If you don’t like my pictures on the gram, we can’t be friends! Maybe my Gen X and above readers won’t understand this, but likes have become such a big deal to people that it ruins actual friendships and relationships. I dated a guy in college who always liked my pictures prior to dating me, then during the time we were seeing each other he stopped liking my pictures. I was offended, made a big deal about it, and deleted his number. Then I found out that other women and even men have gone through the same thing.
So why do we care so much about likes? In real life, we feel liked and popular. With our brands, why do likes matter? I contend that engagement is much more important than a double tap or thumbs up! In the communications world, we call these things amplification and applause.
Vanity metrics aren’t entirely worthless, but amplification is certainly better than applause. I’ll compare it to marriage. The idea of loving your spouse is applause. They know you love them… but the ring itself is amplification. People everywhere will see that your spouse is taken. People might speculate who your spouse is married to. They may even ask. The point is, amplification makes a statement and makes you known while applause stays between you and that person.
You want your consumer to put a ring on it! It’s not enough to double tap. They need to amplify their love for your content by commenting and sharing. They need to let the whole world know that they are for your brand. You’re responsible for that! You can get your followers to shout your brand’s name from the mountain tops by producing valuable content! People will share what brings them value and what they believe will provide value to their followers.
Are you seriously sitting in your office everyday to create content that a few people who don’t even matter will like? That’s so wack! Amplification should be your goal. Isn’t the point of content creation to make something that people talk about? Don’t irrational people ask for viral content like we can get it on aisle 7 at Wal-Mart? Viral content is a product of sharing and sparked conversations. Not the double tap alone.
Both amplification and applause matter, but the goal should always be to get your content in front of as many people as possible as cheaply as possible. In my opinion, amplification does a much better job of achieving that goal.
Which do you like better, and why? Let me know in the comments below.
Keiana Holleman 