Do Facebook recommendations and reviews matter for a local business?

Facebook pages can show recommendations: customers say whether they recommend the business and can add a short text and photos. When someone finds your page through a group, Marketplace or a search, those recommendations are among the first things they look at. For a service where trust matters — a carpenter coming into the home, a tutor for a child, a physiotherapist — a few detailed, recent recommendations from real local customers can decide whether someone sends a message at all.

They are not the same as Google reviews. When a person in G-13 searches "AC repair near me", Google's map results and your Google reviews decide whether you appear and look credible. Facebook recommendations help mostly once someone is on Facebook already. So if your customers find you mainly through Google, prioritise Google reviews; if they come through Facebook groups and Marketplace, Facebook recommendations deserve more effort. Many twin-city businesses need both.

Getting them is mostly a matter of asking at the right moment. Send a short message with the link after a job is finished well or an order is delivered, in the language the customer used. Make it easy: one link, one sentence of thanks, no pressure. Reply to every recommendation, positive or not, politely and in public; a calm reply to a complaint often reassures readers more than a row of praise. Never buy recommendations or ask friends to post fake ones — it breaches Meta's rules and locals notice quickly. Recommendation requests and replies are part of the daily inbox work on our Growth plans.