For brands, creating engagement in any way is key… that’s why they are in social media in the first place. In recent months, a telltale signal to determine that engagement at a glance is the number of “likes” a brand collects all through the brands online ecosphere. Fueled by mostly Facebook, the hunt for likes is powering an important part of the Social Media roll out, and, between us: that is a bad thing.
A number of “likes” does not show you in any way the quality or quantity of engagement with your target audience in any way… for that, more intelligent sets of data should be explored that give more relevant information on quality, sentiment, loyalty and behavior.
And a “like” is just a wrong metric. Clicking on it is often a gratuit gesture… for most consumers it means nothing more than a thoughtless “click”. There is no bar, no effort, no real thinking, and thus way too often no real intention or engagement.
Personally, I have more respect for the location based check in. A check in, is like a “like”, but only better. Checking in means that people are linking their real life location and behavior (shopping, eating, going to a concert,…) with their offline social media ecosphere. They went through an experience that reverberates in the social spider web. Location based social check-ins are more and more combined with the ability to rate the experience, adding a tremendous potential added value for the brand. Having people checking in from stores, airports, planes, restaurants and events and giving a positive social rating turns every active “checker” into an active brand advocate.
People will trust the review of someone who actively ate at a restaurant way more than one from someone who just punched the “like” button on a website.
Check-ins new style will beat up likes big time