Do you think many Facebook likes will generate more revenue for your business? It is not easy to increase your Facebook likes today for your Facebook page organically. It can take a lot of time, effort, and advertising money. However, should you buy Facebook likes?
When Facebook Pages first came out everyone was doing what they could to obtain likes for their business pages. Some would offer things for FREE if you liked their page. Others would hold a contest. Others would buy Facebook likes for their business pages.
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Do They Generate More Business?
Everyone wanted to make money off their Facebook pages but now it might be easier to make money listening to music.
Facebook Page Likes Today With Millions of Likes
Take Tai Lopez for example. He has over 6 million likes today on his page. He is a public figure that trains people how to have a good life through his videos and seminars.
One of his recent video posts which was pinned had 1.2 million views with 35,000 likes and 1549 shares and 863 comments. Another post with a quote and no image had 701 likes and 25 comments. Another video post had 17K views with 595 likes and 20 shares.
As you can see from the above example the organic reach of Facebook Page posts is 1-2%. I would guess that the pinned post was either boosted or paid for by the ads on the network.
Facebook has come a long way since those early days with its Facebook page for businesses.
Facebook Likes Today
Today the measurements are different for Facebook pages as the algorithms have changed. Now, it’s more about the engagements that a Facebook page gets from its posts. It is no longer all about the Facebook business page likes.
When you see people sharing your Facebook posts that is like having ads on the network of the biggest social networking site.
Today a good Facebook page makes a business look more professional. Having many Facebook page likes is not a bad thing.
For example, if you reach only 1-2% of your audience organically the higher the page likes, the higher that number will be. It’s all based on math with the algorithms.
Of course, you can pay to play on Facebook. And I do recommend that if you are a business. Even Coca-Cola still advertises today. Cola-Cola has 107,904,589 likes and 8,731 visits as of today September 17 2018 on their Facebook page.
As the old saying goes:
“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does.” – Stuart H. Britt.
Engagement Is Key On Facebook
Engagement on your Facebook business page is also a key to having others see your posts. Many clients I meet with don’t realize they can interact on their page with other pages. This means you can comment, like, and use the emoji’s symbols on other Facebook page posts.
When you do this, others will see your branded Facebook page along in the comments. That’s a FREE branding opportunity!
But use it wisely, don’t be one of those spammers or fake followers out there. Think strategically about which other pages you want to like and interact with. Be genuine with this tactic or it could backfire!
I always prefer to collaborate vs. compete with others in a similar niche. You can also choose businesses that you do business with, etc. to engage with. That’s why it is called social media!
The New Pay-to-Play Model On Your Facebook Page Today
Facebook is now making billions of dollars per quarter on advertising. Yes, that is billions per quarter. This past year was $13 billion per year on advertising.
If businesses were generating revenue off their Facebook business pages without advertising Facebook would not be making that much money today. They were smart.
Facebook built up its user base and businesses wanted to reach these users via ads on the biggest social network.
Can You Buy Facebook Likes?
In the old days of Facebook, you could easily buy Facebook likes. Today it is not as easy. I’ve seen some ad spends not generate as many like as they once did.
You can pick and choose an audience. Why waste a Facebook ad budget on people that don’t live in your market?
But if your Facebook page is new I still recommend that you buy Facebook likes to get your page started with an audience.
Inviting People To Like Your Facebook Page
Of course, as an administrator of your own Facebook page, you can invite your friends to like your page and I strongly recommend you invite some.
Be choosy depending on what type of business page you have. You don’t want to invite your negative Nellie relative who will comment negatively on every one of your business posts!
Facebook Page Boosts – Are They Worth It?
Ironically many small businesses think that boosting posts is advertising. It really isn’t. Boosting your Facebook page posts is paying to get in front of your audience and their friends with your posts.
However, it can be a great way to generate some engagement on your Facebook page today. But, remember only 1-2% of your total audience sees any of your Facebook posts without a boost.
But, think about this: If your followers and their friends can see your posts, could the post go viral? The more Facebook page likes you have, the higher the chances are it could! So, I do recommend boosting your posts on Facebook today! (People must like your Facebook business page before they can follow it. Those that also follow it may see your posts more).
