Is a Facebook page LIKE the same as a Facebook page following?
My Facebook page currently has 264 LIKES but when I look at the page the posts have very low numbers of people who have seen the post. Why is this and is there a way to improve it? If you want to see what I've been posting, the link is on my profile.
Expert Answers
Sort by Date
Sort by Votes
May 19, 2014
I try to incorporate the promotion of "following" my clients business pages not just "liking" into their Facebook strategy. When a person follows a page, they will receive all the updates posted to the page. If you do engage this strategy to make sure that you message is received by your followers, make sure you watch the frequency and the content of your posts so that you are not "unfollowed".
Apr 22, 2014
Facebook limits the number of people that can see each of your posts through an algorithm that some have called "Edgerank." The only way to improve on having more people seeing your posts is to optimize them so that more people engage with them, which will increase the chance that more people will see them in the future. This can be done either organically or though Facebook Ads.
Apr 15, 2014
Organic reach on Facebook is approaching zero - you'll have to boost each post to ensure that it reaches 100% of your fans.
Apr 12, 2014
The questions is very adequately answered here but there is another area you might like to look into. Joining various facebook groups opens the door to more people getting your posts and even promotions.
There are thousands of groups on facebook and there will be some that concern your subject or business and when you join and post in that group ALL the group members will see your posts. Many have very specific guidelines and so you will need to read these carefully and ensure you do not violate them otherwise you might be booted out of the group. Having said that most groups are fairly tolerant of the occasional promotion and as some can have members in the thousands, it can be a worth while exercise.
Apr 12, 2014
Hello Paul - the main problem is that Facebook is increasingly trying to get marketers to pay for distribution of content via advertising or boosted content. Most brands and companies are seeing the reach of the messages to their fans reduced significantly.
Apr 10, 2014
Hi Paul
There is a double answer for your question.
A Facebook Like tells Facebook that you like the page or business. And Facebook then will put some of the posts from that page into your feed. Facebook only sends page posts to less than 10% of the Fans for each post in general. The only way to increase the number of people who see the post is from shares and likes of that post. If I share the post it goes into a certain percentage of my network's feed. The more Likes a post has the higher is places in your feed IF it was sent to your feed.
But if I Follow your page then I am requesting all your posts to be sent into my feed.
So seeing so few views is more due to Facebook wanting you to page to expand your reach via promoted posts.
Hope that helps!
Apr 10, 2014
No, they are different. In order to get your "likes" to show up, they have to be done from your personal page. You can link them together, and get likes for both. You have to let people know that likes must come from the personal page. It doesn't seem to make sense, but is the way it is done.
Apr 9, 2014
Paul, yes in many ways they are the same.. Contact Face Book or Google for all the 411. There are subtle differences as well,. but if you research it thoroughly you shouldn't have to much trouble getting started. If you are planning online business you may want to take a course specifically about social media and what you can and can't do.
Apr 9, 2014
'Likes' are only possible with Facebook PAGES (business & brand use). For personal profiles, you can 'Follow' someone without being their "friend"; it is open to the public. Facebook used to make it so that about 12% of people would see a page's posts, whereas in the past month, they've changed it to about 3% of people receiving your news in their feed. They want you to PAY if you want all your fans to see your page posts. It's not like Facebook personal profiles where all your friends and Followers get to see your post. Still, it's useful to have Facebook page as a promotional tool, as it's more engaging and interactive than one's website, and I have potential clients who check out my page before deciding to work with me. If you're curious, you may check out (and Like!) my page: www.facebook.com/BijuCreative
Apr 11, 2014
This is great info, however I don't think your comment about Facebook Personal Profiles is correct. I believe Facebook does not show all personal posts either. They are also starting to give users the option to pay to promote their Personal posts as well. :)
Facebook believes that the average user follows and likes too many pages to be able to read all of the posts in a given time frame. So they use their Edgerank algorithm to try and find the best content to put in front of their users.
Apr 9, 2014
Like is for Facebook business/fan page. People who like your business/fan page will receive your post in their news feeds
Follow is for your Facebook personal profile. People who follow your personal profile will receive your post in their news feeds
Apr 6, 2014
Page likes are the same as following. However, not all people who like your page will see each post. Post reach is the number of unique people who saw your post. Your post counts as reaching someone when it's shown in their news feed. If the page is under your business name, try making comments under your own name and/or encouraging your friends to share the post on their news feed. Even offer incentives, like, "Everyone who shares and likes this post will receive a 10% off coupon." Just a thought.
