Facebook Puts An End To Like-Gating. What This Update Means For Your Business.

You could win $5,000,000, an all-expense paid trip to Disney World, and foot massages for life! All you have to do is “like” our page to enter!

Or not.

Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come. Beginning November 5^th, Facebook will no longer allow Pages to offer incentives in return for page likes. Here’s the official announcement:

You must not incentivize people to use social plugins or to like a Page. This includes offering rewards, or gating apps or app content based on whether or not a person has liked a Page. It remains acceptable to incentivize people to login to your app, check in at a place or enter a promotion on your app’s Page.

Fair enough, right? Let’s break down what this means for you business:

Do you like me, or do you like me like me?

These days, Facebook should be all about quality. As with any form of marketing, it’s always more valuable to have 10 quality fans than 100 passive ones. This is the mentality Facebook is using in their new update, and we have to agree.

Bottom line: users should like your page because they actually like you.

There’s more to me than my iPad giveaway.

Since like-gating is usually used in collaboration with a contest or giveaway, many users are liking your page simply for a chance to win. Once they contest ends though, are they still attentive to your content? Probably not. In fact, you can expect many of them to drop off once they find out they aren’t the lucky winner.

Bottom line: find the people who will stick around for everything else you have to say.

Let’s keep it real, people.

Getting massive amounts of likes isn’t necessarily the key to a job well done. There are a million other ways to measure success on your social pages. Maybe it’s time to shift gears and start working on really engaging your current fan base. Or perhaps you should spend some time thinking of more abstract incentives for liking your page. For example: if you like our fitness page, you’ll be lucky enough to receive valuable tips for staying in shape during the summer.

Bottom line: You can keep incentivizing as long as you shift your perspective.

So stay calm, mark your calendars for November 5^th, and keep providing quality social content. Best of luck!