New Ways of That Boosts Work Even Better
Today Facebook has gotten smarter with its boosted posts. When others see your posts and don’t like your page, Facebook now sends you a message. Yes, and you can easily invite these people to like your Facebook page on your mobile or via desktop. I LOVE this feature!
Now, I LOVE how Facebook interacts with its business page admins and editors. I think after a few lousy advertising quarters they are really reaching out to business page owners directly.
(In the old days of Facebook, you had to have a strategic relationship with them, which cost lots of money.)
No more. It’s like Facebook is drinking its own juice when they interact with their Facebook pages.
Some of you may remember me talking about getting an email from Facebook to set up a meeting on Facebook ads. It was the best meeting I’ve had. They gave me specific info I could use to do ads for clients.
If you get that email, do respond! If you missed it – it was on my last post about Facebook pages and the new services tab.
Facebook Ads Today Have Come A Long Way for Pages
Facebook ads today have come a long way. Today Facebook ads are like Google AdWords as they are based on an auction. Therefore you pay based on what the market can bear.
There are many formats to choose from when generating these ads. First, they are video ads, and second, carousel ads that show several images in one ad scrolling. Meanwhile, the targeting capabilities are amazing. (except for the real estate category.)
No doubt that was the real beauty of doing Facebook ads – real targeting. Recently, Facebook got hit with a scam from data that was used.
You may remember the Cambridge Analytica news. Facebook was sued for $725 million dollars. (If you haven’t signed up for your settlement money, learn more here.) Since that time in early 2018, some of their targeting capabilities have changed especially for the real estate category.
But along with it, Facebook changed things up once again.
You Can View Other Facebook Ads
If you are logged into Facebook and are looking at anyone’s Facebook business page, on the left-hand area of your screen you can see Info and Ads at the bottom.
See the example here from Coca-Cola along the side. This is because Facebook had to be transparent with its advertising after the Cambridge scandal hit.
Do you think Coca-Cola still needs to advertise? They have been around forever but yet they still continue to market themselves today.
Yet, they have over a million Facebook page likes and they still advertise on the Facebook social network. If that doesn’t make you think, I don’t know what else would!
So, think about this when you do ads for your Facebook page. Everyone can see your Facebook ads including your competition.
Does it change what you may advertise? That really depends on your business and the competition.
I would not let this stop you from using Facebook ads but do give them a little more thought with this Facebook feature.
However, you do not see boosted ads for those that buy Facebook likes.
Facebook Ad Rules
Facebook is constantly changing the rules for creating an ad. Each ad must include so much text vs the image area. Facebook will let you know that your ad has not been approved.
Recently they have changed this. But only 20% of your image should have text within it. Any more than that the ad and it may not work as well.
Many small businesses today are hiring others to do their ads for them as it has become a real-time sucking chore for them. Even for them to buy Facebook likes with boosted ads becomes more complicated.
Facebook Video Has Become HOT!
In fact, many ads today on Facebook contain video. These compete with Google with Google’s YouTube channel.YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world today.
Now, Facebook has Facebook Live which uses video to communicate between users and their audiences. Many bloggers today are using this as a tool to generate a larger audience.
Donna Merrill has been doing a terrific job at this recently. It’s a great tool for small and large businesses alike to take advantage of at no cost (yet).
You can even schedule them in advance now if you are fearful of the LIVE factor. I would recommend you let people know prior to the time you will go Live. (Marketing, marketing, marketing!)
Videos are generating the most engagement on Facebook today. The latest numbers show shorter videos do best and you may want to include close caption text under/on your video as many don’t want the volume up watching videos at work and other public places.
Hubspot marketing analyzed data on their Facebook videos and found that one-minute videos worked best for engagement. They went on to say 95% of their viewers had the videos on mute. Imagine, 95%.
Your video has to show what you mean or have the words below it to be effective today.
Facebook Business Page Workaround for Live Video
Now, you can’t do Facebook Live from your Facebook business page but they are testing it in beta and it’s available to some on their mobile devices.
