LIKEs Are Meaningless; Only Engagement Matters

Do you agree or disagree with this statement? There is a right answer that we will eventually get to, but it is not so black and white, there is some grey area. Check this fact, the average value of a Facebook Fan is 21 cents per year, while some businesses can make over $20 a year off each LIKE. (do LIKEs really matter?)

A LIKE on a business page from a consumer is defined as the consumer inviting you into their home to get to know you better. There is a big difference “visually” when you go to a business page and see that 365 people LIKE the page vs. a page that has, say, 1,400 LIKEs. The LIKE number creates validity in today’s consumer buying cycle, or does it?

What if I told you that of those 1,400 only 365 people actually engaged with the page on a consistent basis. Wait, what happened to the 1,100 others? Well, the truth is, some profiles are fake (damn!) or were created for a one time contest entry (hence having no real correlation with your brand and less likely to tell a friend about you). Again, do LIKEs really matter to the overall strategy? Remember quality vs. quantity? Well, in the social media case, quality wins.

Yes, LIKE numbers are important, but what is more important, is the engagement number. You can’t do anything on social without engagement. How long can you brag about yourself, your company, your products? How many 20% offers can you give out in one period of time because you think that is what makes your LIKEs go up?

Here is a simple tip: the 80/20 rule – 80% focused on information that your audience wants and 20% focused on the business, the products, the selling. It’s not about hitting people over the head anymore; it’s about drawing them in. It’s about convincing them to want your messages, to habitually train them to trust what you have to say. Because after all, engagement is queen and she rules the house.

So next time you go searching for business pages to LIKE, look at the engagement over the numbers. Engagement becomes the brand’s validity that they are reaching their target audience with information that they actually want.