In the wacky world of social media anthropomorphization, the Facebook Like has just turned one year old. Since its inception the button has been a blockbuster success, it’s permeated nearly every corner of the Internet, Googling “Facebook like” produces some 11,000,000 results. Facebook Strategy on the other hand produces closer to 85,000.
There is no reason not be excited about the Like Button, it’s easy to implement and the barrier to entry for the targeted user is very low. It also creates a lasting link between the liked object and the user. What’s not to like?
Because the Like is such a low effort and easily measured action, many managers and marketers get Like Tunnel Vision. All points of the strategy focus on getting likes, conversation goes out the window. This results in low value, high cost relationships versus the high value, low cost relationships that we should really be seeking from a social media marketing campaign.
For my pet example of Like Tunnel Vision, find the Door Devil Facebook page. All they concentrate on is the like. They offer prizes completely unrelated to their product and dedicate a majority of their content to promoting their contests. There is so much effort going into getting people to like their page, their product and their message gets completely lost. They are far from the only brand doing this.
