On Facebook, I think everyone will agree that likes are good. The more likes, the better the potential to reach people. A goal of reaching a higher number of likes, or percentage growth of likes over a specific period of time, is a decent goal to have. Likes are a requirement on Facebook. If no one is liking you, then all you have is another area to post advertisements and contact information. Everyone agrees, Likes are nice.
People Are Talking About This, on the other hand, is excellent.
Lots of things fall into this catagory. Here’s a list.
- liking a Page
- posting to a Page’s Wall
- liking, commenting on or sharing a Page post (or other content on a page, like photos, videos or albums)
- answering a Question posted
- RSVPing to an event
- mentioning a Page in a post
- phototagging a Page
- checking in at a Place.
To put it more simply, these people are actively engaging with your Facebook page in some way, within the last week. Although this information can be set for different time durations, the portion that loads automatically on your Facebook Timeline or Wall is referencing the last week, so it’s important to note that.
So what is it about Talking About that makes me consider it substantially more important than Likes alone? A Facebook user has the ability to easily hide posts from his or her wall. That means that they can like you, but never see any of your postings. Therefore, Like is a requirement, but not an accurate measuring tool as to how many people are engaging with your brand. Talking About, on the other hand, shows that there is engagement.
Likes is a number. It doesn’t tell a story to you, the admin of a page. Your likes typically don’t go up due to new content, unless it is shared by someone. Your likes don’t change due to a funny picture, unless someone interacts with it, and someone new sees that interaction. It’s harder to recognize trends around Likes. Meanwhile, you can see trends on Talking About. In fact, monitoring these trends can tell you what type of content is more engaging to your audience, and can help you see what you need to post more of, or what to stay away from. You can’t do that with Likes.
