The value of a “Like”

October 27, 2011

When we work with our clients on their Facebook pages we always discuss goals. What is their goal for their Facebook page? Often we hear things like “drive traffic to our website”, “customer service” and “engage our customers”. Additionally, we almost always hear “we want more ‘Likes’”. Little do they know they have opened up a can of worms and are in for an enthusiastic 45 minute speech about a topic I love to discuss: The Value of a “Like” on Facebook. Okay, so maybe it doesn’t last 45 minutes but I can be long-winded on the subject.

Times, they are a’ changin’ and a “Like” on Facebook isn’t worth what it once was. Back in tha day, you needed to “like” a Facebook page in order to interact with it such as making a comment on a post or the wall, or even just “liking” a post. Now you can interact with any page on Facebook freely, no “like” required.

Facebook has also made a change to the News Feed, that first page you see when you login to Facebook. You used to see a reverse chronological list of any updates, posts, likes, comments, added photos, etc. as they happened from your friends and the pages you “like”. Now Facebook has an algorithm to show “Top Stories” in your News Feed. A “Top Story” is a post or update with comments, likes, shares and links or photos. Say whaaaat? Engagement actually does matter! You need to post content that is useful and starts a conversation for those who are visiting your Facebook page. That will help your post get in that coveted “Top Stories” spot, increasing impressions (a.k.a. how many eyeballs read the post). Not to mention, when someone interacts with your page, their friends will see that in their news feed, increasing those impressions even more resulting in greater brand awareness for you. Ta-da!

There are even more changes (exciting ones, not scary ones) coming from Facebook that will dilute the value of a “like” even more. But we will leave that for another day and another blog post.

You now might be thinking “so, Kari, what you are saying is that I shouldn’t care about ‘Likes’ right?”. Not exactly. “Likes” on Facebook are nice, it shows your customers care about your brand. It’s just that engagement and interaction are more important and will help deepen the relationship between you and the customer.

Kari Rennie
Social Media Manager

Digital Internet Group