Likes are everywhere. The expression “Like us on Facebook” has become so widespread that it has become part of our daily lives. But it hasn’t always been this way, and our desire to get more likes on Facebook is relatively recent.
In 2007, the social media platform FriendFeed was the first to give users the ability to like a post. It was only two years later, in 2009, that Facebook added an identical feature to its platform. Since then, the entire planet has been trying by all means to get more likes on Facebook.
While the total number of Facebook users declined for the first time in early 2022, the platform’s potential audience remains enormous, and getting likes on Facebook still helps promote your business. content from some 2.11 billion accounts.
Read on to learn more about the place of likes in your Facebook marketing and how to prioritize “real” likes to thrive on the platform.
Why are Facebook likes important?
Likes are important because they help determine which posts Facebook’s algorithm will place at the top of users’ feeds. The algorithm works like a “black box” capable of classifying publications: it receives a large amount of information and builds, from this, the user’s feed.
Likes and the platform’s algorithm have a long history in common. Moreover, the first algorithm was based solely on likes.
The characteristics of Facebook’s current algorithm are a closely guarded secret, although likes are likely an important component. They are a bit like the tip of the iceberg, the one that everyone can see.
Likes serve as social proof
While most of the parameters used by the Facebook algorithm remain invisible to users, the same is not true for likes. Since any user can see them, likes act as social proof and can influence your audience. They are therefore a key element in encouraging users to interact with your Facebook content.
“ Social proof ” is just a buzzword for the influence one group has over another. It describes the ways in which people tend to adopt other people’s points of view when they are unsure of which position to take.
If you find yourself alone on the edge of a cliff, you may be hesitant to jump. But if you see all your friends doing it, you’ll probably be more inclined to jump yourself. Engagement works the same way.
The likes garnered by a publication are proof that certain users are already interested in it. When other internet users see this, they are more likely to like your content.
Is it worth buying likes on Facebook?
Given the importance of likes on Facebook, it can be tempting to buy them. You’ve probably seen ads about this before: “Quality likes! 100% real and active users! Attractive prices! » But whatever this ad
First, because it’s not ethical. If you need a blog post from Hootsuite to explain this to you, then your opinion is already made up and I won’t be able to change your mind.
Second, because you risk getting caught. In fact, Facebook’s official stance on fake likes is ambiguous. If the purchase of likes is not officially prohibited, the platform does not say that it will not pursue users who have taken the step.
If Facebook doesn’t care that you buy likes, your customers don’t necessarily have the same opinion. But the possibility of establishing a climate of trust with its customers is one of the main advantages of social media marketing. If they find out you’re buying likes, you risk losing your credibility (and them).
Whatever your motivation, buying Facebook likes is still a bad idea, even if you never get caught. You wouldn’t just be lying to other Facebook users: you’d be mostly lying to yourself. All those fake likes could actually hamper your social tracking efforts .
Social tracking involves using social media data related to your brand to gain valuable business insights. Platforms like Hootsuite offer powerful tools for analyzing data generated by your social media presence. When these are biased, via the presence of false likes (for example), you make your task more complicated and have all the difficulty in the world in discovering what “real” users want.
How to get more likes on Facebook?
To increase the number of likes on Facebook, there are roughly two ways to go: improve reach or increase engagement. But the two are often linked.
Improving reach means increasing the number of people who see your content. The higher this number, the more likely your publication will be to get likes.