You probably have heard the dire predictions for Facebook marketing. As the organic reach of any single Facebook page is continually reduced, soon virtually no one will see your posts just by chance in their newsfeed. Some have argued that this means the end of the importance of Facebook likes altogether. After all, what could Facebook likes possibly matter if no fans see your posts?
This logic may be tempting to listen to, but it’s simply wrong. There are a few reasons why Facebook likes still REALLY matter for every company.
Social Validation: Perhaps the biggest and most enduring reason that Facebook likes still matter is for social validation. No matter how much we can pretend it doesn’t matter, the popularity of a product or service influences our views. If thousands of people like a small, local restaurant on Facebook, people take notice. They assume that it must be popular for a reason, and the popularity snowballs. Low numbers of likes, however, give potential customers pause, especially if you’ve been in business for a while. They start to wonder if there is a problem with your offer. A large number of page likes make you seem more established, trusted, and supported by a higher number of fans–and therefore more appealing.
Likes Increase Your Perception as an Influencer: When you have a large following on Facebook, you get the bump in advertising power that comes with being an influencer. This has a twofold impact. First, you get an edge on the competition. Almost everyone is on Facebook nowadays. If you are beating your competitors in likes, you’ll be seen as the top of your field, increasing your reach. In addition, powerful collaborators prefer to work with other influencers. You can market your Facebook page as a marketing channel for important potential business partners. These collaborations give you access to a totally new network and increased exposure.
The Friends of Your Fans Quickly Become Your Fans: Facebook ads are more effective if you can show that a friend has previously liked your fan page. In fact, a person who sees your ad is 50% more likely recall it and the ad achieves a 35% higher online sales lift if a friend has like the page previously. Besides this, it is easier to target friends of your fans through targeted Facebook ads, which tend to have a much higher ROI than those targeted simply by demographics.
More Momentum = More Views: Finally, organic views of your posts still exist–and the more fans you have, the more views you get. This isn’t just a numbers game. It’s a momentum game. The more people who like and comment on any single post, the more powerfully it plays into Facebook’s algorithm. In other words, if enough of your fans interact with a post on Facebook, more people will later view its content organically. That means that you still get the organic views you hoped for. Sure, it’s unlikely that any post will be seen by 100% of your fans–or even half of them. That doesn’t mean that a significant number of people won’t be influenced by your content if you have enough page likes, though. After all, a 6% reach to your 100,000 fans still means that 6,000 people are interacting with any given content.
With social media becoming an increasingly important source of information for the average customer, it’s important that your company doesn’t let its presence on Facebook slide. That means that you still need to prioritize getting as many likes as possible, whether on your pages or simply on individual posts. If you are struggling to get the likes you want, it is worth getting help from an internet marketing specialist. Likes still produce a positive return on investment when done right.
