5 Ways to Create Value for a Facebook Like

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5 Ways to Create Value for a Facebook Like
Posted by:Dr. Ang ela Hausman
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Posted December 29, 2012
According to Hubspot, customers are
51% more likely to make a purchase after
LIKING a brand on Facebook!
WOW! That makes a Facebook Like REALLY
valuable, so you should do whatever you can to g et
as man y Likes as possible, right?
WRONG!
Let’s explore wh at a Facebook LIKE is really worth.
Social Media Strategy 1: Get Facebook Likes
Is this part of your social media strateg y playbook? Well, you may be just wasting your
money. Let me explain.
Going back to the quote from Hubspot earlier, you g et the impression that Facebook
Likes encourage folks to buy your brand. If that’s the case, then maximizing the number
of Facebook Likes you g et will improve your ROI (Return on Investment).
But, it’s not that simple — it’s really a ch icken and egg arg ument. Put another way, do
Facebook Likes encourag e folks to buy your brand or, do folks like your brand on
Facebook because you provide hig h quality goods and services and are a g ood corporate
citizen? Certainly, there’s a little bit of both g oing on, but I suspect that most users fall
in the latter category — they like you on Facebook for all the great thing s you do off-
line.
If wh at I suspect is true, driving Facebook Likes has little impact on your bottom line
and efforts to ach ieve Facebook Likes are misg uided.
When a Facebook Like might actually hurt you?
Say you’re running a contest — Like our pag e and get entered to win some prize. It’s a

common social media marketing strateg y. But, it’s dang erously wrong .
1. It discourages sharing – the more people who enter the contest, the lower your
odds on winning . So, you h ave NO incentive to sh are the contest with your friends.
Denied access to Friends of Friends, your campaig n slugs along, g enerating too few
Likes and too much cost.
2. It attracts the wrong people - folks attracted to your pag e in h opes of winning a
contest are often NOT the right people. They often aren’t part of your targ et market.
Th us, you spent money attracting folks who’ll likely NEVER buy your brand.
Another misguided use of the Facebook Like, is forcing folks to Like your pag e before
they comment — especially if they’re unhappy. Forcing them to Like your Facebook page
before they can leave a negative comment only makes them ang rier. And, instead of just
stopping by an d posting their criticism, they’re now part of your community and can
continue poisoning the community.
Creating VALUABLE Facebook Likes
Of course, there are good ways to create Facebook Likes. Here are some of my favorite
examples:
1. Create engagement. The SINGLE most critical aspect driving consumer purchase
decisions is wh at their friends think. When you create eng agement (sh aring,
commenting , or liking your posts on Facebook), those endorsements show up on
users Facebook profiles and g et sh ared to their friends’ newsfeeds.
2. Make a ch aritable donation for each Facebook Like. It makes you look GOOD and
encourag es sh aring. For example, Pedig ree donated a bowl of dog food to a pet
sh elter for each Facebook Like.
3. Earn Facebook Likes by creating a positive image th rough both social media an d
traditional marketing tools including product quality, excellent customer service,
innovative products, g ood corporate citizenship, traditional advertising, product
placement that resonates with your targ et audience and authentic social media
marketing strategies.
4. Provide valuable content such as information, discounts, unique access, etc.
5. Pay it forward. The law of reciprocity says that people feel a strong obligation to

return favors. If you g ive users something , they’ll often reciprocate by Liking your
Facebook Fan Page, since it’s a small effort to repay the obligation. For instance,
Chipotle gives out free burritos to those dressed in costume on Halloween.
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Author ed by:
Dr. Angela Hausman
Hey, I'm Dr. Ang ela Hausman . I'm a marketing professor at Howard University and
run a full service marketing firm operating at the intersection of marketing and
social media. Check out my blog it's filled with great FREE content to h elp make
your marketing ROCK!
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