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How to Improve Engagement: The Difference Between Likes and Follows?

There has always been a bit of confusion on the order of importance between Facebook Likes and Facebook Follows for small businesses as they try to capitalise on Facebook organic marketing. In this article we are going to explain the difference between Facebook “likes” and Facebook “follows” to show you how to improve Facebook engagement on your content for your business pages.

 Facebook ‘Likes’ and ‘Follows’ are two different ways for people to interact with Facebook Pages and their content. A ‘Facebook Like’ indicates general approval or interest in that particular page but may not necessarily have interest to receive updates on its content, while a ‘Facebook Follow’ subscribes you to someone’s updates which makes you part of the audience of that page that you follow as you will receive their updates on your newsfeed regularly or whenever they post.

Facebook Likes Discontinued

Since Facebook announced In January 2021 that they will be discontinuing the ‘Like button’ in favor of the ‘Follow button’, some small businesses have not really understood the implications of this at all.  A sizeable percentage of small even medium to big businesses still do not know what is the difference and how is it all-important for their business page’s content engagement.

This could mean a huge difference in how they create their content marketing strategies and their success could either be hampered or enhanced by how much they understand this seemingly tiny difference.

As a result of the 2021 changes, Facebook ‘follows’ are now considered a more meaningful interaction since people must actively choose to follow a Page. It would help small businesses’ content goals planning to understand that Facebook’s algorithms value engaged ‘followers’ over sheer ‘Like’ numbers.

This helps ensure that the people seeing your Page’s posts in their News Feed are truly interested in your content for various reasons, thus it is important to put this into consideration when you plan your social content engagement strategy.

Before the January 2021 announcement this distinction used to matter a lot for Facebook algorithms and page ranking. In the past, Likes were weighted more heavily and resulted in greater distribution and reach for Page posts. However, after the January 2021 announcement, Facebook has been de-emphasizing Likes on business pages, groups, and personal profiles.

Great Value for Small Business

For small businesses, focusing on gaining engaged ‘Followers’ rather than mass ‘Likes’ can be more beneficial for your social marketing and content goals. ‘Followers’ are more loyal fans who are likely to interact with your content through comments, shares, or clicks which is called engagement and algorithms treat that with great regard.

This engagement signals to Facebook’s algorithm that your Page’s posts are relevant and should be distributed more widely because it keeps their platform interesting with engaged audiences.

While ‘Likes’ still provide some validity, Facebook is pushing businesses to focus more on growing their ‘Followers’ counts and you would benefit from understanding this fact as you create marketing content.

Followers act as brand ambassadors who can help extend the reach of your content through their own networks as they will share with their friends but remember they will only share consistently meaningful content rather than dull random posts. So, for best results, aim to create valuable updates that motivate Page visitors to Follow your business.

What is engagement all about on Facebook business pages?

Engagement refers to interactions that people have with your Facebook business page posts. This includes reactions (likes, loves, haha’s, wows, etc.) comments, and shares.

High engagement on your posts is important for two main reasons

  1. It signals to Facebook’s algorithm that your content is relevant and useful. This can help Facebook distribute your posts to more people in their News Feed. The more people engage with your content the more relevant algorithms view your page and the more it will be shared with your audiences and appear on suggested pages belts on news feeds.
  2. When people engage with your content it indicates that they feel more connected to your brand. When people like, comment on, or share your posts they are showing that they find your content valuable. This is what should be the overall lubricating factor when you plan your content strategy goals as it can help build loyalty and advocacy over time. Engaged followers may be more likely to purchase from you or recommend your service or product solutions to others.

The ultimate goal is to create content that provides solutions and/or answers bugging questions for your target audience because that is what will make them genuinely want to interact. The more relevant, valuable, and entertaining your posts are, the higher the potential for engagement. And that engagement, in turn, can help boost the reach and success of your Facebook marketing.

How To Improve Engagement For Small Businesses?

audience simulation cube with like icon

Engagement is key for active and thriving Facebook pages and if members aren’t regularly interacting with posts, the page will become stale. To increase engagement on your page, you first need to determine what type of content will resonate with your targeted audiences.

This may involve directly asking audiences what they want to see more of, or you may need to pay close attention to which current posts generate the most interactions.

You can create polls and share them on the same groups or on your page to reach your followers. Another way could be following business groups and listening to what is it that people are struggling with, what are the recurring queries that need answers, then finding solutions for those and creating content around them.

