If you have a Facebook page, you are likely aware that you can track the total engagement on your posts. This feature also shows you how many people your post has reached, it is no secret Facebook are making organic reach almost impossible. So is there value in the many services that serve up fake “likes”, granted this may make you appear more social media active than you really are. The problem with this strategy is that although you may appear “Facebook Famous”, you won’t be getting any engagement from your users because chances are, most of them will be inactive or fake accounts. Facebook have been vocal in saying pages with lots of fake likes will suffer a drop in ranking, in order to stop these fake likes from being used. The underlying point being, your success on Facebook is never determined by how many likes you have, how many times you post or how often you check your notifications. It is all down to your engagement.
Engagement Rates and Posts
A page with 100 likes that is getting 1 click on each post is technically more successful than a page with thousands of likes who are also getting 1 click. So how do you make sure that your posts are getting the attention they deserve? One way to do this would be to first make sure that people are seeing your posts. If people aren’t seeing your posts, then it is no surprise t
hat they aren’t clicking them. One way to make sure that people see your posts is to cross-reference them with your other social media accounts. Instead of driving likes to your page, make sure that you direct your users to individual posts. Companies often send out messages saying “Like us on Facebook”, however most people will delete this message in a nanosecond. Instead try posting a blog with half of the content to your LinkedIn profile, with a read more option that directs them to your Facebook page. Doing this effectively will boost both views and engagement on each of your individual posts, encouraging Likes as well as making sure that every post you display gets the individual attention it deserves.
Why Asking For Likes Isn’t Effective
So why isn’t asking for likes effective? The answer is simple. People don’t tend to do what you ask them! You will also find that they don’t want you to clog up their newsfeed when they don’t have an interest in your company. By using the read more method above, you can spark their interest as well as showing them that you do have something to offer them. Another option is to use the 140 character tweet on Twitter to create a tempting reason to click on the shortened URL, which of course redirects directly to you Facebook post. Try and make your posts catchy, intriguing and gripping, so they really make the reader want to learn more. Do this with your Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and other social media accounts, and you can cross-reference them with great success. This is just one method that has proven to be more effective than simply asking for likes and it can go a long way when you are trying to build trust with your users as well as your potential customers.