The All-Important Facebook Like

I'm a member of a number of PR/marketing/social media listservs, LinkedIn groups, etc. And for the most part, I find these groups are extremely beneficial and that the members ask good questions and give good advice. But a recent conversation on one of my LinkedIn groups inspired this post...

Ah yes, the Facebook "like." For anyone creating a Facebook page for a brand, an event, a company, a restaurant or retail location, the goal is obvious, right? Get as many "likes" as you can -- after all, that's the best measure of success, right? WRONG.

This came up recently in one of my LinkedIn groups when someone posted that we should all post links to our organization's Facebook pages and then "like" each other's pages. There also was a discussion about an automated "Like Exchange" app that would make it even easier because we wouldn't have to go click the like button ourselves. It would do it automatically for us. (How great... she says sarcastically!) I spoke up against this policy because I'm a big believer that BIGGER (or MORE) isn't always better.

What good is a person who "likes" you on Facebook if he or she never comes back to your page? Never engages with your company/brand/store or your other fans? The answer: No good. That person is a number. Nothing more. And a number doesn't get you additional feedback about your product or another sale, another positive testimonial, another client... and isn't the goal of any marketing to generate dollars? Isn't the goal of social media to ENGAGE with your clients? Just collecting empty "likes" doesn't map against either goal.

You see, I'm all about QUALITY when it comes to marketing and PR. (And it's sad the number of PR pros who aren't.) I'd rather have 50 fans who comment and interact with me and each other than 100 silent/absent ones. Heck, I'd even rather have 25. Because it's the active fans and users of your brand that are going to become your brand advocates. They're the ones who are going to go out and talk about your brand/product, post to your FB page (and thus their own FB walls), and spread the word about how great (or, admittedly, sometimes how awful) you are.

The moral: You can't judget the success of your social media endeavors by numbers of fans. Instead, judge it by how social your fans really are.