you’re not convinced by the hard data. Perhaps that burning question of how to remove reviews on Facebook is still nagging at you.

Let’s keep looking.

What you’re missing out on

With around 900 million unique visitors a day, Facebook is a hotspot for businesses, and creating a high-quality Facebook business page is essential to long-term success.

There are 7.6 billion people in the world, and 53% of them are active engagers on social media. Out of that 53% (4.021 billion users), about 55% of them are active on Facebook.

Everyone from grade school students to your best friend’s mom’s grandparents has an account, and it’s no secret that a company without a Facebook page is leaving money on the table.

Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world, and neglecting to have a Facebook business page will either lead people to think you’re business is behind the times or that you’re downright crazy.

Neither of these two options is what look you’re going for (well, at least hopefully.)

Facebook has become so powerful that it’s a marketing tool in and of itself. According to a study done by Market Force Research, 81% of its 12,000 respondents said their purchasing decisions are directly affected by recommendations and posts online.

This is where it gets really interesting. Facebook accounts for 50% of total social referrals and 64% of all online social revenue. That’s a staggering statistic, and why you should understand everything you can about removing reviews from Facebook.

With all of this traffic, Facebook is a great place to position your business and get your product out to the masses. But if not taken seriously, it’s also an easy way to tarnish your business’s brand, too.

80% of customer complaints happen online. Which means the bulk of customer complaints are out there for all other potential customers to see. But this number also says that a lot of people are taking advantage of reviews on Facebook.

Instead of shying away from a strong Facebook reviews page out of fear of criticism, it’s essential to learn how to engage appropriately.

It doesn’t stop there

If you shut your business off entirely from reviews in an attempt to prohibit any negative or fake information, you’ll have to accept the fact that you’re also limiting the possible success of your business, too.

The importance of online reviews doesn’t stop at the importance of creating a sense of transparency on behalf of your business; they’re also important because they show up in Google SERPs (search engine results page).

Why does this matter? Well, it’s the difference between people finding your business easily online or not. The majority of online users are more likely to click on the first five search results. And given the fact that most people conduct online searches from their mobile phones, hardly anyone is likely to look beyond the first page of search results.

In other words, if your business is “below the fold” in Google SERPs, you’re missing out on new customers – plan and simple.

More than that, shutting yourself off from the voice of the people isn’t the most helpful thing for your business. Think about it: leaving the option for Facebook reviews allows you to open up the conversation to the general public.

This allows you to learn from any mistakes your business may have made along the way and listen for ways to improve your product.

But, let’s be completely honest—while the negative comments can serve as areas of improvement, no business owner wants to air their dirty laundry to a whole Facebook community.

So, given the fact that Facebook reviews are so important for your business, coupled with the fact that weeding out the good from the bad isn’t so simple, what’s the best option for maintaining a sense of transparency while still caring about your brand’s online web presence?

How do you navigate the difficult waters of honesty without drowning in unhappy customer reviews?

Here’s how you do it:

Win with addition, not subtraction

The truth is, the goal of a highly-optimized and successful Facebook business page is not so much the elimination of all negative reviews as it is the population of many positive ones.

But what are my options for curating an optimized Facebook review page? How do I switch from the question of how to remove reviews from a Facebook page to how to get more positive ones?

Well, for starters, you don’t want to ignore the negative reviews completely. Interacting with the customer and assuring them that you’re attentive to their complaints and that you’re actually taking their comments into consideration is important.

Why? People often grow more infuriated when they feel like you’re ignoring their comments.

Also, learning how to interact with the negativity can actually paint your business in a positive light. If possible, pivoting the comment and spinning it into a positive example of superb customer service will do wonders for your brand image, and it may even convert a troll into a trusting customer.

Responding well to negative reviews can often turn a bad situation into something good; lemon into lemonade, as it were.

Businesses all too frequently forget that it’s okay not to be perfect, and that actually engaging with customers in a humane way who have a gripe with your company isn’t a bad thing, in fact, more often that not it’s a good thing (if done well).

Answering customers gently, humbly, and professionally will showcase your true colors as a company. It’s also an area that many businesses sadly lack in, so working to develop this skill will set you ahead of the pack.

Now, while dealing with the reviews directly is a smart strategy, interacting with the negative comment isn’t always enough. After all, that strategy is more for the person who posted the Facebook review, not necessarily for the overall look of your brand’s online presence.

Here’s where the following strategy comes into play:

Handling your reviews the right way

One great way to suppress negative Facebook reviews is by reaching out to your loyal customers and employees and encouraging them to post positive (but honest) reviews. It’s true, a disgruntled customer is far more likely to post a review than a pleased one, but a lot of people are often happy to rave about their favorite business, they simply need a bit of a push.

Review management is also a much more sustainable option. The bottom line is, going through the process of how to remove reviews from Facebook directly is a long and tedious process that seldom results in the desired result.

Instead of constantly putting out fires, review management focuses on creating a solid and cohesive Facebook business page that compliments your web presence.

This is why if you’re in serious need of taming unfair business reviews, review management is your best bet.

In fact, companies that already have an existing plan in place often see results quicker. That’s because they can seamlessly integrate new pieces into any existing strategy they may already have and weave a cohesive web presence that achieves the desired results.

The moral of the story: be engaged

Everyone knows that a business receives negative reviews or criticism at some point. Learning to develop a strategy that highlights your positive reviews without petitioning the negative ones for removal is something that all smart businesses do.

While every review is a unique case, creating a response that shows you care about the problem, the customer, and that you’re actively working to address their complaint is vital for the brand of a business.

The main thing to remember when maintaining your reputation online e is that each campaign is unique. What’s right for one business isn’t necessarily right for another, so understanding how to tackle your business’s web presence is extremely important, both from a brand and revenue standpoint.

Key Takeaways

• You can get Facebook reviews removed (sometimes), but it’s ultimately not a good idea, both from an organic brand standpoint and from an SEO standpoint.

• Positive online reviews are important because they can rank in Google SERPs, and because Google values a lot of positive reviews (your Facebook will have a better chance of ranking if you curate a large number of positive reviews).

• Interacting with negative reviews is a great way to showcase great customer service and potentially turn the negative review into something positive.

• Learning how to engage with negative reviews effectively, properly solicit positive ones, and curate high-quality original content is the best way to create an excellent online brand presence.

What to do next

There should never be a one size fits all approach, especially in the case of dealing with how to remove reviews on Facebook. For instance, if your business has a team that’s already engaging with negative reviews, we’re happy to populate your company’s Facebook page with positive reviews, as well as offer our SEO advice on how to engage effectively.

The truth is, campaign strategies differ – they have to to be effective. And while responding to negative reviews is something many business owners shy away from, it’s important to learn to engage effectively.

That’s why our team chooses to respond to negative reviews directly and not try to hide the fact that they exist.

When it comes to responding to these reviews, our team can either make suggestions on how to respond and pass it along to you or handle it directly for a faster turnaround. This is entirely up to your comfort level, and our team of strategists works closely with every business to understand their unique objectives.

We work closely with our clients and their social properties to help achieve the best results. If you happen to have a PR and/or marketing team, we can also work with them to clean up your web presence. When it comes to review management, we’re happy to work with your existing plan, as well as perform an audit on the existing strategy to see which areas may need a boost.

If you’re interested in taking your business to the next level by improving your online presence, check out our professional review management services and start a free call with us today at 646-863-8282.