Almost everyone it seems has been bitten by the Facebook bug at one time or another. Even businesses that want to keep up with the social media trend have their own Facebook business page, where one click of the ‘Like’ button becomes the easiest way to show appreciation of a page or a post.
“EVERYONE WHO USES A FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE SHOULD STOP AND CONSIDER WHAT FACEBOOK LIKES REALLY MEAN FOR THEIR BUSINESS.”
First stop, it’s important to understand that the Pages feature was created by Facebook as an avenue for businesses to instantly connect with customers online. Unfortunately, back when this was still all new, that nifty little ‘Like’ button you click on was all that mattered. The more ‘likes’ your page gets, the more popular you seem to be which could get more users to ‘like’ you. Ultimately, one could translate this as more satisfied customers, right? But sometimes we get too caught up watching the ‘Likes’ go up like points in a popularity contest that we don’t stop to question what it really contributes to the business. It does have its merits, right? Everyone who uses a Facebook business page should stop and consider what Facebook Likes really mean for their business. Here are three benefits you need to know:
1. Achieving instant and exponential exposure
The viral nature of social networking means that brand and product exposure on sites like Facebook has the potential to grow exponentially in a short time. When a Facebook user ‘likes’ your page or its contents, this user’s friends will see it in their News Feeds. And if these users share the same interests, chances are, new users would get to know about you too. Also, every time you put up a post or comment on something, your fans would see it in the News Feed. That’s an opportunity for your page to be visible to more users through your fans and contacts.
2. Building customer community and engagement
Users who ‘like’ your page instantly receive updates from you via their News Feeds. What this does aside from giving your brand and product more visibility, is to open opportunities for engagement between business and customer. Not only would they stay informed of your activities and promotions, they could also engage in conversations with you. This is helpful because you’d have the chance to answer consumer-related queries, comments, and concerns. Imagine if you had let’s say, even as little as one hundred ‘likes’. You now have the opportunity of being connected and engaged with one hundred potential consumers.
3. Getting the right kind of ‘Likes’
You could end up with more than ten thousand likes but that doesn’t instantly equate to having ten thousand strong customers. Think of it this way: you could be the most popular student in school and have tons of friends but you ultimately have only a handful of true friends. So how do you weed out the real ‘likes’ from the fake ones? Luckily, Facebook started clearing house more than a year ago, removing fraudulent ‘likes’ to business pages that may have come from duplicate, fake, or suspicious accounts. This means you’re left with, more or less, the genuine ‘likes’ to your business page.