If you don’t have a good sense of the content your audiences want, it will be difficult to increase engagement.

• Post relevant, valuable content. After understanding what people are looking for concerning your business you need to work on content ideas that will make them sit up and pay attention to your content. The most important thing is to post the type of content that your followers and fans actually want to see.

You also need to pay attention to either your competition or similar businesses or niche-related pages to see which posts already generate the most engagement and model more content like that.

• Ask questions and start discussions. Think of post ideas that ask your followers questions or invite them to share opinions, experiences, and recommendations. These tend to generate a lot of engagement through the comments and from the same you may glean even more content ideas; open-ended questions work best.

• Share exclusive promotions. Offering deals, discounts, or giveaways that are only available to your Facebook followers is a great way to motivate more people to engage with your page.

• Publish helpful how-tos and tips. Provide useful advice, checklists, guides, and other information that can benefit your customers and followers. Focus on topics related to your business and industry.

• Show behind-the-scenes content- Photos and videos from your office, products in development, warehouse operations, etc. give followers an insider look at your business. You may need to show your services being delivered if you are a service-based business, find a better way to showcase this perhaps in a video format, etc.

• Respond to comments- Engage with your followers by responding to their comments, questions, and feedback on your posts. This encourages others to participate and builds a sense of community.

• Go live- Consider doing live videos to engage with followers in real-time. They can ask questions and get immediate answers from you directly.

• Share customer reviews and testimonials. Hearing what others think about your business and products can inspire engagement from your other followers.

• Mix up your post types. Variety helps keep things interesting! Use a combination of photos, videos, text posts, links, GIFs, interactive polls, and other formats.

By mixing up your content with different types of engaging posts, and routinely responding to follower comments, you can build a real community around your small business Facebook page. If you don’t have a good sense of the content your members want, it will be difficult to increase engagement.

Other strategies to ensure your content is engaging

The key is to focus on creating the kind of valuable, useful content that your specific followers actually want.

  • Daily Morning Fun Posts

You can take your time every morning and post a simple good morning post with a quote or something similar, it will make a difference on someone’s day indeed and you may never know the impact that would have on your audiences. You can post such posts with a simple image of your product or graphic of your services or put a logo on it just to stamp the brand on the viewer’s mind. You can use a theme for example your morning images could revolve around the theme of coffee or cereal, or any of the morning rituals that people readily know and engage in.

You can even have the question of the day for people to engage on comments daily or even once a week it is still okay but you need consistency once you begin with that.

Once established, those small daily habits make a huge difference for building an online community. Make it a habit that you share something positive every morning that you will relate back to your business in a very short snippet, the more you do this the more your audiences get used to this and expect it daily and the more they engage with your content. 

So, don’t underestimate the power of a simple “good morning” post! Those regular reminders of your brand combined with chances for people to interact can slowly but meaningfully build loyalty and community over time.

  • Useful Graphic Content

Every day you can create a simple graphic that will relate to the product or service that you are selling, it could be a special of the day or associated with any of the big commerce events like Mother’s Day, etc. You could give tips for something your product or service solves. Tips to clean stains from your desktop, (if you are selling cleaning spray etc.) 5 tips to spruce up your look (if you are selling clothes, etc.)

All of this information will always find relevance with someone who may already use and enjoy either your product/service or something similar and that may even make them realize you are offering more value than whoever they use.

  • Outbound interaction

As much as you need people to engage with your content you also must remember these platforms are called social media as a descriptive noun because they are first and foremost about socializing. This means it never will be effective if it is a one-way channel, your page too needs to be seen engaging in other people’s content. You also need to be responding and liking other people’s content regularly and you can do this in various ways, such as joining groups and adding value to groups by commenting and recommending more sources, etc.

You may also like your audience’s content on a regular basis to show that you not only see and think of them as some automatons to be sold to or spoken to but you see and value them as humans who have an important role in your brand and business journey.

Conclusion

Unless you sit down and strategise on how you are going to approach your social media engagements for your business, you will find yourself overwhelmed with fruitless interactions that are more random and useless to your business growth. You need to be clear about what exactly is the end goal for your brand’s social media presence, be crystal clear because it may not always be about selling, you may actually need to first build your brand awareness for some time without rushing to force sales, you may find out as you keep building towards this goal more requests for purchases pop out of that engagement. The most important ingredient is consistency because humans live and function through established habits. There are many ways to make sure you maintain consistency through scheduling and planning your content way in advance. There are scheduling apps that can help you set this in place for free.

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