The Rise and Fall of the Like

Since the early days of Facebook (yes, even when it was just for the cool college kids,) the debate on how important a “like” was has been a cornerstone in any social media enthusiast’s mind.

And then there was Facebook for all. Once Facebook became an easy-to-navigate social media tool for everyone and their grandma (hi, grandma!) marketers began utilizing the seemingly endless promotional possibilities. Long story short, this app that was once essentially a virtual yearbook, became a huge profit-generating tool for businesses of all sizes. But one thing never changed… let’s call it “likeability.” You see, when Facebook was just for college students, web surfers from campuses across the globe sought to socialize and collect ‘likes,’ from classmates and coeds near and far. Perhaps it was more of popularity contest then… but did we ever really shift our mindset?

For a long time, businesses considered garnering countless likes as a way to show off their credibility or popularity (who doesn’t want to be the prom king of pizza restaurants?) And marketers were guilty of encouraging this chain of thought because it’s what we thought. So, you whip up a promotion, pay some moolah, and boom! You’re instantly popular. (Where was this feature in middle school when copious chunky highlights and self-tanner were a thing?)

Without diving into algorithms and the deep inner workings of Facebook, once upon a time in an Ethernet far far away, the more likes you had as a page meant more people were exposed to your content. And sure, to some degree that’s still true, but it all comes down to engagement. You see, it doesn’t matter if the cool kids in the back of the class “like” your page, if they don’t say “Hi” to you in the hallways. And it’s the same now for business pages, too.

Collectively, we’ve adjusted our way of thinking in the marketing stratosphere, and have began to emphasize that it’s more important to have an engaged following than an innumerable. So what’s our advice? Keep your fans coming back, make the evangelists of your brand thankful that they follow you by sharing thoughtful content. The people that follow your page because they want to are more likely to spend their money with you because they want to. If you’re looking for ways to engage your fans for little to no promotional dollars, visit us here. If you’d still like to learn more about social media marketing (and, c’mon, who wouldn’t?) check out our Small Business Program!

Thanks for stopping by, let us know you ‘liked’ this blog by liking our Facebook page… but you know, only if you want to…