As a business owner who uses Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for Social Media Marketing, it\’s important to understand the value of a \”like.\”
An interesting thing to note is that there is a segment of fans who actively follow businesses and frequently react to published content on social media. While these people are generous with likes and comments, it does not necessarily correlate that they are actually buying the products and/or services of the accounts they are showing support for. Even so, anyone who engages with your posts and shares your content – even if they are not yet a customer – is doing you a big favor. Every small action and reaction in relation to your content, combined with others, contribute to the bank of information social platforms use to determine the overall reach of everything you post. Greater engagement = greater exposure.
Keep in mind too, that while everyone who likes your posts may not be a customer YET, they are evidently finding value in what you have to say. When they are ready to buy, your consistent presence in their news feed makes it far more likely that your business will get the sale.
Social networks track user behavior to come up with algorithms that determine how much exposure a post will get. On Facebook, for example, with the tremendous volume of information users are exposed to every day, their algorithm uses a relevancy score to determine which posts to display higher in a user\’s news feed at any given time.
Here are a few general tips for business pages to follow when creating content for social sharing.
- Write compelling headlines.
- Avoid overly promotional content.
- Experiment. Every audience is different. Use both long-form content and short-form posts to mix it up and see which style your audience prefers.
- Try different formats, switching up the use of video, visuals, and written content.
True user engagement results in increased brand awareness. Follower loyalty happens with great content. Great content generates likes!