Friday Protip: Don’t Take Hostages

by Sanya Weathers

Having enormous numbers of followers and fans on your social media channels feels good. It looks good on your TPS reports. You know better, of course. You know that those numbers don’t measure actual community or deep engagement. You know that “followers” is a term for potential, not money in the bank. But in a field where so much is notoriously hard to quantify, it’s tempting to snuggle up to a metric than can be easily converted to a chart.

It’s okay. You’re among friends. We understand, and it’s nothing we haven’t done. But because we’re friends, we need to be straight with you. You know that campaign you just launched where people can only see something importnat if they like your Facebook page?

Your potential customers hate it. People are clicking the like button, but the only people who don’t resent it are the ones who were already fans of your company. The others resent shilling your product to their social networks when they’re still trying to figure out if they like your product at all. Some people resent it so much that they’re going to make their purchasing decision without all the facts just to avoid making that click.

Why would you start out on the wrong foot to increase a number you already know is essentially meaningless?

Don’t take hostages. Find another way to convince potential customers that there’s value in joining your following.