How to get it right selling on Facebook

Apart from the ability to share or comment, the Like feature is also a fundamental aspect of Facebook. The impact of a Like is often overlooked. For business owners, understanding this is imperative to Facebook marketing.

The Like feature on Facebook was created for two reasons. First, as a way to let people easily indicate their approval of something. According to Facebook, it is “an easy way to let someone know that you enjoy it, without leaving a comment.”

Secondly, the Like function helps to make a connection to a Facebook Page — meaning you can communicate with your customers.

Being connected to a Facebook Page is just like adding a friend. It gives your friends direct access to your updates and messages. This means better exposure. This button allows users to easily express how they feel about a fellow users’ post, but more importantly, it gives Facebook insight into what topics fans are interested in.

Facebook uses algorithms to decide what shows up in your feed, dependent on what you like. But what’s the difference between liking a post and liking a page?

The Facebook Like button is the easiest and quickest way someone can show appreciation of a post or a Page. Just one quick click and comments from a business Page will start appearing in your News Feed.

This is the key purpose of the Like button: by clicking Like, users are saying they are happy to see a business’s page content in their News Feed, potentially leading to more engagement.

The Like button’s simplicity is also its downside. A Like doesn’t necessarily mean that a user has properly engaged with a business, it only takes one click after all. Although Likes are often a gateway to better sorts of engagement such as comments, they don’t make further engagement a certainty.

Also, if someone likes your Page or post, there’s no real way to thank them. If someone comments on your page, it opens up the possibility of an actual conversation.

Social media analysts argue that it’s not just about the quantity of Facebook likes, it’s about the quality. You need to attract the right audience and engage them in ways that align to your business goals.

To make maximum use of Facebook as a business tool, most of the time, the only thing people see from your company’s Facebook Page is the profile picture, cover image, and short description. Make sure your brand’s images and description are engaging, encapsulate what your company does, and encourages people to like your page.

Don’t stop there, make sure you fill out as much of your Page Info as you can. Select the categories and subcategories that best describe your company, include your website URL, list your address, phone number, and hours of operation.

All of this information will help your page appear in Facebook and Google search when people are looking for companies like yours, which can increase your Facebook likes even more. It’s important to post engaging, entertaining, and interesting content on your business Page.

People are unlikely to Like your Facebook page if you don’t post regularly. How often should you post? There is no magic number but many best practice guides suggest three times a week to once a day.

Use social media monitoring tools to measure, analyse, and learn. Use Facebook Insights to find useful metrics on your Page performance. You can view metrics like reach, number of engaged users, engagement rate, and new Page likes. These metrics will help you understand what’s driving your likes and engagement, so that you can adjust your posts accordingly.

You can also use our free Facebook analytics tool, LikeAlyser to get personalised recommendations for your company’s Facebook Page.

Wambugu is a monitoring and evaluation specialist; [email protected]