The workaround is using your Instagram business page stories and sharing that with your Facebook business page. (I feel another post coming on about Instagram soon!) If you want to get started today with Instagram check out this post for Instagram basics.
Facebook Ad Retargeting
Facebook also allows retargeting ads on its networking site. So when your customers leave your website a pixel follows them around on Facebook reminding them to come on back to your website.
They may have left a shopping cart without purchasing or viewing other items on your website. Just be sure to have the Facebook Pixel installed on your website.
Click here for directions on how to install your Facebook pixel from Facebook.
Look Alike Audiences
According to Facebook, a lookalike audience is a way to reach new people who are likely to be interested in your business because they’re like your best existing customers.”
Facebook goes on to explain more about look-alike audiences:
When you create a Lookalike Audience, you choose a source audience (a Custom Audience created with your pixel data, your mobile app data, or fans of your Page) and we identify the common qualities of the people in it (ex: demographic information or interests). Then we find people who are similar to (or “look like”) them.
You can choose the size of a Lookalike Audience during the creation process. Smaller audiences more closely match your source audience. Creating a larger audience increases your potential reach but reduces the level of similarity between the Lookalike Audience and the source audience.
We generally recommend a source audience of between 1,000 to 50,000 people. Source quality matters too.
For example, if a source audience is made up of your best customers rather than all your customers, that could lead to better results. You can also create up to 500 Lookalike Audiences from a single source audience.
No wonder people are hiring others to do their Facebook marketing, it’s not so simple.
Dynamic Ads
One of the newer ad formats now on Facebook is called “Dynamic Ads”. These ads look like other ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network. However, instead of individually creating an ad for each of your products, you create an ad template that automatically uses images and details from your data feed for things you’d like to advertise.
Dynamic ads use your Facebook pixel or SDK to show ads to people who have already shown interest in your business by taking actions you care about on your site.
These ads are great for businesses with products. You do need a Facebook business manager account and must set up your account for these dynamic ads. Read more on their Facebook help page for dynamic ads.
The Future of Facebook
At this point in time the average user today is 40 in the United States. The age of the average user has been going up as more and more people over 40 are getting on to Facebook. The younger folks today use this network less and go to Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Snapchat.
One other thing to note with Facebook is that the average user also checks in 8 times per day! That’s 8 times in one day that they look at their Facebook account.
Wouldn’t you want your Facebook page posts to be seen in the sea of Facebook posts? Generating more Facebook page likes will help with that if you follow some of the tips above.
The hottest trend to hit the social network today is reels. They are similar to Instagram reels but appear in the Facebook stream. I know my husband is addicted to watching short-length movies in the app. It has its own stream today.
One other thing to note with Facebook is that the average user also checks in 8 times per day! That’s 8 times in a one day that they look at their Facebook account. #Facebook Share on XBonus Facebook Page Tips:
Another thing I’ve learned from clients is many don’t realize there is an app for your business’s Facebook page. If you have an iPhone mobile device click here. Or, if you have an Android device click here for the play store.
You will not be able to do everything from it but at least 90% of things for your page can be done from this app on your mobile device.
It’s a great way to respond quickly to comments, etc. When you do, you the get respond fast button on your page. This button once achieved can go away when you don’t keep up with responses though.
But keep in mind customer service on Facebook is HUGE. This page’s app will help you manage that from your mobile phone.
Facebook Stories
This newer Facebook feature called stories is not used by everyone yet but people are loving opening your stories for FOMO. Yes, Fear of Missing Out! The stories rage started over on Instagram a few years ago and now Facebook seems to have more people using stories today than ever before.
Today in 2023 they seem to have taken over the old post feature and more use them as they are front and center on the feed.
How To Hide Likes On Facebook
Facebook also offers the option to hide likes on Facebook so people will not see the few Facebook likes you have.
This also allows your audience to focus more on the content, photo, and videos that you share on your page.
You can also hide the pages you have liked on the social network so others won’t see them and try to use them against you.
Over To You On Facebook Page Likes
Do you believe having a lot of Facebook page likes counts for anything today? Do you buy Facebook likes for your page? I’d love to know more in the comments below what your Facebook business page likes are doing for you.
