Reputation on Facebook: how to set up a business Page and respond to criticism

Customers often check a business on Facebook too and form a first impression from its Page. We went through Meta’s official help and Czech law and wrote down how the rating works, what to do with criticism and what to avoid.

We have no measurements of our own for Facebook Pages yet, so you won’t find any percentages here. Facts about Facebook link to Meta’s help; the advice is our professional opinion.

How a Page gets its rating

• The rating is based on recommendations and reviews. A Page with fewer than 5 reviews may not have one.
• Only public recommendations count. One shared only with friends, for example, doesn’t enter the rating, so the review count can differ from person to person.
• Meta doesn’t verify whether the author actually bought from the business or used the service.
• Meta removes reviews that break its spam rules, so the rating can change.
• A recommendation should be based on personal experience and shouldn’t come from someone who manages the Page.

Keep recommendations on, or turn them off?

When recommendations are on, anyone logged in to Facebook can add one. If you turn them off, the rating and reviews disappear from the Page, including the good ones.

Our view: one unpleasant review isn’t worth turning them off. Consider it rather when nobody monitors the Page and nobody will in the near future.

When a bad recommendation or comment arrives

1. First find out what happened. Look up the customer and the job, but keep personal data out of a public reply.
2. Reply on the merits where Facebook allows it. Briefly acknowledge the problem, say what you will do and offer a contact. Options may vary by type of content.
3. Report rule violations. You can report a recommendation that doesn’t follow the Community Standards. Meta decides.
4. Leave fair criticism alone. And if it recurs, fix the cause in your operation, not on Facebook.

Sample reply (invented case): “Hello, we’re sorry you waited longer for your job than we promised. We’d like to discuss it with you and put it right. Please let us know when we can get in touch.” No excuses, no argument and no other people’s names.

Comments: what you can hide and what that means

• A Page manager has hiding of comments with chosen words, a profanity filter, comment ranking, tag review and blocking of users.
• A comment hidden by the filter stays visible to its author and their friends. Others don’t see it.
• Use these tools for insults and spam. Not for criticism with substance: the person may find out nobody else can see it, and the problem moves elsewhere.

Messages: the badge is not a goal in itself

The fast-response badge appears automatically at a Messenger response rate of at least 90 % and a response time under 15 minutes. Instant replies and away messages don’t count toward these figures. That is often unrealistic for a small business. It matters more that people know when they will get an answer, and then actually get it.

Watch out: Facebook and Czech law

Breaching the ban on unfair commercial practices towards consumers can generally mean a fine of up to CZK 5 million for a business (§ 24 of the act), and supervision usually lies with the Czech Trade Inspection Authority. This is our reading of the text of the law, not legal advice; for a specific case, consult a lawyer.

Access: who really holds the Page

• Don’t lend passwords. An agency can be given access through a business portfolio, including partial access: for example to content, ads or messages.
• For that the agency needs its own business portfolio and its ID. Meta advises turning on two-factor authentication.
• Keep the Page in your business’s own portfolio. According to Meta, only the organisation that owns an asset can share it with another business.
• Check now and then who has access, and remove former employees and suppliers.

A short checklist

1. Do the name, phone, address, website and hours match Google and Firmy.cz?
2. Do you know who has access, and does someone from your business have full control?
3. Do you know whether recommendations are on, and do you monitor them?
4. Is the latest post real and true? Better fix outdated offers.
5. Does a customer’s message have a responsible person and an agreed response time?
6. Is it clear who approves a reply to sensitive criticism?

What we don’t promise

That a Page alone will raise revenue, that a bad review will vanish or that Facebook will move your business up on Google Maps. Google’s overview of local results doesn’t mention social media. Reputation comes above all from your work and your customers’ experience; a Page can only show it honestly. Meta changes its rules and tools, so check the current state in the linked help.