Like versus “like”
They like you, they like you not
Facebook brought to the public eye relationship statuses such as “In an open relationship” and “It’s complicated”. Both of which may mean one thing to one party and another to the other.
Why is this relevant? In a semantics-laden twist of irony, we now see literature on how “liking”/”following” a brand on social media is different from actually liking it.
Emarketer reports that liking a brand on Facebook means:
- To consumers: I am interested in perks
- To brands: My fans are loyal customers
(I can’t fathom why brands would ever think that, since they often invite consumers to become fans as a stepping stone to clinching a purchase.)
This article in Fast Company hits the nail on the head in saying fandom is not true engagement. It goes on to suggest how to close the “vast expanse between the transactional moment when a consumer likes, friends, or follows a site and the instant that same consumer becomes a brand evangelist, entering into a state of emotional commitment.” Its six steps can probably be collapsed into four:
- Get personal
- Offer genuine value
- Be responsive
- Quality of posts trumps quantity (note: the negative example cited is actually held up in some quarters as best practice for creating “engagement”)
Honestly, none of this is really new or a solution. But it does give brand managers ammunition to pooh-pooh sloppy campaign proposals from agencies that don’t bother to dig deeper into what the numbers mean.
My takeout is that the key to migrating fans from likers to engagers, buyers and advocates is to answer the “What’s in it for me?” question. As it always has been.
