I’ve been thinking how much social media has evolved in its short life.
A like on Facebook for business has no value whatsoever. It doesn’t show any level of engagement, it just shows that people want to be seen liking your business as they believe it will make them look good to their own peer group, or they want to enter one of your competitions and this is your entry requirement. So, for example, if you run Vegetarian cooking classes for experts. Some of your followers will want to show how advanced their vegetarian cooking skills are and a ‘like’ positions them as this to their own audience.
In the same way none of us ever need to give to charity any more, we just need to share the tweets and articles of others who write about what they are doing for charity. The most cynical gain all of the charitable halo, without any of the hard work. It gives them the ability to show their peers how benevolent they are and never need to reach into their pockets.
So this is a the REAL battle for business. A like isn’t a friend. it’s an alignment. There must be a way of extracting value from this, but as a stand alone like, a favourite or even a share, it’s still only an indication of a position and not any form of buying signal.
I am convinced that today’s socially savvy have enough ‘friends‘. Whether they know them all or not is a different matter. So, as brand owners, we need to slowly allow them to get to know us and offer them the same courtesy in return. Don’t stick your social media tongue down their throat on a first encounter, but rather allow the relationship to grow and flourish and you’ll have a chance of becoming social lovers.
Try it, see what happens, but feel free to share this with your own audience and i’ll see how wise you really are.
Why does an audience member clap?
To show appreciation for a performance I would suggest. Why do you ask?
I would add that sometimes someone wants to click ‘Like’ to show that they do actually like something – the online equivalent of applause
okay, point taken, but I disagree that it is as committed as actual applause in front of a performance you have actually paid to go and see. ‘Like’ for me is a bit like ‘nice’ – Just not really enough to show you genuinely care.
Establishing good relationships with the audience or “likers” of your Facebook page is indeed vital for the success of business with social media. i would just like to add that even if some people simply “Like” your page to impress their peers, there is still an added benefit of increasing the audience of your page and enticing more potential clients.
Kath
I agre with your point about the extra traffic, but it is worth bearing in mind that Google only seems to rank ‘Good’ traffic’ ie visitors who hang around on your site and maybe even move towards a contact or comment page. SO thanks for the comment!