Get a facebook page, they said.

It’s dead easy to set up, they said. 

Don’t bother with a website, just get your free page up and send out a bunch of invites, they said.

Well meaning advice from people who claim to know a bit about business. So you did all that, and created a monster. One that’s very hungry.

You need to keep feeding the thing with daily posts – what do you even talk about there anyway? Your fingers hover over your keyboard waiting for a flash of inspiration. You’re trying to write something witty, insightful, deep and meaningful to share with your avid fans. Except you haven’t got many likes, so you feel like you are talking to yourself most of the time. If you stop feeding it, you have helpful reminders that you haven’t posted in a while… 

It’s playing on your mind that the last post you put out got no likes. The one before that, just one solitary heart reaction – from your mum. You’re putting yourself out there, doing what everyone else is, and yet your words are not being lapped up. Other businesses seem to get hundreds of likes for their posts for content which you deem as being boring, unoriginal or foolish. No matter that you put out three posts every week for the last six months, people scroll on by without so much as a thank you. Your business pages may as well be dormant for all the activity it is getting. 

This is getting embarrassing. See, this ‘like’ thing can be a heavy load to carry. But its credibility is based on old information. 

Facebook Likes and Marketing

Likes are an action with a visual sign. A ‘Liker’ would have had to see your post in the first place to have that opportunity. To be able to like your post, which is competing with hundreds of other marketing and non-marketing posts, they’d need to see it within a short window of time. There are barriers in between you and them. Strangely enough, they aren’t waiting on your every word as they have many other things to busy their day with. Harsh, but fair. 

Leads not seeing an individual post doesn’t mean your brand has been shunned. Not getting a reaction doesn’t mean your post has not been seen, read, considered. Likes do not factor in how many people saw your post pop up on their newsfeed and read the preview caption. They never show who has searched for your posts, events, location, business name, then gone on to find your contact details, then picked up the phone to call you or visited your website. Likes don’t show when someone has copied your page link and pasted into a messenger chat to send to a friend. 

Let’s go over your situation again, this time with a fresh perspective. 

You managed to put out over seventy pieces of short form content. Some of it might have been a little longer, perhaps you included some imagery or branded visuals to accompany it. Through those media choices, more people are consuming your brand identity, values and beliefs. They’re learning about you, what you offer, and why you do it. 

You maintained a digital presence, an expectation for every small business these days. Your pages defend your space in the marketplace, you occupy your space rather than another business camping out on your name. You have kept a channel open for communication with potential customers and existing ones. You might have several social channels that are performing that very same task. 

If likes – or lack of – are troubling you, drop it now. That concept is out of date. Hopefully you’re not doing this to get a self esteem boost by getting a like, heart or wow face. New, existing and past customers are likely to be using social media – and this is why you should too. 

You’re doing this to make money for your business. Find the proof of that, instead of watching and comparing likes and shares.