How To Disable Reviews on a Facebook Page

Any company in 2021 is subject to online reviews that can either make or break their business. Being troubled with trolls or a campaign trying to discredit your business online? This tutorial will show you how to disable reviews on Facebook and how to handle negative feedback so you still come out on top regardless of what is said.

Reviews, or social proof, as they are otherwise known are incredibly powerful. Few people buy anything online without checking reviews first and seeing negative reviews, even one bad review with 99 positive ones is enough to put some purchasers off.

If you run a business, Facebook is an essential part of your marketing mix. With billions of users, multiple ways to interact with customers, a two-way conversation with your fans, and lots of methods you can use for engagement, why would not you use it?

There are obvious downsides though. The same trolls and jerks that make Facebook difficult to use as a private citizen can also be the same with businesses. Facebook is also used to discredit some businesses on purpose by review bombing and through coordinated campaigns of social media marketing.

Search for ‘buy negative Facebook reviews’ online and see the dozens of companies offering to sell negative reviews. For not a lot of money, you can buy negative reviews to supposedly counter the raft of positive reviews to make your profile more realistic. In reality, those services are used to discredit competitors. Nobody thinks for a second that any business would ever purposely add negative feedback to their own account.

How to Disable Reviews on Facebook

It is possible to disable reviews or to report and remove fake ones. Most would suggest removing fake ones and leaving reviews enabled. If you are continually targeted by fakes, disabling them altogether may be the only way.

To disable feedback:

1. Open Facebook and navigate to your Facebook page. You can find this on the right-hand side of the Facebook webpage or by using the search bar at the top. As long as you’re logged in, you can manage and edit your Facebook page.
   
2. Scroll down the right-hand menu and click on ‘Settings.’
   
3. Scroll down the right-hand menu again and click on ‘Templates & Tabs.’
   
4. Toggle the ‘Reviews’ switch off.
   
   

When you’ve completed these steps, viewers of your Facebook page will no longer see any reviews.

This is the nuclear option as reviews are important to buying decisions but if you have no choice, that’s how you disable them.

Report a Fake Review on Facebook

If you only suffer a few fake reviews, you would be much better off tackling them instead of turning off feedback. Here’s how:

1. Open Facebook and navigate to your Facebook page.
2. Click on the ‘Reviews’ tab at the top of your page.
   
3. Navigate to the review and click on the three vertical dots in the upper right-hand corner. Then, click on ‘Find support or report recommendation.’
   
4. Select one of the options from the menu that appears. Then, click ‘Next.’
   
5. Follow the preceding prompts to complete your report.
   

If you have ever dealt with Facebook before, you won’t have much hope that anything will happen. However, you have to follow the process and let the company do anything or nothing before taking it further.

Handling Negative or Fake Reviews

The measure of a business is not how it handles day-to-day operations but how it handles itself when things go wrong. Your first instinct might be anger, despair, and a desire for revenge but none of those things will work on Facebook.

Handling Real Negative Facebook Reviews

The key to handling negative reviews is to do it calmly and professionally. Replying with a rant is not going to win you any new customers or increased loyalty. However, if you address the problem at hand, offer to work with the customer to ensure their satisfaction, and act professionally and appropriately, the negative review can actually be made to work for you instead of against you.

It is good for customers to see how a company handles criticism. If you do it professionally and rise above any vitriol spilled in a review, you come out on top. Offer to work with the customer to make sure they are happy, you reassure all customers that even if things go wrong, you’ve got their back. That is worth many positive reviews.

However, the company is taking steps to keep these fake review accounts from doing any damage to innocent businesses. Just recently, the company removed over 16,000 accounts for this type of behavior.

Handling Fake Facebook Reviews

Handling fake reviews is slightly different but can also be turned on its head. Being honest and upfront with your customers about what is happening and asking them to leave positive reviews to counter the fakes can work.

It isn’t guaranteed to work though. Not all businesses have that kind of customer loyalty and not everyone will want to leave a review. Placing a reply to each fake marking it as such can go a long way to managing the situation.

Fake reviews are something of a plague on Facebook and other review sites. As many companies are spending resources on combating hate speech, fake news, and higher-profile issues, fewer resources are placed with other customer service areas.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I delete a review?

Unfortunately, there’s no ‘delete’ button on a Facebook review. Your only option is to report a review or to respond back to it politely and professionally.

If I disable reviews will the existing reviews disappear?

Yes, until you turn them back on again. If someone really has it out for your business it may be a good idea to disable reviews and allow customers to post their true testimony about your company on your wall.

How can I get more reviews?

Good reviews are great advertising. If you do have one or two bad ones, getting more good ones can bring your score up. To get more reviews you can ask your patrons to leave a review. Some companies will even offer a discount for such a return of gratitude.