It's Not All About "Likes"

There are many metrics in the market to measure a campaign:‘Likes, shares, comments, followers, favorites, retweets, you name it. These are the standard metrics that marketers embrace to justify their marketing campaigns.

The ‘Like’ Argument

In a recent study done by Association of National Advertisers (ANA) 2014 Social Content Development Survey (see image courtesy of eMarketer.com), these are the metrics used by marketers to measure the effectiveness of their social media campaigns. A whopping 89% measure effectiveness based on ‘Likes’ and only 24% on sales conversion.

Hang on; shouldn’t it be ‘Likes’ and HOW that translates to sales? The disparity in the statistics above shows a stark contrast.  Marketers are relying on vanity metrics instead of focusing on the entire conversion process. 

Why is this so?

Let’s take a step back.

A ‘Like’ is essentially a sticker of affirmation that someone is interested in your brand or that you have somethingthat appeals to them. That doesn’t mean they will actually buy your product, advocate and support your initiatives, nor do anything further beyond clicking the ‘Like’ button.

SO WHAT REALLY ARE ‘LIKES’?  Something not quite marketing, not quite advertising, not quite branding and not quite PR.  In a world where points win prizes, what is the prize for a ‘Like’? Facebook’s media currency of choice certainly has value - $100bn worth.

Bringing this back to the ‘Likes’ and the sales conversion process: as a marketer, what are your priorities when your company (or product) posts a status update on any of the social networks? Are you generating ‘white noise’, potentially causing brand friction, pollution or even confusion?

There are just too many companies out there looking for ‘Likes’ because as one client said, “Many ‘Likes’ is cool! It seems as though we are the market leader.”  As social media consultants, whilst we like to see big numbers of ‘clicks’, ‘tweets’, ‘Likes’, ‘pins’ , we are more concerned about metrics that count, such as engagement rate, conversion rate, reach and impression, frequency, PR and increased traffic in-store or online.

Unless that ‘Like’ is attributable (directly or indirectly) to your bottom line, having a million followers doesn’t matter.  I’d rather have only 500 active fans that are engaged and conversing, sharing their thoughts, giving feedback (both positive and negative), than 50,000 disengaged clones.  These influencers are your brand ambassadors, focus group, target audience and biggest critics.  They are the ones who will make the conversion happen, and drive others to your product and ultimately to sales.

The message, as always, is that quality trumps quantity.  Having many low-quality ‘Likes’ does not necessarily bring any business value.  They are vanity metrics that do not increase your revenue.  So whilst ‘Likes’ are nice, your social media strategy should focus on getting advocates, building rapport, and then seeing ‘Likes’ translate to sales. Now that is a measurement to reckon with!

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