She has 30+ years of experience in marketing/advertising with 11 years of experience in content marketing, social media, blogging, and SEO.
You can purchase her eBook about Twitter on Amazon.
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Hey Lisa,
This is the great content, In today’s time, an extensive number of following and engagements matters a lot on Facebook, People judge you by these factors, The good following shows how trustworthy you are. These things automatically grab the attention of peoples.
And you have well said, anyone can generate a solid revenue from fb pages but How to do that is a question, and you have shared some great tips though.
I totally agree with your points, but what I like the most is ad retargeting,. It is really effective.
Thanks for your article.
Regards
Sophie.
Thank you Sophie, yes you are right about being judged by those numbers for a business sense. I’ve heard the re-targeting does work well and I’m in the midst of doing some as I type here. Re-targeting everywhere seems to work well as long as it’s not overdone. You are most welcome and thanks for coming by on this one Sophie. Have a great day and new week ahead!
Facebook page is worthy if engagement is there. Facebook dynamic ads are helpful. Why waste time again and again to create new ads when you have an option to create a template.
Facebook is a social media giant which is helpful for brands. It can help you only if you are able to target the specific market.
Hi Gaurav, thanks for coming by on this one. Yes, those dynamic ads are really helpful and they continue to make changes to help us with the Facebook ads. Time is of the essence, right? Have you been using the dynamic ads Gaurav?
Have a great weekend 🙂
Hey Lisa,
Awesome article. It all comes down to the engagement. That’s why all the big brands would share content worthy of engagement. Encouraging the audience to comment or take action on the shared content.
As far as I think likes do matter but only to a limit. I have seen pages with 40-50k likes and they have very low engagement and similarly pages with fewer likes and very alive audience
Kudos on the awesome article.
Thank you Bhawna. Yes, you are right, engagement is the key for Facebook business pages. I see too many people just posting and not engaging with their pages. Likes help to increase engagement if you do it right. Just likes alone do nothing for a Facebook business page but they are a start in the right direction. Thanks for coming by on this one Bhawna. Have a great day and weekend ahead 🙂
Yes LISA
In all the social media channels it is all about engagement.
Recently started paying attention to Pinterest and it is getting the best engagement.
It is all about connecting with the right people, following your niche and keeping your page’s theme focused.
Hi Bhawna, you are correct, It is all about engagement on each of the social networks today. I’ve been noticing it more with Instagram. Thanks for coming by on this one an have a great day!
Hi Lisa,
Wow, this is a great post!
When I started blogging, I was always zooming in on the number of likes I had. But then I just stopped stressing about it and focused on the types of posts to increase engagement.
I haven’t been online much because of some side projects I’m working on but once those are complete, I’m looking to be more visible on social media – particularly Facebook.
Facebook has come a long way. I’m also happy with the changes they’re making. My favorite is the FB page workaround for live video. I hope they’ll roll that out for everyone. And a post about that would be awesome! 🙂
Thanks for sharing the tips, especially the ad tip about the content within the image. I plan on advertising on FB soon so I’ll keep that in mind.
Hope you’re having a great week so far!
Cori
Hi Corina, thank you for that 🙂
You did it right by focusing on the engagement. But the likes do count for something as they can extend your reach and engagement if done right. They really have Cori! I’m liking most of the recent changes.
Yes, I heard you could schedule them out, that would be awesome with video.
You are most welcome Cori. Facebook lets you know every time if you don’t do their ads right.
Thanks for coming by on this one and enjoy the rest of your week Cori 🙂
Hi Lisa,
You covered so much ground and so much to digest here. I’ve never created a Facebook page, so I am learning so much here. Facebook has always been so overwhelming to me compared to other platforms. It seems there are too many things to learn and you could spend months and months learning dos and don’ts, stuff like that. You always hear like, Oh, there are 2 billion Facebook users, so you have to start doing this and that, but that’s the exact reason I don’t want to get into it as most of them are casual users. But I might have to start somewhere and want to see how it goes. Thanks for the great article!
Hi Taka, welcome to Inspire to Thrive.
