Getting Facebook page likes is a critical goal of every Facebook page owner, but is having lots of Facebook page likes that important? Will, a high number of Facebook page likes lead to better engagement and higher revenue for your business? In this article, we’ll show why you shouldn’t be so obsessed with this particular metric.
Facebook page likes alone doesn’t matter
Facebook remains the largest among social media platforms. With 2.32 billion people using Facebook every month, no business can ignore that figure. Facebook’s sheer size though doesn’t always equate to higher participation; being a user yourself doesn’t mean you’ll be connecting with every one of those 2+ billion people.
If your page managed to gain precious likes from a chunk of Facebook’s population, then consider that as a good start. However, Facebook page likes alone won’t bring any significant value due to the following reasons:
- Likers are not always engagers: People who liked your page are called fans. More fans, however, doesn’t mean better engagement. According to a 2013 study cited by SocialSamosa, only 1% of business page likers will take time to visit the business’ Facebook page.
- Facebook likes don’t equate to better business: While more fans mean more potential customers, there’s a limited possibility that fans will bring in more sales.
It appears that Facebook page likes are overrated as there’s no guarantee that these likes will translate to more engagement and sales.
What should you focus on?
The facts above are not meant to discourage you from pursuing more Facebook page likes. As a page owner, you should know the value you can get from having the attention of an audience. Once you get started on getting those likes, here are other things you should also focus on:
- Go for engagement: Treat Facebook as a venue for interaction instead of a channel for amassing likes. Good thing, engagement is free—you can engage your fans without paying for promoting your posts. Your posts could stop going viral, but you can still engage by talking to your fans or starting a conversation. Here are some tips to increase your Facebook page engagement.
- Use local pages: Compared to business pages, local pages have five times more reach, eight times more engagement, and 40 times more impact.
- Don’t depend on Facebook alone: As Facebook is getting saturated, your organic reach on Facebook is getting smaller. Data from Forrester shows that Facebook is at the bottom of the list of marketing platforms when it comes to bringing value to businesses. You should expand your efforts on other marketing platforms like Instagram.
We showed here that Facebook page likes aren’t all that matters, but you shouldn’t ditch them entirely. As a Facebook page owner, likes are still good, but they should not be the only thing that you focus on. Look also for engagement, create local pages, and explore other platforms besides Facebook.
