Likeology 101 – Using Facebook’s LIKE to Grow Your Business!

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If you’re a regular Facebook user, you’ve probably noticed that Facebook recently changed their “Fan a Page” to “Like a Page.”  For avid sports fans, this may have come as a bit of a disappointment, as their passionate loyalty was suddenly downgraded to a mere preference. For business owners, however, this subtle change provides huge implications for growing a bigger fan base as well as enabling deeper connection and collaboration for their Facebook audience even outside the social network.

But how? It appears that both linguistics and new functionality within the site contribute to this phenomenon.

Linguistic Differences:

•    “Become a Fan” – First of all, think for a moment about the connotations of “Fan a Page” vs. “Like a Page.” The word “fan” implies, as mentioned above, a fierce loyalty, a passion and dedication to something, a strong emotion. People think twice before they hit the “Become a Fan” button because doing so gives them a certain identity and commitment.

•   “Like” – On the other hand, it’s easy to “like” something. The word “like” connotes a slight emotional response, a preference, a fondness, or even just the immediate sensation of finding something enjoyable, agreeable or satisfactory. People are less likely to do a lot of soul-searching before hitting the “like” button.

New Facebook Functionality:

In a recent blog post by Krishna De, she tells how Facebook gave prior warning of the change to ad agencies and stated that users have been clicking the current “Like” feature almost twice as often as the “Become a Fan” button. In their memo, Facebook went on to propose that in offering this simpler, more consistent way of connecting with things, “the goal is to get the most user connections so that you can have ongoing conversations in the news feeds of as many users as possible.”

Furthermore, Facebook has now introduced functionality that allows you to link your profile to Pages. In their blog post “Connecting to Everything You Care About,” Facebook explains that while some people voluntarily wrote information on their profile about their likes, interests and activities, more than three times as many connected to Facebook Pages as a way of expressing themselves. Consequently, they decided to improve Facebook profiles to make it easier for people to display their affiliations:

“Now, certain parts of your profile, including your current city, hometown, education and work, and likes and interests, will contain ‘connections.’ Instead of just boring text, these connections are actually Pages, so your profile will become immediately more connected to the places, things and experiences that matter to you.”

Here are the main ways users can connect Pages to their profile:

•    Opt in to new connections – A box may appear when they log in, recommending certain Pages based on the interests and affiliations they previously added to their profile. They can then choose to connect to any of these Pages and link them to their profile.

•    Add connections – If they click “Like” on a Page, that connection will be automatically added to the related area of their profile’s Info section.

So if you think about it, these innovations could have a huge impact on the visibility and growth of your business and personal brand. As people start to “like” your Page, it will be added to their profile, and the activity will be seen on their friends’ news feeds, spreading awareness and prompting further engagement.

So now’s the time to embrace the power of “Liking.” And don’t worry, Sports Fans. Your teams will still know you care.