I would say like anything else that overwhelms you, start with one thing. Start making the page and then go step by step to slowly grow it. After you set it up the hardest part is getting people to like your page depending on the niche.
can buy some Facebook ads but they don’t work as well as they once did. The better thing now to do is make a few great posts and boost them to your friends and their friends. Then Facebook will tell you who liked the post and that you can invite them to like your page.
I’ve found recently that method works pretty well. You have to have patience as well to get the page to grow over time.
It was too easy it would not be good, right?
Also promote your page on your blog, website and other channels too. I see many clients that do NOT to do that!
You are most welcome and feel free to reach out to me when you do create that page! Have a wonderful day ahead Taka.
Hello Lisa,
Wonderful post on Facebook Pages. I believe that having too many likes on your Facebook page won’t work if you don’t have good engagement and post reach. I have seen many pages that have 5 figure likes but the engagement is very poor. I have recently made some experiment with my Facebook page. Actually, I am regularly posting relevant updates on my facebook page with some call to action text or visuals. This helps me to increase the reach of my posts. However, I will continue doing experimenting and also add live facebook videos to my page in the near future. Thanks for sharing these helpful tips.
Have a Great day 🙂
Vishwajeet
Hi Vishwajeet, thank you. You are right – you must do something with those likes to make an effective Facebook business page. I continuously test, re-evaluate and post accordingly. I have been using Agorapulse which provides wonderful reporting that helps me with this now. We really have to be on our toes to manage a Facebook page today. Thanks for coming by on this Vishwajeet and have a wonderful day ahead 🙂
Spot on points here Lisa.
Facebook moved away from the model of driving a ton of Likes and traffic to your Page, versus doing so mainly thru paid advertising, if you wanted more traffic and Likes. Now, if you really want to boost engagement and grow business on FB you need to spend a good deal of time and energy on the network engaging and sharing….and my obsession is Facebook Live videos. I have seen my engagement jump through both my Live video posts and also, via other Facebook Posts, all by doing 1 Live video daily. 10 to 20 minutes per video.
I tackle a blogging topic and just riff. So much fun! But I also noted FB favors Live videos too, as these nab much more engagement than my old skool video uploads. Excellent post here Lisa….have a great weekend.
Hi Ryan, oh yes. those Pages must do ads now to be seen on Facebook. I’ve been seeing those video’s Ryan. Do you share to all or just your blogging buddies? I’m afraid my family and offline friends will wonder what the heck I’m up to. Thoughts?
I can’t imagine doing a video that long – 10 to 20 minutes. I hope I can do 5 to start 🙂
I have read a lot about Facebook favoring videos now. That is where most things are headed – all video.
Thanks Ryan for coming by and for your insights with us on this one. Enjoy your Sunday!
I do share with all folks Lisa; fam and friends, whole 9 yards 😉 Go for it 🙂 Based on your rocking video from a few weeks back, you are starting off about 46 million light years ahead of me when I did my first vid 9 years ago LOL.
Thanks Ryan, I was with Donna Merrill this morning and she encouraged me to go live on Facebook with her 🙂 I was still nervous. Hopefully I’ll do it again soon.
Thanks for answering that one Ryan, I’ll need to get brave 🙂 The whole 9 yards – I like that one! Have a terrific Tuesday Ryan.
Agree with your first comment Ryan.
Facebook is mostly concerned about getting more paid stuff. Gone are the days where you can get a ton of likes for free. If you want more likes quickly, you need to use FB ads. That’s how they are doing it these days.
Google is the one to do such stuff. It killed a ton of stuff written by people. Focused more on Google ads and they are making billions every single year from ads alone.
Great topic Lisa!
Thanks Anil, yes – it is all about the MONEY now, can’t blame them as they are in business and that is to make money.
Hey Lisa,
I have never focused on Facebook but run many ads using the Facebook retargeting pixels.
We all can do that. No doubt that Facebook ads have come a long way.
There are thousands of small business running just because of Facebook.
I am glad to know that you brought this concept of the pages with many likes.