Apr 6, 2014
Paul - most answers cover the "Like" vs. "Follow" question and Clive had an excellent point about your audience (Persona) not being on Facebook primarily. I have seen many small businesses with a B2B focus spend hours of resources on Facebook with content that most of the time looked like them liking content from somebody else. Well, that may work on LinkedIn and even Twitter, but just like I am typing this answer right now Fans on Facebook look for user generated content that either is a great story, fun, saves money (promotion) or makes them pass on a great idea.
Since you offer web services you have to ask yourself where are my Personas looking for expert advise, a great price, references etc.? If they are on Facebook make sure to link back to your website all the time with a Promotional Landing Page or Blog post. I have seen companies with thousands of Likes and Followers having success because they had an employee create all the above on a consistent (daily) basis. Some Facebook ads is almost a must today if you want to be seen more often. Wishing you nothing but success!
Apr 6, 2014
Liking a Page will add it to your list of Likes on your timeline. Following a Page means you'll see updates from that Page in your News Feed. You can can run a like campaigns to gain more likes which come up as an advertisement on others' Facebook and you can target the adds to your target market.
Apr 5, 2014
When you like a FB Page, that ends there. But when you follow a FB Page, you get updates whenever something is posted on that page.
Apr 5, 2014
On Facebook Business pages when you like a page it generally ends up in your newsfeed, you're automatically a follower and you can see posts from the business. I have noticed some businesses appear in my feed more than others and wonder if it's due to varying post volumes or Facebook limiting distribution?
On Facebook personal pages it's a similar situation like a person to follow them and get them in your newsfeed. If you get frustrated with people who post too many selfies, you can go to their page and unfollow them. This will remove them from you're newsfeed, you're still friends to message, but you no longer see them in your newsfeed.
You could try to vary your posts to get more interest, e.g. mix up posts with videos, blogs, competitions, free samples or giveaways, industry events, entertainment news, etc. Also review the analytics to see what people like and share the most?
Unfortunately Facebook is winding back the organic reach of posts and online sources say around 16% of followers get your posts, and this is likely to decline in 2014. Facebook are doing this to drive paid post sponsorships, they want you to pay for distribution and reach now. The best way around this is to have people interact with your posts to lift the reach, and a diversified social media strategy, e.g. post content on other platforms, YouTube, Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc.
Hope this helps, good luck.
Cheers Troy
Apr 5, 2014
I'm still not convinced FB is relevant to the vast majority of businesses out there in the real world. So for me, worrying about low visitor/viewer counts on FB is like worrying you haven't received any medals for bravery recently. In other words, FB activity is most likely based on events elsewhere in the real world like a huge TV ad. campaign.
Apr 5, 2014
I believe that liking a Facebook page means that the person who liked your page is now following that page. When you send out a message they receive it..like having a small list....
Cool!
Apr 5, 2014
Hi Paul- there are varying theories on what the 'value' of a 'like' really means in pure metric analysis, and in my experience, 'likes' generally don't mean much and certainly don't drive monetization of your brand or product. The reason your LIKES don't impact ENGAGEMENT (comments, views) may have something to do with:
*The content you post
*The captions/headers you share as posts
*Engagement is 75% more apt to occur when you post with a unique photo, video or link to additional content that relates.
*Do you post content that posts 'questions' to encourage engagement and conversation/dialog with your followers?
*Consider when building followers-
-Why would anyone care about what I'm posting?
-Who is my target audience (friends, business associates, networking)
-Is my content of interest to all of my followers, or only some?
-Are my posts relevant and interesting (to others besides myself?)...
Hope this helps you Paul..best- g
Apr 5, 2014
There are lots of reasons for this.
1) When you made the post your visitors were not online so they would have missed when the update was posted on their wall. This is why I believe Facebook is information overload with over a billion posts a minute 90% of people miss important posts.
2) Facebook introduced the promote feature so they can make money. In return what used to be for free in Facebook you must now pay for. Like was already stated I don't recommend using this feature I have tried and wasted $400 with nothing good in return. I mean $400 so 15,000 people can see it when there is about a billion members on Facebook is a big waste of money.
And what Farzad, and Joseph said :)
Apr 5, 2014
by someone else following your page - they will be able to view the updates you make to that page. By someone liking it , it only increases the like/visit count. If you want them to view your posts , then place a link of the post on your profile update status, or email the link to everyone by selecting the contacts.
Thanks Priscilla. Your info is very helpful to my understanding. I will check out your page. My page is http://facebook.com/donerightweb if you have any useful tips for improvement.