- Image by debaird™ via Flickr
In a world of likes, what is the value of engagement?
Facebook made "like" easy. Just a click. No comments, no attachment, no real interaction. Just a click.
So why do we constantly value our campaigns and social activities by this low effort measurement?
It might be that we don't have enough tools to really understand the value and quality of our social web marketing activities.
But it might be because it is easier to count likes and fans than get to the bottom of these new tools and platforms.
And maybe it's because we are working too hard to be cool and "social" and "new" that we forget that social marketing is at the end of the day a part of digital marketing - which in turn suppose to provide clear business value.
Engagement doesn't matter if it doesn't grow the business. Likes are useless if they don't help the company to grow by either lowering costs, increasing revenues, or increasing customer satisfaction.
Digital marketers have a huge responsibility - we are ahead of the curve for most of our clients. We should always remember that at the end of the day we need to justify our retainer and project fees, with proper increase in revenues - or achievement of a clear business goal.
So, what's the business value of Like?
5 Comments
זה מאוד נכון, השאלה היא האם אנחנו המלייקקים לא עוברים בעצמנו איזשהו תהליך אבולוציוני בעקבות מהפכת הלייק ומתחילים לחשוב פעמיים לפני שלוחצים על הכפתור. זה נכון שזו פעולה מאוד קלה ופשוטה אבל אני חושבת שאנשים חושבים לפני שמפיצים ולו רק בשביל לא להעמיס על הניוז פיד של החברים שלהם (כדי שלא יימחקו אותם או יחסמו את הפיד שמגיע מהם) אבל אולי זו רק אני? לדעתי אנשים כן חושבים על מה שהם חולקים (אני אומרת אנשים ולא ילדים כי זה פחות תופס לגביהם) ולכן אולי בכל זאת יש איזשהו ערך לכמות הלייקים.
It is marginal if looked upon as business activity
Agreed that “like” is useless to begin with and the ease of which you can like/unlike/like/unlike with a click of a button makes it something people are liable to do without actually caring at all about the post or the author.
It's a nice way for people to endorse something by putting their “me too” on it, but it's also creating a path of least resistance when it comes to online interaction, where people are content to click a button and move on instead of thinking about and posting their own opinions on the topic.
I think the Like button has become rather Pavlovian – we who receive the “Like” feel validated, right or endorsed – those who click the “Like” feel like they've participated, engaged, encouraged and agreed. Both feel rewarded even when there truly is no reward.
This is what I think the “Like” button does for the product/campaign… it spreads the word in your network. The probability of a person trying out a new eat out/product or anything else for that matter is if, their friends recommend it. The “Lie” button essentially adds “recommendations” . It’s the word of mouth propaganda. While being the least enganging… it seems to be effective. Why should engagement entail spending a lot of time? You try a product or even read about it and then either, Like or Unlike something right?