Celebrating the Like Economy?

Since Facebook launched back in 2004, the “Like” economy has exploded. We validate ourselves by the number of people we are connected to online, we determine our success online by the number of followers we have. Businesses determine their community success by the number of likes their posts have achieved. We believe the fact that a piece of content is awful based on the fact that not many people have “liked” it.

Likes do not reflect engagement, Likes do not reflect sales. Likes form part of your community story, they tell you that at some point your content reached your community members at the right time within their feed, which encouraged them to take an action to “like” your page, group, board or feed.

However just because you have earned the “like” it doesn’t mean that they will continue to remain engaged.

A “like” is a step, it is a potential to engage, an opportunity to take somebody on a journey and transform them into an advocate. Very much like an encounter with a stranger and eventually they become a friend.

The measure of community success comes from both reach and engagement. The number of people your post reaches determines how many people have seen your content, your brand and your message. Engagement determines how many people are happy to enter into a conversation with you.

Likes . Reach. Engagement - All have a place within your community. They are most effective when all 3 parts work together. Paying attention to all 3 areas will ensure that you meet your community members exactly at the point they are at.

I have had the pleasure of building communities for almost 10 years. I have seen small, powerful communities with 350 followers reach 80,000 people a week, with a 42% engagement on their platforms.

I have also seen large communities with 12,000, 25,000 and even 100,000 followers reach less than 10,000 people a week, with an engagement level below 1%. And before the myth, that big communities reach less people, surfaces, my own community has a following of 355k and reaches 3 million people a week with a engagement level of 43%

The difference between all of the communities?

The level of effort invested in growing and nurturing them a daily basis.

Likes and Follower shouldn’t be taken for granted, they are temporary. If you apply an engagement strategy and post content which provides value regularly, your “like / follower” will be converted to an advocate who will happily engage with you and in doing so will also help your reach go a little further.

If you need to outsource your community management, choose somebody carefully. Ensure they understand your business, your values and most importantly ensure that they understand human connection and why a conversation should be chosen every single day, over a simple like.

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About Effie Moss:

Effie Moss is a Multi-Passionate Entrepreneur, a Small Business Cheerleader and a Marketing and Community Strategist. Having grown communities with a conversational reach of 7 million a week, across many different industries, she spends her day helping people realise their business potential.