Recently I met with a digital agency who tried to pitch his work by the number of facebook likes he had sourced for a brand page. This was used as a milestone. Now, I have a problem with this. I believe that brands are not meant to be merely liked. They are much like your fb friends. So shouldn’t they interact the same way?
They should be talked to and a dialogue should emerge. Just like you, a brand should manage its interests and join networks accordingly. Is the brand young and cool? Join networks where the young and cool people hang out. Here are three types of brand behavior on facebook
Connect and sleep – Out of my 700 friends, around 400 are just a one-timer who connected on a sunny morning and never shared anything later.
Connect and update – You have definitely come across these people on your friend list. They splash your wall with updates about what time they woke up, who they met for breakfast, work life, night life and so on. Notice these updates are all monologues. They leave no scope for a dialogue.
Connect and engage – And then there is the actual friends list who share interesting stuff, take an active interest in the stuff you say and engage in a dialogue. These are people you would want to keep in touch with.
Most brands fall in category 1 and 2. Those who take care to engage, end up being talked about the most. So move away from mere fb Likes. It’s ok to have a smaller fan base if you have managed to convert your fans to loyal friends.
I agree. The first rung of facbook fans, which a page gets comes from close friends who do so just because of you. Such fans don’t really bother about the content. Then there are others who see a friend liking a page and follow suit with no reason. The number of likes as you have said do not matter at all. Interaction is key. Brilliant article! Thanks