~Ravi
Hi Ravi, do you do ads for your blog or services? And you don’t mean boosts? Interesting. I do have the pixel and will be starting soon with them for my new eBook. It is amazing how much information Facebook knows about it’s users to serve very targeted ads today. Thanks for coming by Ravi, have a fabulous Friday!
Hi Lisa,
I have a little Facebook page, but I struggle with the engagement and growth of it.
I agree that likes don’t really mean a lot.
Although, I secretly like it when someone does like my page 🙂
I’ve got a lot to learn when it comes to learning how to use Facebook.
I haven’t tried any of the paid methods yet. Right now, I am just trying to grasp my head around the whole Facebook page growth.
Although, I am not consistent with my posting, so that’s my fault as well.
Thanks for sharing these tips with us, have a great day 🙂
Susan
Hi Susan, Yes, having more likes does help because only 2-3% of your content is seen by those who like your page. So the greater that # is, the greater the percentage number is too. You could boost a few boasts or do a post and ask folks to like your page. Good luck and I’ll have to check it out for you. You are welcome and I appreciate you coming by Susan. Have a great rest of the day!
Hello Lisa,
Great stuff as always 🙂
Earlier Facebooks was all about like, connecting new people. Glad to see that they are supporting initiatives like
engagements and shares.
Whole bunch of information through your side are very neat and clean. More over I have not laid much focus on Face book ads
but planning to go live with these soon.
I mostly promote others content’s and blogs on Face book, this helps to build a healthy relation and people do fly to their as well
as our web sites too. Surely a win win situation for both the parties.
Thanks for the share.
Have a great week ahead.
Shantanu.
Thank you Shantanu, Yes – that’s how Facebook started – it was all about the Likes! Facebook wants users to engage with others on the network. Engage and share. Good luck getting started with the Facebook ads, it takes a little patience and trial and error. I have to share more on Facebook, I’ve been so wary of over posting there. Thanks for coming by and have a great day Shantanu.
Hey Lisa,
I remember when it was all about the ‘likes’. I’m glad Facebook is now looking at engagement and shares – a lot of ‘likes’ does not make the page. 🙂
Thanks for putting all this information together. I’ve used Facebook ads a couple of times to promote my web design business or eBook and it resulted in a couple of sales. I do need to use Facebook ads more often.
I’ve never used it to promote a blog post but after reading Donna’s comment, that’s a great idea. And I love the strategy she uses once people are driven to her blog.
I think you’re right about more grandparents signing on to use Facebook. My mother-in-law just created her account and she’s 70! 🙂
Great post Lisa! Thanks for sharing. No doubt I’m passing this one on. Have a great week!
Cori
Hi Cori, the only way likes count is that you will reach more (based on percentage of likes) for your engagements etc. But it is no longer the end all. Oh yes, I’ve used it too to promote some blog posts. Little boosts I call them 🙂 I like to reach friends of friends from the page. I want to work on some ads too for my eBook. I just need more time.
I wish my dad kept his FB – he is 90 and had it in his 80’s but didn’t like some of the family drama. His neighbor messaged me this a.m. and told me to email him some of our photos from our trip. LOL. I sent a few and also gave him my Instagram link. Thanks for coming by Cori and I hope you have a great rest of the week.
Hi Lisa and Happy Monday!
I love using Facebook. One has to know the ins and outs of it all in order to gain BTC engagement. I do like to boost my posts because there usually is a turnout of more people coming to my blog. When that happens I welcome them and give a CTA to get on my mailing list…the rest is history lol
As for advertising a target audience to monetize it has worked pretty well for me, even with re-targeting. For me it’s like a game so I have fun with it.
I do love the analytics because it helps so much.
-Donna
Hi Donna, thank you. Great to hear how you are using Facebook. Do you notice more engagement with your live videos there? I’ve done quite a few boosts as well. I’ve got to work on my CTA better here, thanks for that reminder. As long as you don’t lose too much money at the game, I notice with the boosting they (Facebook) keeps asking me to spend more to reach more, etc. And they send messages now with more analytics. They are on it! Thanks for your input on this one Donna. Enjoy the rest of your week and I look forward to meeting up with you on our way home from Canada this week 🙂