The Difference Between Likers and Listeners

This is a requested post about the reasons people try to get more Likers on Facebook. The reasons behind this are of course the idea that the more Likers you have on your page, the more people you can market your products and/or services to. However, there is a lot more to this tactic than meets the eye.

For your business page on Facebook to be successful you obviously need Likers, the question is Likers at any cost? There are places you can buy Likers for your pages, there are loads of other tactics and strategies to get more Likers for your page including asking your friends, business acquaintances and others to Like your page. But if these people aren't listening to you, commenting, sharing, liking and interacting with your brand then my question to you is what is the point?

So you are far better to go for Listeners, listeners actually want to know more about your brand and your business, products and/or services. They are interested in your marketing messages and expertise, they listen, engage with your posts, commenting, asking questions and sharing your posts to their friends as well as the ubiquitous liking your posts and comments. In other words they care and in return you care about them, a mutual admiration society so to speak.

This is one area it is important for you to go for quality rather than quality. Now you may be ready to argue with me on this point, believing as many do, that having lots of Likers makes you look more successful.

This is where we need to chat about Facebook algorithms.

Facebook Algorithms, Edgerank and News Feed Optimisation:

The very first thing you need to know is about the Facebook algorithms for your page which work in ways that punish pages that have little or no interaction. What? What did you say?

So your Edgerank (time you are allow to appear on your Likers walls and stay there) is directly affected if you have a lot of Likers and only a few people interacting and engaging on your page, because the algorithms work on a percentage basis. This means your News Feed Optimisation is negatively affected by your lust for a quantity of Likers with a low percentage of engagement.

When if you had gone after quality Likers or Listeners as I am calling them here, your reach and power would be positively affected by the amount of engagement on your page in relation to the amount of Likers. It's all about percentages you see.

So a lower population of highly engaged Likers leads to more staying power on the Newsfeeds of your Likers and their friends of friends depending on each persons personal privacy settings. This means more reach for longer.

Now how do you feel about my premise that you need quality Listeners even if it takes longer to build your total Liker population? Are you starting to see the practicality of learning how to engage, converse and connect with your market in ways that gives social proof to each of your marketing messages and conversations?

So Annie How Do I Get More Listeners?

Engagement is the key.

Start highly topical conversations using questions, statements, videos and images. Share great information even if it comes from another site or from someone else straight off your Facebook News Feed. Keep an eye on what kinds of conversations are most important to your listeners by checking on the amount of engagement each one gets and post more of those kinds of conversations.

It's a little like being at a networking gathering some conversations go nowhere, some fall flat and others take off and gather a larger group making the conversation lively and fun. Images and videos often work extremely well although the less wording and the shorter the video the higher the engagement.

Know your market, know what keeps them up at night, know what worries them, know what their big questions are, know what is important to them and know what makes them happy all within your niche us all this knowledge to start and continue relevant conversations with your Likers.

Have a point of view and an opinion, be controversial if you are - it doesn't matter if it is not the normal point of view, just have one and share it with your Likers, if someone disagrees it can lead to some amazing conversations around that topic on your page. Above all be authentic about all this don't play devils advocate unless it is truthful about you and your beliefs. Don't just be controversial for controversy's sake.

Ask questions social media is a great way to do some market research and find out what's important to your market, what trending now in the minds and conversations your market is having about your area of expertise.

Now go out there and have those wonderful, important conversations, inspire your market to Like your page because they want to hear and engage with you and your brand. Remember people do business with people. People they know and like, really like which leads to trust and of course sales and loyalty. Let me know how you go with it all.