FACEBOOK BANS LIKE-GATING – WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Like-gating is a way to incentivize Facebook users who haven’t liked your page yet. It can be a simple image with a “like my page” call to action. Once a user liked your page then that’s the only time they get access to your freebie, prize or discount.

HERE IS SAMPLE FROM MY OWN FACEBOOK PAGE:

Under the ‘proper use’ policy, effective November 5th, 2014, Facebook admins are no longer allowed to give incentives for people to like a page or use social plugins.

Incentives include: rewards, freebies, discounts and gating apps to force people to like a page first.

It will still be acceptable to incentivize users, who already Liked the page every time they visit the page or login to the app.

This is stirring up some reactions among marketers online. This is what Facebook has to say:

“To ensure quality connections and help businesses reach the people who matter to them, we want people to like Pages because they want to connect and hear from the business, not because of artificial incentives. We believe this update will benefit people and advertisers alike.”

What this quote from Facebook implies is that in order for your Page Likes to grow organically, people must really like and connect with your brand in the first place.

Let us take a look at this study by Ignite Social Media.

It shows that incentives is still the top reason for people to like a page so it’s a bit shocking that Facebook would prohibit pages from doing so.  But it’s actually a VERY good thing.  If you have fans that have liked your page because you made them like your page to get something from you – they are likely not an engaged fan and the key to Facebook success is having fans that are ENGAGED with your page and your brand.

This update will challenge business owners, marketers and admins to:

• improve the content being shared on Facebook by creating genuine engagement
• maximize the use of Facebook Insights to know when your fans are online and what they “like” most
• use Facebook Ads to build a targeted audience

What do you think of the new update?  I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.