For all the mistakes Facebook has made with the words it chooses to describe various user actions, “feedback” — the number of “likes” and “comments” divided by the number of impressions — is not one of them. Yet this number is often mistaken for a measure of engagement. Many marketers believe that if a fan doesn’t click “like” or post a comment, then he or she wasn’t engaged. Consequently, in their attempt to garner as many “likes” and “comments” as possible, brands shift from an engagement strategy to a direct-response strategy — placing greater emphasis on driving a single, immediate action than building strong, lasting relationships.

Click-through-rate was all the rage with search engine ads. Marketers got caught up with just getting clicks and didn’t realize that a ‘click’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘I want to buy this.’ Now they’ve moved onto getting ‘likes’ on Facebook. As many as possible.

There is a ton of reasons why a person may (or may not) click on something online. In fact many studies show that the #1 reason to like a brand on Facebook is to get something (deals, discounts, or special offers), so essentially getting a ‘like’ on Facebook is the equivalent of convincing someone to cut a coupon out of a circular.

It’s good for brands to get ‘likes’, but most people are doing it because they got something extra in return — not because the consumer actually likes the brand or is ‘engaged’ with it. I mean, who doesn’t like to get a deal?

It looks like marketers are slowly starting to realize this… until the next site comes along and they are begging for clicks all over again.

(Source: adage.com)