Why social media likes are no longer the correct measure of digital success
Words: Jessica Turner, Managing Director of Confab
Most often when we meet with clients who are self-admittedly not very ‘in touch’ with the digital world, the number one thing that we hear from them in relation to their social media campaigns and digital presence is ‘I want more likes.’
As an agency that specialises in social media management and advanced campaigns, we care a lot less about ‘likes’ than you would think…
Back when the Facebook ‘Like’ was king
When businesses first started cottoning onto the idea that they could set up a Facebook Page and use this platform to market themselves, those were the days when the ‘Facebook Like’ was king. In other words, if you had 1,000 people who had liked your page and you posted an update, a very high percentage of your followers would see that content and so naturally, every business was trying to increase the number of page likes they had, because more likes meant more people seeing and having the opportunity to engage with your content. Enquire now for social media agency in Ballito.
Ruthless algorithms come in to play
A few years later a time came when EVERY business had created a Facebook page and our newsfeeds so became saturated that we couldn’t see our friend’s updates for all the ‘salesly’ content that began to overtake our Facebook experience. How did Facebook combat this issue? They developed algorithms that grew stricter and stricter as the years went by and ruthlessly filtered what content ended up on what newsfeeds.
Did you know that only 6.4% of your followers see your content?
Fast forward to 2019 and you may have 1,000 followers on your Facebook page but only a small percentage, 6.4% to be precise (stats according to social media today), are likely to see your business’s content. That means a total of 64 people out of 1,000 page likes may ever see your update, and then you can further reduce that number when it comes to people within that group of 64 who will then ‘like’ your content. This now poses the question; why would you want to invest money to grow your ‘page likes’ if only a fraction of these people you’ve worked so hard to get to like your page, will ever see the content you post? Our answer is that you shouldn’t be focusing solely on building a huge audience because nowadays, this comes at a cost that will not yield a return on your investment.
Well then how do I reach my target audience?
This now poses the question of ‘is Facebook marketing even worth it?’ and ‘how do I reach my target audience?’ The answer to the first question is a resounding yes, and we have the research and experience with our clients to back up that claim. The answer to the second question is: Advanced Facebook advertising. We do not recommend utilising the Facebook platform as a marketing tool unless you are willing to allocate a budget to paid advertising in order to promote your campaigns. What paid advertising (when done correctly, there’s an art to this) allows your business to do is place your content and campaigns in the newsfeeds of people you specifically target, regardless of whether they have ‘liked’ your page. These ads let you completely bypass your page’s followers and get under the noses of the exact target market of your business.
Disclaimer: We do not advise boosting your posts as a means of advertising, the advertising we are referring to is advanced Facebook advertising tactics.
How we approach social media for our clients
When it comes to each businesses social media needs, we first conduct a social media audit to discover where our clients are currently on their journey and where they want to be. Some important questions we will always ask are around their unique business objectives and goals. If their objectives are ‘brand awareness’ then we are able to approach their social media marketing very specifically in order to achieve this. However, if their objectives are ‘lead generation’ or ‘sales’ which is most often the case, then we advise a very targeted approach to their campaign so that our team is working to achieve this unique objective every day. If your goal as a business is lead generation and sales, but your social media agency is driving for ‘likes’ that are never converting into customers, your money is going to waste. Don’t get us wrong, there is a place for ‘likes’ but this depends on your objectives as a business. Don’t be fooled into thinking that likes mean sales and leads. While that may have been true back in 2012, that is no longer the case today. Unfortunately for all of us.
This article may come as a shock to some readers, however all hope is not lost. Social media marketing is as effective today as it’s ever been, you just have to have the right strategy and digital marketing Durban partners working with you to ensure that your social media campaign is working for you.
Related Tag: Social Media Agency Ballito
If you’d like a social media audit done for your business and a strategy drawn up that is highly targeted and focused on achieving your specific objectives, we’d love to chat with you. Click here to set up a meeting