Social media “Liking” and “following” can lead to a relationship that is mutually beneficial to brands and consumers, but both sides have to ask the question “what’s in it for me? ”While companies are after data, stats and a somewhat captive audience, users want compelling content, delivered in a personal manner. Even though it takes a bit of extra effort to be real, it’s well worth the earned dedication and following.
Brands, businesses, startups and organizations have a lot to gain from earning new likes and followers. For example, using Facebook’s impressive Insights feature, we’re able to track key demographics and statistics that would otherwise require weeks or months of slow-going surveys. Providing a day-by-day breakdown of how many users are engaged in a post, its virality rate, and its reach, the insights feature becomes an everyday necessity in tracking a campaign’s success rate.
Companies can easily determine their core fan base including age, gender, location, and language. The more likes and followers, the more accurate the statistics.
Knowing this info can help you to:
- focus ads specifically to that demographic
- choose to broaden the field of advertising to reach a variety of targets
- learn what fans do and don’t like
- get real-time feedback on new roll-outs and initiatives
- know whether your marketing tactics are working for or against you
Companies have an infinite number of reasons to seek likes and followers, but consumers must be given reasons to like and follow. Asking an audience to join you is easy enough, but giving them the motivation to do so after every single advertisement that your company throws at them is harder. In order to properly advertise your product and maintain those likes and follows, you must understand what exactly your fans are hoping to gain when they see your product on their Facebook feed.
A user’s feed is filled with posts from their friends and loved ones. Allowing a company to permeate that wall can be a somewhat intimate proposition. Sincerity, humor and relevant entertainment, combined with exclusive deals, sales, contests and plenty of engagement goes a long way to making sure you and your fans stay friends.
